Tripoli WA Grass Valley May 2 2010 Launch Report

The first launch of the 2010 season took place on Sunday, May 2, 2010 at Grass Valley. Here is a rundown of the events on the day.

I caught a lift with Dave to Grass Valley and we proceeded to setup for the day. The weather was gorgeous with very little wind.

I brought three rockets with me. From left to right, my Binder Thug, Public Missles 38mm Bullpup, and a modded Estes Patriot with a 24mm motor mount. I had never flown the Bullpup or the Patriot (at least this one). I decided to focus on them and keep the Thug as a backup in case I had an issue with the Bullpup.


For the initial launch of the Bullpup I decided to launch with a H128W with a medium (10 second) delay.


I'm pretty much convinced this is the perfect motor for this rocket. I was expecting to get a bit of cork screwing considering I eye-balled the fin alignment. This wasn't the case and I can report the Bullpup flies incredibly straight. I credit this to the G10 fins which I didn't bevel due to the fact that they are already so thin.


Below is a very poor video of this flight (shot by me). At least there's sound.



The ejection charge fired pretty much exactly at apogee. Recovery equipment worked flawlessly.


Given the good conditions and the successful first flight I decided to fly the Bullpup with a I357T with a medium delay. This is the highest thrust motor I've attempted to fly since taking up the hobby. Previously I flew an I161W in the Thug, which has 350N-sec of total thrust (nearly identical to the I357) but the I357 burns in 1/2 the time of the I161W. Thrust peaks at just over 100 lbs. The flight was incredibly quick. So quick in fact that Neil wasn't able to get photos during liftoff. That said I did video the flight, very poorly mind you (I believe there's a trend here).



The rocket coasted to what I estimate to be 3200 foot to 3300 foot apogee and the ejection charged fired just after apogee. Unfortunately the parachute didn't deploy correctly and the rocket came down quite quick. When it hit the ground I believed it wouldn't fly again on the day due to a busted fin. I'm happy to say I was wrong.


Notice the recovery equipment tangled within itself? That's what stopped the parachute from deploying successfully. Also you'll notice one fin missing, it cut into the ground cleanly and was completely fine apart from a bit of paint damage. Chalk up another win to G10 fins.

So considering luck was with me on the last Bullpup flight I decided to fly it again, this time with a H97J with a medium delay.


This was my first flight with BlackJack propellant and I was slightly apprehensive due to the low thrust it produced combined with the relatively heavy weight of the Bullpup. The weather conditions were very still though so I liked my chances.


As you can see the H97J worked well. The 10 second delay before ejection charge firing was a bit long so I'll need to make sure to trim the delay slightly before flying it again on this motor. Here's another terrible video of this launch. I'd been chasing White Lightning and Blue Thunder launches all day which are quite fast burning motors. Black Jack is quite slow in comparison.



Regardless, recovery was textbook.


Given all the fun I'd had, I decided to fly the Bullpup one more time with the other I357 I brought. The flight and recovery was nearly perfect and I can say the motor/rocket combo is a real crowd pleaser!

After four flights and nagging by PK to not launch the Bullpup anymore (it's purdy and the big Williams launch is 1 month away) I decided to let her rest for the rest of the day. Beyond flying the Bullpup I wanted to fly my Estes Patriot that had been modified to accommodate a 24mm motor mount and a payload bay. I had built one of these last season but lost it doing some gueralla rocketing in some school paddock on a Saturday morning. The original flew great but proceeded to float into the top of a VERY large tree. Given it was mostly cheap cardboard I knew I'd never get it back in flying condition. So I built another one.

Not only did I want to fly this rocket for the first time, I wanted to fly it with electronics. So I fashoned a little avionics bay sled to hold a PerfectFlite Alt15K that I have. This altimeter is extremely basic and really only produces a flight graph and reports flight apogee. That said, if you've got em, use em! I flew the Patriot on a F24W with a 7 second delay.


The flight was great and I was pleased that the recovery system worked as planned.



The buzzer on the altimeter beeped out an altitude of 1789 feet. As you can see below, the software put apogee at 1832 ft.


The Patriot flight was my last for the day. We packed up the range and brought everything back to Perth. The next launch (in Williams) promises to be a great weekend. I can't wait!

Tripoli WA Grass Valley October 2009 Launch Report

The October 2009 Grass Valley launch was good fun. Below is a run down of the day.



The view arriving at the launch site.



Dave and I thought it would be fun to drag race our Aerotech Initiators.



Mine lit, Dave's didn't. I haven't seen my Initiator (or RT 29mm 40/120 casing) since. It just vanished.



RIP Aerotech Initiator (Maiden flight, G64)



So back to the trusty Thug.



And off she goes.



I brought the Snarky out as well (it was the last launch of 2009 after all!).



This rocket flies wonderfully.

There you have it, the end of my first season in High Power Rocketry. 2010 looks to be a very good year. Tripoli WA is really hitting it's stride and I believe you'll be seeing some really interesting posts in the next few months.

Tripoli WA Grass Valley August 2009 Launch Report

I do realise that we are well into 2010, but I thought I'd update the blog with the last couple launches from last year. The August 2009 launch could be best described as a hpr (high power rocketry) day. I flew my Binder Thug multiple times on 38mm hpr hardware, and once on a 29mm motor (hpr as well).


The Thug loaded with an I161W-10, Rocksim estimates apogee at roughly 3,200ft.


Boy did it go. I doubt I hit 3,200ft though, the power of the I motor combined with my terrible fin beveling job caused it to wobble to apogee. I saw the chute pop and saw the rocket come down in the paddock next to us. I though it would be fairly simple to find. I DID see it come down after all. Boy was I mistaken. It probably took well over an hour to locate. Below are the photos.


This is how I finally spotted it. All you can really see is the chute.



Directly overhead, looking down.



Looking back at the launch site. I still can't get over how far the rocket drifted.


Even though recovery took longer than expected I was really pleased with this flight. That said, I focused on using H motors for the rest of the day, all in the Thug. On the H's the rocket stayed in the paddock we were launching in and were super simple to recover.


If only all recoveries were this easy. This is how the rocket landed, untouched.


All considered the day was great fun. I did learn that I should probably use GPS, and/or dual deployment if I'm going to be launching I+ motors in smaller rockets. Also I found out a good general rule. Your rocket is ALWAYS further away from the launch site than expected.

Tripoli Williams July 25 2009 Launch Report

So I went down to Williams Valley on Saturday for my first Tripoli launch. Gotta say it was a great time. Here's the breakdown of the day.


Semi-scale goodness on the table

My first rocket off the pad was the inaugural launch of my Binder Thug. It's got a 38mm motor mount and I started with a H242T with a medium delay. Rocksim calculated apogee at ~2350ft with a max velocity of ~562 ft/sec. The T designation of the motor stands for Blue Thunder propellant which happens to burn very quickly. The motor has 230N-sec of total impulse peaking at ~60 pounds of thrust at just after motor ignition. Motor burn time is approximately 1.3 seconds in length.


Binder on a H242

The launch was completely successful with deployment just after apogee. That said recovery isn't always easy. The Thug ended up in a tree that I had to climb to recover it. Thanks go to Steve for assistance in locating the rocket as well as finding a suitable branch to use to get the thing down.


Amraam on the pad

Next launch was the AMRAAM. Let's just say the rocket gods were against it going up, and I should have listened. I went through five igniters trying to light the G64 in the Rouse Tech reloadable motor. When the fifth igniter finally lit, so did the rocket. CATO. Catastrophe At Take Off! The forward closure of the motor failed. I think it was due to the forward o-ring or forward insulator not seated properly against the propellant. I should have checked the entire motor after changing the ingitors so many times. RIP AMRAAM, you served me well.


Cato
If you look closely, you can see the nose cone already separating from the body.


Here's how it ended up, ~25 meters from the launch pad. I had to step on the forward part of the body tube to put the fire out!


forward closure
On the left is a 29mm RMS forward closure in good condition, on the right is the one that blew.


So after a tree climb as well as a spectacular CATO, I figured I'd leave the Thug on the bench and fly the Snarky. I dove into the rocket box and pulled out a 3 pack of F39T-6's. They have 50N-sec total impulse, a peak of ~13 pounds of thrust, and a burn time of 1.5 seconds. Rocksim estimates the flights reached apogee at ~1130 ft with max velocity of 460 ft/sec. I've got to give it credit, this little thing flies fantastically. The air scoop provides stabilisation so it always flies straight up and noses over fantastically to resemble flight. Recovery works great using blast protectors with a few sheets of wadding or dog barf and is much simpler than pistons or baffles. I flew the Snarky a total of 3 times on the day, all on F39's.


Snarky Launch
Photo was taken just as the F39 Blue Thunder lit.


Snarky recovery


Finally I thought you might like to see what Rocksim looks like. Here's the motor tables for my Thug and Snarky.


Binder Thug Rocksim file


Snarky Rocksim

A big thanks goes out to all the team at Tripoli, especially Dave, the Tripoli WA Prefect, Mel aka the Queen of Coordination, Neil aka the media guru, and Steve the Rocket hound.

That pretty much wraps it up. I've started on a 38mm PML Bullpup as well as a Estes Patriot modified with a 24mm mount and baffle. I figure I need to replace the AMRAAM with something scale and sizeable. Plus I've got the Initiator that still hasn't flown for the 29mm motors I still have in the rocket box. Time to start preparing for the next launch!

July 12 2009 PARC launch

It's taken me a while to get to this, here's a summary of my latest launches. We went up to the field a bit late and it was pretty windy but that didn't stop us. I only launched the AMRAAM, twice on G64-7W's and once on a H238-T with a medium delay. On the second G64 launch I attached the internal payload bay I've built for my Pico AA-1 accelerometer based altimeter. I'll do another post detailing my results shortly.

The H238 launch was for my Level 1 Certification. The motor had a total impulse of 175N-sec and burned out in under 0.8 seconds. It was a Blue Thunder propellent type, the first one of these I've launched. Talk about a quick burn! I was lucky enough to recover my AMRAAM intact after the launch. I say lucky because it destroyed one of the Mantis pads in the process. Guess they just don't have the strength to handle the thrust of high power motors! Have a look at the pics below as well as the little vid of the H launch.

On the pad, loaded with a G64.


Ready to go beside a James's Loc V2.


G64 launch, Thanks goes to James for the rest of these shots. I'm going to have to get a nice DSLR soon I reckon.


Gaining altitude...



Still going, those G64's burn for nearly 2.5 seconds.
Here is a cropped image of the previous photo to give more detail.


Some of the less impressed spectators.


Here's a shot of the launch field. I'm not 100% certain, but I think this is the launch of Rich and Atla's Grappler as well as my 2nd Amraam launch of the day. The Grappler is above, with my Amraam just coming off the pad.

Last but definitely not least, here's my L1 launch on the H238.



A big thanks goes to Rich and Atla. Cheers to James for the high res shots and PARC for supervising my L1. Now I can launch motors up to 640 N-sec. Sweet.

Photos from June 14 PARC Launch

Here's some pictures from the latest PARC Launch. A few are mine, the rest are from other club members I've found on the June 14th Launch Pics post on the Australian Rocketry Forum PARC page. There's more photos there if you're interested. Enjoy.

Third Launch of the AMRAAM on a G64-10W. Great shot.


Snarky on a D12-5 SU


Recovery


Working on a 24mm motor reload


First AMRAAM launch on a G64-10W


Second Launch of AMRAAM on a F52-8T

June 14 2009 PARC Launch

We went up to Toodyay 14 June 2009 for the monthly PARC launch. I brought my AMRAAM, Snarky, and Initiator (which I didn't fly). This was the first launch day I've used reloadable motor hardware and it was very successful. Have a look at the vids below.

1st Launch of AMRAAM on a G64-10W RMS


2nd Launch of AMRAAM on a F52-8T RMS

again from my camera (thanks M)


3rd Launch of AMRAAM on a G64-10W RMS



Launch of Snarky on a D12-5 SU



Not bad at all. Thanks to Miriam, Atla, and Rich for filming and video conversion, and Gary for giving me a hand with loading the motors. Can't wait till next time, should be able to get my L1!