My newest hobby and passion...High Power Model Rocketry

[Chris Coffee 96]

[homefire 2,566]

Cool Stuff. Do you use Rocket Candy?

[Chris Coffee 96]

I haven't tried any of the sugar motors yet, but I have several friends in the hobby that make the stuff and want me to try it. Don't know if I will use it on this rocket though. I've got about $1,300 wrapped up in this thing and wouldn't want a Ex motor blowing it up. I use regular composite motors with CTI hardware.

[homefire 2,566]

LOL! I make pop bottle rocket size all the time. Got it down so there no longer smoke bombs or go Bloooowy! Made one in 3" PVC that got out of sight. Gotta keep it Dry and hard.

Edited December 1, 2013 by homefire

[saginaw72 19]

Hi Chris.

Enjoyed the video. It reminded me of something long ago.

When I was a kid I had a parachute toy that I loved. It was a disc that had a little paratroop figure with a parachute. The figure was held on with a rubber band that came loose during flight. You tossed the disc like a frisbee but straight up as high as you could and when the disc reached apogee, the little paratroop would fall out of the disc and his chute would (usually) open and he would drift down. It was a neat toy.

It would be great if you could apply the paratroop to your rocket somehow. It would add a lot more fun to the whole experience. Just an idea.

Saginaw

[Chris Coffee 96]

Hi Chris.

Enjoyed the video. It reminded me of something long ago.

When I was a kid I had a parachute toy that I loved. It was a disc that had a little paratroop figure with a parachute. The figure was held on with a rubber band that came loose during flight. You tossed the disc like a frisbee but straight up as high as you could and when the disc reached apogee, the little paratroop would fall out of the disc and his chute would (usually) open and he would drift down. It was a neat toy.

It would be great if you could apply the paratroop to your rocket somehow. It would add a lot more fun to the whole experience. Just an idea.

Saginaw

Saginaw, that is really a cool idea. In fact, as long as I can find one of those little dudes, I can absolutely get him to come out of the rocket at apogee. HOWEVER, this rocket flies to altitudes of over 10,000 feet high, so seeing the little paratrooper from that height would be pretty near impossible. But I would be willing to try it for sure. LOL

[Chris Coffee 96]

LOL! I make pop bottle rocket size all the time. Got it down so there no longer smoke bombs or go Bloooowy! Made one in 3" PVC that got out of sight. Gotta keep it Dry and hard.

I will eventually try one someday. I know they are a whole lot cheaper to fly than the composite motors. The last flight I had on this rocket went to 9,199 feet and the motor cost me $153 for that one launch!

[garimpo 2,249]

CC are there any FAA rules about flying your rockets at altitudes where aircraft also fly?

[Mike Furness 1,461]

A mini ICBM ... way cool ... just make sure the sky is clear of military planes when you fire it ... no need to waste a good stinger on your rocket! LOL

[saginaw72 19]

Hi Chris.

Yeah, height is a problem for spotting the little guy. I wonder if a chute made of highly reflective mylar or a really standout day-glo color might help with high altitude spotting. I'm thinking too of a trailing reflective mylar strip; the kind used to scare birds. These would be the cheapest options to try first.

BTW, any figure will do as a test jumper; Barbie perhaps? It's time she stepped up. I would fill her with sand, BB's, or something to add some weight (no joke). She would drift very far without it.

Just some thoughts.

Saginaw

Edited December 1, 2013 by saginaw72

[Chris Coffee 96]

Garimpo....yes, we do have FAA guidelines to follow. Anything that will reach an altitude over 7K' or higher we must call in a airspace waiver. At that point, the FAA makes sure there are no planes in the vicinity, and if clear we are giving a "waiver window" in which to launch the rocket. Our maximum ceiling at our launch site is 20K'.

Thank you, Mike. We actually had an incident where a rocket almost (and it was close) hit a single engine Cessna because he was flying so low FAA radar couldn't pick him up. He buzzed our launch site at MAYBE 300 feet altitude...MAYBE that high! And I agree with not wanting to waste resources, that would suck for my rocket big time.

Saginaw, if I fill the figure with enough lead I can put a 24" bright neon pink chute on it that I could see from about 5K'. And yes, the winds there can be a killer sometimes. A friend of mine lost a pretty big rocket because he launched it to 10K' using only single deployment with a 120" diameter blaze orange chute. Estimated drift distance by calculations was between 6 and 7 miles east of the launch pad. It was never found. I am certainly going to try the figure thing.

Here are some more pictures of our "fleet".

Below is my 4" diameter Lil John I named Old Glory, going up on a CTI J280 Smokey Sam motor...

Below is a rocket I built for my brother. A 2.6" diameter Patriot....

My lady and her 3" Super Batray......

Below is my 4" diameter Patriot Missile......

Edited December 1, 2013 by Chris Coffee

[saginaw72 19]

Sorry Chris, the link only opens this same page in a new tab.

Would really like to see what the group looks like.

Saginaw

[Chris Coffee 96]

And here is a couple more............

Me loading the Old Glory for launch......

Old Glory minutes after the paint dried...........

Me and April after my successful Level 1 Certification flight..........

[Chris Coffee 96]

Sorry Chris, the link only opens this same page in a new tab.

Would really like to see what the group looks like.

Saginaw

Tried to place a link for the album, but couldn't figure out how, so I just placed the pics in the thread.

[saginaw72 19]

Impressive group!

If, or when, you have more videos we would like to watch them.

Tell me, there are people that video trains (train chasers, I think they are called), are there people that film model rockets too?

Saginaw

[Chris Coffee 96]

There are more people that attach video cameras to their rockets than there are people who video tape the flights. The reason for that is that the rockets move so fast off of the pad that it is almost impossible to keep them in the viewfinder. I will be buying a new, better resolution camera to put on some rockets after the first of the year. I will be sure to post them. Thanks for the interest.

[Relichunter2 129]

Pretty cool.....thanks for sharing.