I noticed some rocket display things on ebay last week.
They were made out of cpvc plumbing fittings and painted black.
I contacted the person only because the listing said he was from my own hometown!
All I asked was where he/she flew their rockets in town.
Turns out, he's been flying off and on at different sites around town that I would not have thought of using.
We exchanged emails, and scheduled a Saturday launch at the location myself and a few others use.
So, from noon till 5 pm, a beautiful blue cloudless sky, tolerable temps (I wore just a T-shirt and a khaki long sleeve shirt and a bit of a breeze enveloped the 3 of us.
The grounds were a bit squishy in places but not so bad that your shoes got soaked.
Kinda like walking on wet carpet. I set up at the dryest spot I could find and still worked out with the prevailing wind and resultant drift direction.
I had my usual box-o-rockets of stuff I barely primed, and if I did, I barelt painted them, and if I did, I barely decaled them, and if they were primed painted and decaled---they were at least 20 years old! Most showed the signs of age, repairs, and general lack of pride in finishing.

First up was my Custom ION PULSAR thing on an A8-3 to get the recovery direction set.
Unprimed but slightly painted with paint markers!

Next up was my Patriot missile on a B6-4. Shoulda been a B6-2!
It did the parabolic trajectory, stuck the landing, then ejected.
No damage except for the 1/8" original rubber band shock cord snapping.
It was over way overdue.

Next up was my BT-70 version of the AIM-47A missile. I built this one at NARAM-45 and got all the way to the primer stage. NARAM-47 saw me paint-marker one wing black, one wing red, and add some electrical tape for striping. Launched it several times at NARAM-47.
The past weekend I touched up the wings with flourescent red and added flourescent yellow to the opposite (just like the real test version!) and added a few more strips of electrical tape here and there. Loaded up an E9-6 and let her rip! Great flight and no damage. Recovered withing 15 feet of the pad. So far so good.

Next was the Semroc SLS-SkyHook on a D12-5. Perfect ejection at apogee. Nice looking flight.

Next was my crudely finished Nike-X clone. Flown at the past 3 odd-numbered NARAMs on E9's. When I say crudely, I mean nothing more than white primer on the body and black sharpie on some of the fins. Loaded up an E9-6, let her rip, and recovered within the fenced in field boundary.

Then came the Big Dawg on a C6-7, a Honest-John on a B6-4, a Gemini-Titan on a C6-5, a MRC Standard ARM on a C6-3, a Custom RAZOR on a C6-5 (this one almost landed back on the pad!) and a mini-engined Patriot on the A3-4T.

I flew my wornout boilerplate TALOS using the PNC-55 ramjet cone with LOTS OF WEIGHT in it. It flew kinda corkscrew like given the breezy conditions. Well, The B4-2 didn't help.
I was out of B6-2's. A few fins popped off, but thats normal on this one. Its been rode hard and put away wet.

Mark Sinicki flew his Saturn Press Astrobee 1500, a couple of Edmonds gliders, a foam shuttle glider that was piggy-backed on a mean-machine booster, a SEMROC Snipe-Hunter that kicked the motor and lawndarted in the plowed field for ZERO DAMAGE! He also flew a Launch Pad plan pak-built SCUD with a cluster of D12-5's for a nice flight.

The new guy is Doug Szczepanski who brought some mid-power stuff.
He flew an Estes STARFIRE which was his favorite as a kid.
He tried a Quest Navaho two-stager and it didn't stage. It stuck in the soft plowed field so hopefully it wasn't damaged much.
Also flew STARBURST on an F reload. He flew SU motors before, but Mark oversaw the step-by-step assembly of his first reload and the flight worked beautifully.
Doug also launched another midpower model which he finished very nicely in a black and gold finish paying homage to the band Stryper album or song or something like that.
It flew great on a cluster of E30's! It ripped off the pad!
Doug also flew a Mega-Sizz I think. Good all-around flyer.

I took a few pics and few of them turned out.

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Sounds like new rocket friends were made and a good time was had by all. Nice pics too, but please wear some pants next time!

I thought all rocketeers wore speedos to the launch?

(Mental image of myself in a Speedo.)
Excuse me. I have to go look for that "projectile vomiting" smilie.

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Mini Dactyl Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

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

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

Nice pics. I found it impressive that your launch field has bleachers.
No flying for me this weekend, but I finished a Nike Goon, Estes Sentinel, and MPC Icarus for next weekend. (If I live that long.)

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Mini Dactyl Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

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

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2

I had a tournament this weekend. I spent all day/night Friday and Saturday in Dickson, TN. The inlaws took up almost all my time today. I had a fire call at 5:00 AM this morning. When I got home, I took a shower and told the wife I didn't care if her parents were coming or not, that I needed some time alone. I suited up and rode about 150 miles. Unfortunately, the inlaws were running late so I didn't miss them.

Its probably a combination of too much sun and fresh air and running around without pants that I forgot to mention some of the rockets launched.

Doug just emailed me some of the photos he took on his mega-$$$ digital camera (Nikon D50?).

He caught my Talos just after the cone snapped back and knocked off a fin! You can see it clearly in the pic.

Missed flights to be accounted for include my Quest Triton that almost landed back on the pad.
Mark's Maxi V-2.
Doug's GBU/cluster bomblet model.
Enjoy the photos!

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Some more launch pics.

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Thats for the rocket groupies!!!!

A tournament? Are you the softball coach, or is this some kind of fire thing? (I have a certain expertise in that field and I'm available as long as you promise to buy me a new jacket at Wal Mart.)

__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Mini Dactyl Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

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

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Groonie Der V 1/2