Thread: Hanger Queens
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Old 09-28-2018, 11:09 AM
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Sprint60 Sprint60 is offline
Intermediate Rocketeer
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Greater Kansas City
Posts: 39
Default Hanger Queens

Hanger Queens - we all have at least one that for any of a variety of reasons never sees any air-time. Either because they’re too pretty to fly (none of those in my fleet!) or unstable, or constantly broken, or consistent hard luck, or for some or some other reason they just never get flown. For example, the 1/100 scale Estes Saturn V is just too clumsy to transport and fly. As is the original Mean Machine - six feet of unwieldy model rocket unless you thought to modify it to break in the middle (I didn’t). And yes, I have one of each.

I’ve already mentioned the Holverson Design Swinger. It was just so heavy that I felt it would glide like a brick and never even test flew it.

So here’s the Estes F14 Tomcat. It’s one and only flight was so weird that I’ve never had courage to put another motor in it.

Never let it be said that I can’t hit the side of barn! Because that’s exactly where it wound up! This was 'way back in 1994 or 5. No notes on the flight were taken so it comes from a very distant memory. I remember that it left the rod and went in a wide arc backward and was doing a cruise missile upside down at about 100 feet. Then the ejection opened the wings and it started rolling over still going very fast with arc following the roll in a strange semi-corkscrew. Then the side of the barn came up and smacked it. Damage to the soft plastic nose extension was pretty bad. I patched it up and touched up the paint. It’s been sitting in the rocket garden ever since.

Neat idea, it just somehow loses in the translation. I theorized that the wings may have flopped around during the flight and added a pair of tabs to the vertical stab to hold them down during boost. Still never tried it again. The wing release is ingenious.

It’s a little dusty but here it is. What model(s) in your fleet never get out?
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