I use e-matches.. Chinese E-Match

I think it's just the nature of the beast. If you look at the NASA footage of the real beach launch abort test it does the same tumbling after the motors stop thrusting. See photos below.

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Cool flight.
I like your avatar as well.
Doesn't look like you used "Acme" motors though, thankfully.
Those would have "blown up" for sure.

Somebody MUST have "yanked the leever" just like Evel Knievel on that "Snake River Canyon" launch. NOBODY will convince me that Evel did not BAIL on that flight without IRREFUTABLE video evidence.

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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.

As a kid who grew up watching Evel, and who had a poster of him standing on the seat of his Harley, riding a wheelie, I gave him a pass.

Every indicator pointed to him likely becoming hamburger in short order. Most folks would have backed out and not done the event, based on all the data that pointed to it failing.

Yeah, he may have been a real jerk in real life, I don't care. He was an entertainer, and in that role, I can't think of anybody that had bigger cajones.

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About 1989, I modified a Centuri 1/45 Little Joe-II with an A3 engine mount intthe base of the Apollo CM.

A mercury switch system caused the A3 to ignite at burnout, pushing the capsule (with LES) off from the Joe body, and boost ahead of the Joe. It worked well.

And around 1992, I did the same for a custom built boilerplate for a 1/39.5 scale Little Joe-II. Using a C6-3 in the base of the CM, using rear ejection. That also worked well. However I chose not to do that with a contest model.

In both models, there was a custom-made short piston, using a tube that was an easy slide-fit and plywood disc. The electronics were mounted into that piston. After install, with model on pad, the system was armed and Apollo CM/LES carefully slid into place.

Yeah, so it's, not "scale" like. BUT, it worked well, and LOOKED good as the CM/LES thrusted away (at 200-300 feet up, where it would be hard to see exhaust of a wimpy motor in the tower).

Also, by pressurizing the base of the CM and "popping" off, that solved the problem of getting the capsule to let go. It would be terribly difficult to have a wimpy motor system in the escape tower, that had enough pull to yank it free from the Joe body, without being so loose it would likely slide off at burnout.

The "easiest" fix I figured to solve that, would be to fire a "separation" charge inside the tube, between the piston top and capsule base, at the same time as the LES motor would be fired.

Below, my old beat-up 1/45 Little Joe-II (dozens of flights), modified for a 7-engine cluster, and the "Abort" A3 system for the CM/LES.

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Contest flying, Sport flying, it's all good.....
NAR# 18723 NAR.org
GeorgesRockets.com
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Yeah.. that's awesome George.

I'm just finishing up a 1/132 scale 4 stage Saturn V. (5) BP motor 1st Stage, (5) BP motor 2nd Stage, and (1) BP motor in the 3rd and 4th stage.

It has canted fins on the 1st stage to get the rocket spinning, then the other stages utilize that spin, as well as bass drag, for stability.

I looked at using a teeny BP motor in the LES... but it was too big for the 1/132 scale.

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