At today’s meeting we did some building and repairs and then some flying at Dakota Meadows. Chad stabilized his Semroc V2 kit by adding 20 grams of weight to the nosecone. This kit requires the builder to stabilize the rocket for flight. Most kits come pre-stabilized but since we already learned how to stabilize the micromaxx Nike Smoke this was repeat experience.
Chad also built up the glue fillets nicely. He said he noticed this detail in the instructions so he added 4-5 layers of titebond glue and this is the result:
By making the joint where the fins meet the fuselage more contured Chad made his V2 more aerodynamic.
Next the flight list was prepared: Chad’s Big Bertha, Patriot. Micromaxx class rockets: Chad’s Nike Smoke, Mark’s Bullpup and Phoenix. We left church and set up at Dakota Meadows soccer fields. Winds were north at about 10-15mph so we angled the launch rods across the wind direction 5 degrees.
We experienced several dud launches and it seemed only line 2 worked consistently, sometimes. Later Chad determined the wire became disconnected at the alligator clips on line 1 so he reattached them and we were back to first time fires. On the second Big Bertha flight the nosecone ejected but the parachute got tangled up and did not deploy resulting in this:
The only damage was that the motor retaining clip became loose and un useable. His Bertha will fly again only he has to put 7-10 winds of masking tape around the end of the motor which is the same way 29mm mid-power motors are retained. Chad flew his Estes Patriot two times on a B6-4 successfully with no damage. Then we got in two flights of his Nike Smoke. These flights Mark recorded on video.
Mark did not fly his Phoenix or Bullpup as the launch lugs tore off the fuselage while on the launchpad, probably due to compatibility issues between the plastic launch lugs and glue.
July 4th weekend we were at Hilltop Hy-Vee selling brats and hotdogs to raise funds to see the space shuttle Atlantis fly mission STS-132 in Orlando in May, 2010. We unfurled our new club banner and put our rockets on display and then proceeded to cook! Many customers wished us well in meeting our goal. Thanks to the club members and parents who volunteered their time!
Super weather conditions prompted a special meeting Sunday afternoon at the church. Skies were clear and winds were south east from 5-10mph. The wide open soybean field south of the school was the launch area. We flew these micromaxx Nike Smoke rockets and they were super flyers - straight and high. Last month we learned about the real Nike Smoke experimental rockets that flew in the 1960s. In flight, these rockets actually created smoke out of the nosecone so that cameras on the ground could film what the wind is like at 13,000 feet. Pictured from left to right is Keaton’s, then Oscars and Mark’s AIM4 Falcon missile.
Unfortunately we did loose Alex’s Alpha rocket that flew high on a C6-5. It had a pink 10 inch x-form parachute in order to minimize drift and aid in visual identification but after 15 minutes of searching we did not find it. Another goal of today’s flying was to use a new mini-digital camera Mark bought in order to take some aerial photos. Last year we had no success with either the Estes Astrocam or Snapshot for stability and durability qualities but with this new camera we can download the pictures on the same flying day, it can be used on more than one rocket and fly at higher altitudes.
We put the camera on Oscar’s Blue Ninja and had a successful flight. But the flight on Mark’s Big Daddy was a disaster and the crash erased the camera’s memory! It seems longer rockets are better carriers or platforms. We will try, try again this summer.
One of the goals stated at the start of the season was to fly rockets in winter. The flight conditions for the launch on January 10, 2009 were as follows - Time: 9:20 a.m., Sky: Clear, Air temperature: -1, Winds: 0-5mph. The purpose of the launch was to measure B4-4 engine performance in terms of altitude when the engines had been stored in cold temperatures for more than 12 hours. To get the engines cold Mark stored them in his car outside over night. The temperature the night of January 9, 2009 was.... The rocket flown was an Estes Ready-to-Fly ’NASA Starship’. This model was chosen to reduce the damage potential cold air temperatures can cause - the cold air causes molecules to contract so it is possible the cold air could cause a glue seam to contract and weaken a fin or weaken the engine mount. Also, the standard plastic parachute was replaced with a nylon fabric version that is less affected by cold air.
Setup. Travel to and from the launch area 40 yards west of the church was made easier by the use of a plastic toboggan. En route to the area we noticed a Cessna aircraft flying north towards us at low altitude. Mark pointed out why it is always good safety to check before any launch - ’Range clear..... sky clear’. At the launch site we immediately noticed difficulty setting up the launch rail and uncoiling the wires of the launch system.
Flight prep was slowed because students needed to take their gloves off in order to add wadding and roll the parachute.
Mark noticed the plastic ziploc bag containing the recovery wadding had to be re-closed a few times. Keaton was designated launch controller, Liberty would measure altitude using the Alti-Track and Mark would take pictures and recover the rocket.
The first flight went smoothly - a typical flight profile with recovery 40ft from the pad. At this time everyone agreed it was too cold to continue much more so it was decided to do only one more flight and Mark would prep the rocket. Here is a photo of the second flight.
Recovery was about 20ft from the pad and the rocket was undamaged.
We returned to the school after this flight because the cold was becoming a distraction. Before the second launch the cold temperature alert on Mark’s digital camera went off! Total time spent outside was 25 minutes. We discussed the events of the past half hour and wrote down our findings. The rocket still had the burnt out engine in it so it was taken out and examined. Here are some photos of the engine flown Saturday in comparison to another flown during the summer:
The incline of the first flight was measured at 42 degrees for an altitude of 112.5 feet.
The second flight was measured at 54 degrees for an altitude of 172.5 feet.
The next step will be to fly this same rocket twice in April or May on a B4-4, measure the altitude and compare the data with the January data.
Apogee/maximum altitude - Since May of this year and during the summer, we have been occasionally tracking how high our rockets fly. We will continue this activty throughout the year. To measure altitude we use the Estes Alti-Track inclinometer. This method involves triginometric principle of tangent. When you only know the base of a triangle, you can use tangent to determine the height. -- Tangent x Base = Height. We stand a certain distance away from the launch pad, track the flight with the Alti-Track then measure the angle of incline.
The angle of incline corresponds to a value of tangent, so we look up that value...
multiply it by the base of 250 feet, divide by 2 (because this is a low-altitude flight) and achive the altitude result.
Here are the results:
Oscar’s Blue Ninja - C11-3 engine
Incline = 52 deg. - tangent = 1.28; base = 250 ft. ..... 1.28 x 250 ÷ 2 = 160 ft. altitude
Mark’s Patriot - B6-4 engine
Incline = 42 deg. - tangent = .90; base = 250 ft ..... .90 x 250 ÷ 2 = 112.5 ft. altitude
Rockets flown today: Liberty’s Starhawk, Oscar’s Blue Ninja and Mark’s V2 and Patriot.
The goals of this meeting were to continue building a multi-stage low power rocket - the Fliskits Cheeta. Also we started work on the Rocket Car concept and preparing for the launch at Maple Island on Saturday the 25th. We did fly rockets at this meeting, however wind conditions limited us to very low altitude MicroMaxx flights. Oscar flew his Fliskits Mudwasp and Mark flew his Nike Smoke and V2 rockets. Some kids from the neighborhood were playing on the playground equipment so we called them over to watch. They were impressed with what the tiny rockets could do. We let them know when our next meeting was so they could watch us fly again.
Rockets flown today: Mark’s MMX V2 and Nike Smoke.
September was a reunion of sorts. Not everyone could attend summer meetings but the full club turned out for this meeting. We gained one new member, Liberty, and we helped her build her first rocket kit - the Quest Starhawk. We built this kit at NARCON 2008 last March and love it because it can fly very high with only a B6-4. Keaton lost his Eggscalibur rocket in August do to severe damage so we started building his replacement kit - the multi-stage Fliskits Cheeta. Oscar and Chad did repair work on their rockets. We did fly Mark’s scratchbuilt MMX AMRAAM but the rain sprinkles increased to a shower so we made only one flight.
In August we traveled to East High School and launched a few rockets - all D motors. Here is the video:
We tried the AstroCam out for the first time flying it 5 times. This is a rocket that has a tiny film camera in the nose cone and it will take a picture when the nosecone pops out at apogee. We found out this rocket is prone succeptable to weathercocking. Because it has a topheavy nosecone this makes the rocket vulnerable to flights that veer off the intened course and into the wind instead. Weather conditions were perfect at times - winds from 0 to 10 mph and very good visibility. This was a first-time flight for the Big Daddy using the E9-6 motor. Oscar flew his Blue Ninja on a C11-5.
Finally, NARCON! After four months of waiting, planning and building we departed the church on Saturday, March 15th headed west in Jim Dimock’s van for Rochester, site of the National Association of Rocketry Convention - NARCON. Once at the convention site located in the historic Kahler Hotel, the plans were to shop for kits, attend a seminar or two, then leave for the sport launch area so we could fly our our rockets including the big club rocket we had been building since January.
Shopping for rocket kits.
We arrived at the hotel at about 9am, signed in, received our convention materials, browsed the dealer arena then built a rocket at the Make and Take Seminar. The person leading this seminar read our name badges and asked if Good Shepherd was an LCMS school so we said YES! He was glad to hear that because he was a teacher at Eau Claire Lutheran school in Eau Claire WI and also taught rocketry to his 7th and 8th graders.
Make and Take seminar. Photo by Gak Chamdak
After lunch we attended another seminar about very small rockets called Micro Maxx rockets. These rockets only fly to a height of 50 to 100 feet. This was interesting because we have flown this kind of rocket before but not these particular models. The kits on display could very well be future build projects for the club.
MicroMaxx rocket seminar.
We left this seminar a little early so we could reach the Maple Island sport launch area in time with the club built rocket - The Onyx - Oscar’s Blue Ninja and Bullpup and Mark’s AIM-4 Falcon. Unfortunatley, due to the cold, windy weather and muddy grounds the launch closed earlier than advertised and we arrived in time to see everyone else leaving! Launch scrubbed!
The club-built rocket - The Onyx. Paint design inspried by Oscar Garcia.
Discouraged we headed for home. Then Jim made the suggestion to launch our rockets at church instead. This great idea cheered everybody up! Then Mark said Dakota Meadows would be a better location because the school has large grass fields. So we flew the rockets we made earlier in the day, Oscar’s Blue Ninja and Mark’s AIM-4 Falcon. We plan to launch the club rocket again sometime this summer at Maple Island because the launch folks heard about our story and invited us to fly then.
Flight prep at Dakota Meadows. Photo by Jim Dimock
We are thankful to God for delivering us safetly to and from the convention and for inspiring hope when things didn’t go as expected.
At this meeting we will start building the club rocket- a LOC Onyx- for the launch at NARCON 08, March 16th or if you have a kit to build, please bring it. We will also go over plans for a rocketry demonstation day and fundraising events for the summer.
The National Assoication of Rocketry will hold it’s annual convention at the Kehler Hotel in Rochester on March 14-16, 2008.
from the narcon2008.org webstie: ""NARCON is an annual convention held by the NAR for the purposes of educating those interested in all aspects of hobby rocketry. Events include keynote speakers, training seminars, workshops, rocket-building sessions, open discussion forums, a sport launch, and much more!
Covered topics include technical sessions on all levels of rocketry from beginner to advanced, competition, educational aspects, safety, design and more.
Honored Guests - Vern & Gleda Estes
All rocketeers are invited to attend!""
The cost to attend the convention is $15 for kids and $35 for adults if you register before February 5, 2008. The cost for the sport launch on Saturday is $10 per person at the launch site.
On Saturday, November 3rd the entire club turned out to help sell hot dogs at C&S Supply. It was their 50th Anniversary Sale and we were busy all day. Thanks to C&S for letting us have the entire proceeds. Our rockets on display attracted kids and even prompted parents to share their rocketry stories from their younger days.
The goal of the fundraiser was to use the profits for buying rocket kits. Here we are building at the November 10th meeting:
The successes in this launch were many. This is the first rocket assembly for all club members. All had not even put together a model of any kind until joining the club last month. Of all five rockets launched none were damaged and all were recovered. This is especially exciting because during the building process several chances for mistakes were possible but everyone avoided them.
The most important lesson we learned today was how a parachute is similar to baptism. A parachute safely delivers the rocket back to ground so that it is undamaged. Through baptism God will deliver us from death to Himself in Heaven so that we can live with Him forever.
Proud rocketeers ready on the launch pad.
Jill’s rocket is too fast for the camera.
Riding the breeze under a nice parachute.
Looks like her rocket is headed for a roof but, thankfully, it fell well short.
Walker’s rocket just under ignition
A full canopy means a happy recovery.
Photos by Mark Wilkowske