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.