Model Forum / General / Rockets / September 2003

this is probably old hat to most of you but i just had the most magnificent
flights in my 1 year rocket career.  the thing that made it even more sweet
is because both rockets were previously fired about a year ago and both did
the corkscrew horizontal flight thing (luckily no damage).

the rockets i am talking about are the estes fat boy and stormcaster.   a
couple of days ago i dug out the fat boy out of the garage and decided i
would try again and did not really care what happened to the rocket.
loaded it up with a C6-5 and off it went.  hey, it flew straight up.  maybe
there is hope for fat boy after all.  so today, i dug out an aerotech
reloadable (D13-4W) that i bought about a year ago.  first time to use a
reloadable.  assembly was fairly easy.  the aerotech site even has a video
on how to assemble.   i did add a tad bit of weight to the nose of the fat
boy.  off to the field and sent her (him) up.  unbelievable!! i guesstimate
it went about 1000 feet and the sound of that motor was nothing like the C
size i have been accustomed to hearing.  recovery was good - floated down
wind about 5oo feet or so.  i use a mountain bike for recovery so not too
bad.  i will definitely be using more of the reloadables for future launches
(assuming i can find them - seems like most places have them on backorder).

other rocket was the stormcaster;  similar story about first 2 flights one
year ago at a public launch.  nice looking rocket but first two flights
corkscrewed and flew horizontal.  so today added a bit of weight to the nose
(seems to be a cure all).   first flight was on a C11-5;  straight as an
arrow for about 300 feet.  perfect recovery about 50 feet from launch.
load up again with a D12-5.   much better altitude (approx 600 - 700 feet).
very stable and straight flight.  whew!  what a relief.

these were my two best looking rockets but was afraid to fly them for the
last year because they flew so badly on the initial flights.    my thoughts
were that the initial flights were hampered by underpowered motor (B6-4 in
the fat boy) and possibly a little bottom heavy (hence the nose weight
addition).  additionally, first flights on the stormcaster was with a C11-5
but the wind was blowing steadily about 20 miles an hour or more and gusts
higher than that.  normally would not fly in those conditions but was a very
large field.

as a final flight of the day sent the polaris up on a B6-4;   did not seem
as exciting after the success of the fat boy and stormcaster;  but the
polaris is a great flying rocket and easily recoverable about 50 feet from
launch pad.  more exciting on a Cmotor though.  by the way,  winds were
around 3 - 5 mph and temp around 75 degrees.  doesn't get much better than
that.

just too excited to keep this lauch report to myself. now off to search for
some more reloadables.

gw