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  #11  
Old 09-29-2019, 10:48 AM
ghrocketman's Avatar
ghrocketman ghrocketman is offline
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Always liked the Sky Raider and Orbital Transport.
Just obtained an original Sky Raider to build, which I never built in the past. It will get a 29mm mount that will be adapted to 24mm.
Have built two Orbital Transports in the past and a Semroc one with laser cut fins is 80% completed on the building board. Mine always flew great; change the glider elevon angle to 50% of that shown on the plan and add a bit of nose weight and performance is 100% better.
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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL
, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !

Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !
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  #12  
Old 09-29-2019, 11:06 AM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Flight #8 was my favorite of the day, the two stage Estes Taser Twin. I think this may have been a Wal-Mart exclusive back around 2009, because I remember picking it up while taking my son to an interview for an internship right before he graduated. Pretty nice design, reminiscent of the Astron Apogee, but with Estes Sky Hook fins on the sustainer. It turned out very nice with the catalog paint scheme, but the lack of A8-0 and A8-5 motors locally meant that I never got a chance to fly it at B6-4 Field. I had initially planned to go C6-0/C6-7 on the larger eRockets Field, but C6-7s aren't available, so I went B6-0/B6-6. Wow. Was I ever glad that I went with that combo. Staging seemed to happen early, around the 100' level. The sustainer arced back over the flightline, over the road, and over the bar across the road on the B6-6. We'd never have seen a C flight. Despite the deep arc over the road behind us and the streamer recovery, the sustainer still made a valiant effort to reach the corn on the opposite side of the soccer fields. Impressive all around.
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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #13  
Old 09-29-2019, 01:52 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Flight #9 was an orphan in every sense of the word. Bought as a part of an ebay lot of complete, but worn and broken rockets. Everything was able to be repaired, mostly broken fins, and some were flown the week after I got them. The Sunspot was one that needed a fin repair and recovery system update, but seemingly nothing else. That was, until I attempted to load it with a motor and the whole engine mount moved in the body tube. That was fixed, but flight time became scarce until this day. Plenty of altitude on the C6-5 after the rods were adjusted to keep the flights from going back over the flightline. Recovery was deep into the soccer fields, but well short of the creek and the corn.
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__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #14  
Old 09-29-2019, 02:07 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Flight #10 would be the first confirmed flight of a true legend, the Pitsco Synergy. I picked up three of these for a song a few years back and put one together in about 30 minutes. Parts and pieces were about what you'd expect, and I came away from the build unimpressed, but not actually dismissive. Flight would be on a C6-5, and though I'm not a proponent of the "earn your paint" theory, in this case I felt that it was warranted. Well, it earned the paint. Flight was perfect, high and straight to about 900-1000'. Long drift on recovery into the soccer fields, but everything performed as it should have, and it will definitely fly again, with paint. Incidentally, Synergy was the name that popped up on RocketReviews.com when I tried to log in a flight, so that's what I went with. Anyone heard of anything else previously?
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__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #15  
Old 09-29-2019, 02:33 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Flight #11 was tough. Likely the last flight of my Estes Astron Avenger, the first rocket I ever cloned back in 2001 when I got everything I needed in an old Estes Designers Special. (Save the nose cone, which was a Carl original.) I recently restored the old bird, basically a repaint with a new payload tube and fin for the sustainer. It looked great, especially with the inclusion of the roll decal, and I was expecting a majestic flight on the C6-0/C6-7 combo that it had flown well on in the past. The flight looked to be in trouble as soon as it left the rod, as it staged almost immediately. The booster dropped just behind the pads and the sustainer took off on the same path as the Taser Twin followed earlier. At ejection it looked like it was going to recover on field, but behind the flightline. It was a matter of about three feet that decided its fate. It just barely caught the top of one of the small trees that line the road. No one had a pole to recover it, and no branch in the tree could support much more than a three year old. There it hangs. My only saving grace is that we've been in a drought of late, and I'm hoping someone might have the recovery poles at a subsequent launch.
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__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #16  
Old 09-29-2019, 02:47 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Last flight on the day (#12 if you're counting,) would be my Estes Optima clone on an E9-4. Much hooting and hollering when this one was announced, partly because the rocket scientists in the crowd didn't think the E9 could lift such a large bird, and partly because of my WSR reputation with E9 motors. The Optima proved them all wrong. The flight left the pad slowly and slightly to the right, climbing to around 600' before ejection. The rocket didn't even drift across the asphalt on recovery and I resisted the temptation to say "toljaso". Or moon the flightline. That was when I hit the wall. A full day of sun and hiking pretty much had me whipped, so I packed up and headed home in plenty of time to make our dinner reservations.
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__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #17  
Old 09-29-2019, 07:01 PM
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Chas Russell Chas Russell is offline
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Thanks for the photos and narratives. Bummer about the Avenger. My younger brother had one back in the daze.

Chas
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  #18  
Old 09-29-2019, 09:47 PM
ghrocketman's Avatar
ghrocketman ghrocketman is offline
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I just picked up another vintage Avenger kit.
Gonna build it too.
__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL
, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !

Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 09-29-2019, 10:19 PM
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LeeR LeeR is offline
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If your Taser Twin was boxed, it was probably from Walmart. I bought four boxed kits from Walmart, probably about 10 years ago. Taser Twin, Ricochet, Crossbow SST, and Star Stryker. They were on close out at $6 each. Also bought a lot of 13mm and 18mm motors for $1 a pack.

I like the Taser Twin a lot since it reminded me of my first 2-stage, the Apogee II.
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Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor
In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold!
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  #20  
Old 09-30-2019, 05:29 AM
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mojo1986 mojo1986 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A Fish Named Wallyum
Flight #11 was tough. Likely the last flight of my Estes Astron Avenger, the first rocket I ever cloned back in 2001 when I got everything I needed in an old Estes Designers Special. (Save the nose cone, which was a Carl original.) I recently restored the old bird, basically a repaint with a new payload tube and fin for the sustainer. It looked great, especially with the inclusion of the roll decal, and I was expecting a majestic flight on the C6-0/C6-7 combo that it had flown well on in the past. The flight looked to be in trouble as soon as it left the rod, as it staged almost immediately. The booster dropped just behind the pads and the sustainer took off on the same path as the Taser Twin followed earlier. At ejection it looked like it was going to recover on field, but behind the flightline. It was a matter of about three feet that decided its fate. It just barely caught the top of one of the small trees that line the road. No one had a pole to recover it, and no branch in the tree could support much more than a three year old. There it hangs. My only saving grace is that we've been in a drought of late, and I'm hoping someone might have the recovery poles at a subsequent launch.



I've used a slingshot with some success in cases like yours. The trick is to shred the parachute.
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