Flew my Titan at Bong today. Posting an on-the-pad pic and a link to a YouTube slo-mo vid.

E9-4 on the core and C11-0 on the boosters.

Left booster CATOs. It looks to me like the fuel core shoots forward. I have both motor casings in hand, so it can't be the whole motor.

Right booster doesn't separate until the core starts falling. It's also quite singed. The shock cord burned through, but I recovered the nose one. The parachute was tied a littler lower.

All, in all, I only lost a booster lug/post.

http://youtu.be/lPuRdJ1obcI

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__________________
Charles McGonegal
Ciderwright
AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery
Ad Astra Tabernamque!

Very nice Charles! The Titan III is one of my all time favorites. Clustering one is on my to do list.

Randy
www.vernarockets.com
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Great job. I hate CATO's! But it is best to happen on your three motor cluster, and a bit late in the burn which was nice because it was off the pad and had some momentum to keep it moving up. Now tell they guys what good rocket science you have when your three motor cluster survives a CATO with a good flight and minimal damage.

Thanks folks.

I fixed the sideways photo.

As I do repairs, I may cut out the current booster lugs and shim them out a 1/32" or 1/16". I'm thinking that a little less body tube contact would be good. Also, I went with a 29mm motor mount in the core, aiming for something like an F10 - nice long burn. And I used an Estes retainer. The retainer is just a skooch bigger than BT60, even after I ground all the 'knurls' into grooves. I think the starboard booster might have hung up on it. A little more distance out would help with that, too.

__________________
Charles McGonegal
Ciderwright
AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery
Ad Astra Tabernamque!

Keep up the good work. You learn fast with experience in the hard knocks world of strap on booster flying.

Here's the CATO closeup - frame at maximum N/C - Body separation.
The rebound is HIlarious frame by frame.

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__________________
Charles McGonegal
Ciderwright
AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery
Ad Astra Tabernamque!