Model Forum / General / Rockets / March 2006

MTMA Launch: March 11, 2006, Summit County Fairgrounds

I woke up the morning of the launch to calm and foggy conditions, but
the fog moved out before I got to the field. The weather's been
unseasonably warm for the past few days and today was no exception. It
started off in the low 50s and was due to rise to the upper 50s by
mid-afternoon, although scattered showers were also in the forecast for
mid-afternoon. It was mostly cloudy, but the cloud deck was pretty
high.

Our FAA waiver had not yet been approved, so we were flying under LMR
rules, with notifications made the previous day to the FAA and nearby
KSU airport

Present for this launch were Bruce and Ben Levison, Ray Behanna, and
myself. My brother-in-law came out to watch with his wife and son, and
my wife stopped out for a bit too (with lunch for me).

Ben Levison (Bruce's son), a Boy Scout, has been working on a new rack
launcher for the club for his Eagle Scout project. Today was the date
of the official presentation to the club. The launch rack is
constructed of PVC tubing in a saw-horse fashion with two sections of 4
pads each. It can be connected for 8 pads together, or separated
(limited only by the length of the attaching cable) for 4 "near" pads
and 4 "far" pads. We set it up in the separated configuration so that
F's and G's could be launched from the "far" rack. The beauty of this
system is its ability to be broken down into small sections for
transport in a car trunk. In keeping with the "small sections" theme,
the system uses two 12-volt gel cells, one to power each rack of 4
pads, and a compact controller connected to the "near" rack. The racks
and controller worked flawlessly and I was proud to be able to sign-off
on the project for Ben and offer my congratulations for a job well
done.

Throughout the day, the four flyers present put the launcher through
its paces, and subjected it to a bit of abuse--rocket exhaust abuse,
that is! The PVC rack now sports a bit of character in the way of
scorch marks. Pictures of a couple of my own abusive rockets will be
posted to our web site in the coming days. In all, the four of us
launched 26 flights ranging in impulse from A to G. Ray and I flew 9
times, with the Levison father and son team flying 8 while manning the
controls most of the day.

The Levisons put up a host of Custom and Estes rockets with their
FlisKits Deuce's Wild logging the most impressive flight. The showpiece
of their fleet, however, was their clone of the Centuri Jayhawk.

Ray showed off his wide assortment of scratch-built rockets including
his D-to-D 2-stage rocket that arced over toward the woods and wound up
stuck in a tree. Ray was able to throw a line over the branch and coax
it to release his bird. Maybe as a little payback, Ray offered his "So
Long" Rocket to the Rocket Gods. This tiny bird was propelled out of
sight on a C6-7--on purpose! Hopefully that buys us some good grace for
future launches.

I flew an assortment of stock and modified Estes rockets, including my
Shadow "5", as well as my CR4 on an Aerotech G64. My best and worst
launch happened on the same flight--my stretch HelioCopter on an
Aerotech D13-4 18mm RMS motor--what an awesome boost and great altitude
followed by...nothing...no ejection, ballistic recovery through a tree.
Snap! Crackle! Pop! The carnage was audible from the range. The tube
looked like a team of Far Side rocket scientists threw it together and
all 3 fins were forcibly removed, but the RMS-18/20 was safely
recovered.

To close the day, Ben and I did a drag race with his Estes Mach 12 on a
C6-3 against my son's scratch-built Fireball on a C6-7. The two rockets
executed an amazing pirouette after launch as they took to the sky. We
knew we were in for a long walk and took advantage of the opportunity
to look for some lost items from last season. At our late October
launch, Bruce lost a black nosecone from one of his scratch projects,
and I lost an Aerotech RMS-24/40 casing when it kicked out of my Shadow
"5". The long grass in the down-range area made the chances of finding
these items nil last fall, but through the course of the winter, the
grass has been knocked down and withered. Bruce didn't find his
nosecone, but he found my casing! Thanks again, Bruce! Eagle-eye Bruce
also found an Estes Bandit in the grass. Mother Nature and the field
mice have ravished the body tube, but I'm sure that a yellow nose cone
and black plastic fins will be showing up at a future launch on a
scratch-built project by the Levisons.

What a great way to start off the 2006 launching season. We all look
forward to nice weather and good company. Our next launch is on
Saturday, April 8, 2006, at the Summit County Fairgrounds.

--
Mark Recktenwald
Stow, Ohio
NAR #77432 L1, MTMA (#606) President
MTMA web page: http://mtma.x3fusion.com