My Super Orbital Transport with decals on. Clearcoat tomorrow, install motor mount, then off to NSL the next day.

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Lee Reep
NAR 55948

Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor
In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold!
Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp

Some little mom-n-pop company used to offer a 3x24mm engine upscaled Astron Cobra clone kit on ebay called the "Super Cobra".
One I wished I purchased but never did.

I used to have an old Cobra 1500 with a 29mm engine mount. Flew it several times on FSI F7's, F100's, and numerous Composite 29mm engines including an old Enerjet F52-8.
Eventually it succumbed to a F100 cato.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Here's what I'll be flying at the NSL.

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Bob
S.A.M. # 0014

Bob, those look great!

I think we might have met at the NARAM in Pueblo. Paul Wolaver and I drove down on Sunday only and mostly spent money with vendors. We are attending the entire NSL, dinner thru Tuesday tour.

See you there.

Today, on the eve of leaving, I clear coated , then installed motor mount on Super Orbital Transport, then installed mini rail buttons, and hand painted inside of exhausts black for some additional realism. That last effort was exhausting ....

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Lee Reep
NAR 55948

Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor
In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold!
Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp

Since I started this thread I thought I would give you an account of the models I made and how they flew this past weekend at NSL.

My 100+" tall duration model won the event only because I believe no other adult got off a successful flight. I very young girl there won her age division and kicked my butt time wise.

The Battle Star Galactica Viper won the mid power upscale contest and put in a perfectly straight boost and gently landing.

Either my Upscale QCC Explorer or Upscale Goblin won the High Power upscale event. I didn't hear which model it was when they made the announcement. Between these three wins I received a $175.00 in gift certificates. I redeemed the $100.00 one with Chris Rocket Supplies at the field and brought home three new DMS H motors and some rail buttons.

My Maxi Brute V2 flew well on a Dark Star F motor, and yes I had permission to fly a non certified motor at the event.

My Door Knob flew great on an Estes F15-4.

My large E BG put in two good flights on E9-4 motors but I still need to trim it more since it flies in a too tight of a circle.

My mini Scissor Wing Transport put it two PERFECT flights lasting each around 30 seconds. Perfect boost and perfect glide on both flights.

Not sure if I mentioned this or not but I flew my original prototype of the Estes SLV at NSL with a core E9-8 motor and 5 C6-7 motors. The C motors kick out at ejection. I told whomever retrieved it could keep it. I in fact gave 5 or 6 models away this way, which gave me more time to fly models. I even gave away my 101.5" duration model.

I may have missed a flight or two but I know for sure I flew 21 flights with 19 different models at NSL.

John Boren

It was the QCC that won the High Power upscale event. And yes that little Scissor Wing Transport put in two amazing flights.

I won the Sierra Blanca challenge mainly by not having anyone else really try to do it. Steve Lubliner, who was planning to do the challenge, spent far more time helping run the meet at RSO/check-in and other places than he did flying.

I did what I'd planned to do - put up enough flights on an Estes Star Orbiter on F15-8s to get fairly close then use some smaller motor to get as close as I could without going over. It took seven flights on F15s (they averaged about 1600 feet each, with the model carrying a JL Chute Release and an AltimeterThree) and a final one on a D12-5 (in one of the Estes 29/24mm plastic adapters) which went just short of 500 feet to give me a total altitude on eight flights of 11,749 feet or 254 feet short of the goal. I thought about E16s, but they give me about 1000 feet at sea level so I would have overshot and the last flight would have then been dropped.

I suppose since no one else was trying to do it, that wouldn't have mattered, but still, I wanted to approach it as if I were competing against someone besides me.

According to my logbook I put up 20 flights over the three days (so 12 others besides the Star Orbiter). So....a number of models I brought went unflown. Oh well...that is the nature of such things.

My wife put up four flights on her two models, and unfortunately the Carlsbad Cavemen Big Bertha seemed to be unable to get a 'chute out (even though it worked just fine last June in Pasco, WA at the TCR meet) and so is likely to be shelved after the cumulative damage of three such events. The Aggie Alpha did just fine.

Hopefully Lee will chime in with his results, and maybe Bob as well.

It was a fun three days and the Holloman test track/WSMR tour today was pretty amazing. But it will be some time before we get all the red dust out of the car, our clothes, the rockets and everything else.....

We are looking forward to a fairly relaxed next few days visiting in Las Cruces. It was our 39th wedding anniversary today....and I think we'll do a fancy dinner at the Double Eagle in Mesilla - a place we managed to get to once while we were in college at NMSU - tomorrow night.

Added: perhaps in the next couple of days I can add more as a sort of NSL report - at least what was cool from my knothole. I do want to mention here a good flight by Tom Beach of the little rudder-only RCBG that is in the current issue of Sport Rocketry. It got a great boost and spent the first half of the descent trying to pull out of a spiral but once it did it glided almost as well as John's little Scissor Wing.

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Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

I just got back into Colorado this morning. Not even home yet, but hanging with grandkids since my wife stayed behind. After living in the Mojave Desert when I worked at the Naval Weapons Center, Alamogordo just didn't have much appeal for her ...

I took 2nd place in the mid-power upscale contest with my Super Orbital Transport, behind John Boren's Viper. The OT had a beautiful vertical boost, glider was a bit squirrelly gliding, but better to "flutter" in than perform a nosedive into the hard desert soil. I just ran out of time and did not thoroughly test glide performance. The rocket just needs a good wipe down from all the red dust.

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Lee Reep
NAR 55948

Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor
In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold!
Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp

I just finished updating our rocketry website for June featuring John and his Viper as the newest member of Red Squadron.

If you want to see his BSG Viper from NSL with lift off photo go to: http://www.vernarockets.com and click on Fire & Smoke on the menu.

Randy
http://www.vernarockets.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHJHOK6
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O14ET8K
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CX1UPCG

That applies to all the rockets, the tables, the chairs, the motor boxes, the entire interior of my car.....


On a vaguely related note - Lee, was it you who was asking where I got the clear tubing for the upscale Nova Payloader? I gave the wrong name - the company is called U.S. Plastic Corporation and you want the butyrate tubing - specifically this stuff - for a 2.5 inch diameter made-from-a-Partizon version: https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/i...px?itemid=27244

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Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Bernard,

I washed all the rockets that I had removed from my storage tub. Then I emptied and washed all toolboxes, totes. That was a pain.

I travelled with Paul Wolaver. I think I better send him some money to help pay for washing and cleaning his car's interior. Wow, that dust got everywhere!

I wasn't the one that asked about clear tubing, but glad to know the source. Will be handy if I ever get started on an upscale of my first stager, the Apogee II.

__________________
Lee Reep
NAR 55948

Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor
In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold!
Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp