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  #1  
Old 04-06-2013, 10:28 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Default Back On The Horse That Bit You Launch - 4/6/13 - B6-4 Field, Ft. Thomas, KY

With my one flight wonder Astron Drifter eyeing me balefully from its swinging perch atop the transformer above B6-4 field, I managed to squeeze in a few flights after prime baseball time had ended today. After making repeated trips up the street to the field, only to find it occupied from 10am to 3pm, I finally caught a break on my 4pm trip. I had a box of rockets that I knew I'd never be able to fly in the time before dinner, but my optimism remained unshaken.
Winds were again an issue, so my first rocket on the pad was a long ago shelved project from Peter Alway's Scale Bash book, the Hawk Motor Test Vehicle. While construction was finished and the rocket in flyable condition, the project was never completed because I wasn't satisfied with the way the fins came out after the initial coat of gloss white spray paint. Inside the recovery system was complete with Kevlar and a decent length of sewing elastic, so I decided to make it the Wind Test Mule for the day.



Loaded with a conservative A8-3, the heavier-than-the-Drifter rocket turned in a textbook, if low-level flight. If I had a baseball there's a very good chance that I could have beaned it at apogee, so low was the flight. Still, the flight was perfectly straight and made me think that the Hawk should be finished despite the mess I made of the diamond shaped fins.

Still unable to shake the feeling that the Drifter was closely monitoring the proceedings, I again went conservative for the second flight, my cobbled up ReneGoon on an A8-3. This was particularly galling because it's the kind of bird that gave B6-4 Field its name, a stout BT-60 based rocket with a big fin area.







Again, embarrassingly low level, so much so that the camera hadn't processed the shots from the liftoff in burst mode before the ReneGoon landed. The Drifter mocked me from afar.
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Bill Eichelberger
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http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #2  
Old 04-06-2013, 10:38 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Next up was the Estes Photon Disruptor, a nicely finished bird whose one previous flight ended with it plowing into an Ohio cornfield just as the ejection charge fired. Other than some ugly scratches in the balsa nose cone, the rocket was undamaged, and I cleaned and reprimed the cone while I was in the paint booth yesterday.









Flying on the mighty B6-4 engine, the Photon Disruptor left the pad with authority, disrupting photons all across the Northern Campbell County area. I'd switched cameras after the first two launches left me with nothing more to show from an action standpoint than the ReneGoon farting on the blast deflector. Camera #2 caught the Disruptor farting on the same blast deflector. I blame it on trying to coordinate the camera and launch button, and general uncoordination overall. My apologies. I can't pat my head and rub my tummy either.
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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #3  
Old 04-06-2013, 10:56 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Big and sturdy enough to handle the thrust of the mighty B6-4, the Estes Challenger II is another recently completed, first flight clone.









As you can see, the Challenger II brought the days first decent liftoff shot. Great flight, but ejection came well after apogee and the "THUNK" was clearly audible on the ground when the nose cone impacted the body tube. A slight gash at the top of the body tube was the only damage. This is a B6-2 bird if ever there was one.

Next was the Aggressor Aerospace DF-15B, repaired, repainted and loaded with all the bbs the cavity would hold after I hollowed out the middle piece of the nose cone with a power drill.





Noticeably nose heavy for this B6-4 flight, and the difference was huge. There was a slight wobble on the way up, but the overall flight path was dead straight. Ejection occurred just as it tipped at apogee. Couldn't have timed it any better.





Recovered in the middle of the infield all in one piece. Far better than three pieces in the cornfield. I claim redemption.
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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #4  
Old 04-06-2013, 11:07 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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The Darn Geeky, (yeah, the best I could come up with using as many of the letters from DARK ENERGY as possible,) was next off.



I bought two of the Dark Energy kits, one to cannibalize for a Rigel 3 clone and the other for future considerations. The Rigel 3 project is still in search of some small cardboard discs to finish things, but I attached the five fin structures in reverse to a BT-55 tube and found an unused nose cone. That's as far as things got. I brought it along just because it was flyable.







Things looked iffy early on, as the Geeky flew quite a bit higher than I expected it would. It also failed to windcock, and it initially looked as if it might be recovering in the trees. Instead the breeze dropped off and allowed for a left field landing.
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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #5  
Old 04-06-2013, 11:21 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Next to last off was the Estes Strato Cruiser, which cruised the strato nicely on its first flight, despite a noticeable wobble that likely came from a misaligned fin.





The Strato Cruiser landed on the pitcher's mound just as a father-son team arrived to commence batting practice. I still had the Holverson Tangent, the non-cheesy foam balsa edition, but the breezes were becoming more insistent. I let them know I had one more bullet in the chamber and hurried to get the flight in before the big winds returned.



The Tangent flight was great, high and with only a slight bit of windcocking to contend with. Trouble started at ejection. The rocket drifted quickly toward the trinity of terror, the backstop, the power lines, the trees, and US 27. (Yeah, yeah, that's four. Big deal. What's poetic about a quad of anything?) The Tangent wiggled its way between the trees and backstop, cleared the wires, and landed smack-dab in the middle of US 27. No further pictures because I was sprinting toward the pike, hoping that I wouldn't get there just to see the Tangent squashed by the oncoming Accent. Luckily the rocket landed in the left lane and she blasted by on the right. One of the baseball Dads from the lower field retrieved it for me. Other than a chipped fin tip, all is well.
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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #6  
Old 04-07-2013, 08:53 AM
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tbzep tbzep is offline
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It's amazing how much difference a few miles makes. I was near the Kentucky border in Clarksville (Home of the 101st Airborne) Friday night and yesterday in a 60 team tournament. It was muddy as heck after a good 20 hours of rain on Thursday. The fields were in terrible condition and the wind was dang near hurricane force. It was bad enough that when hitting infield, the wind would move the ball as I tossed it up. I actually had to pay attention to what I was doing for a change. I know I wouldn't have flown any rockets!
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  #7  
Old 04-07-2013, 09:08 AM
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Bill,

It looks like you had a fun time flying. Kudos to you!

BTW, the Tangent looks great.


Doug

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  #8  
Old 04-07-2013, 01:09 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
It's amazing how much difference a few miles makes. I was near the Kentucky border in Clarksville (Home of the 101st Airborne) Friday night and yesterday in a 60 team tournament. It was muddy as heck after a good 20 hours of rain on Thursday. The fields were in terrible condition and the wind was dang near hurricane force. It was bad enough that when hitting infield, the wind would move the ball as I tossed it up. I actually had to pay attention to what I was doing for a change. I know I wouldn't have flown any rockets!

Today was supposed to be crappy, but the sun was shining when I woke up at noon. At first I thought it was just too early and the weather would roll in later, but then I looked at the clock and was pleasantly surprised. I'm alternating between being outside burning a stump and being inside switching out screens in the doors. The sun is shining, it's warm enough to have turned my t-shirt dark grey, and windy as heck.
That said, I might sneak up to the field later if the winds die down and the weather holds. I never did get to fly the Patriot, Courier and Sprite.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #9  
Old 04-07-2013, 01:15 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Sams
Bill,

It looks like you had a fun time flying. Kudos to you!

BTW, the Tangent looks great.


Doug

.

Thanks. Good to have a real Tangent instead of the cheesy foam one. (Although, to be honest, that one flew like a champ, and the carcass was undoubtedly watching us yesterday.) I've got the Winnie half done. When I went to pop out the fins they had warped. They've been sitting under something heavy since Christmas.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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  #10  
Old 04-07-2013, 01:43 PM
A Fish Named Wallyum A Fish Named Wallyum is offline
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Forgot to mention that the whole time I was shuttling between YORF and Photobucket to add the pics, the ad in the margin at Photobucket featured plus size lingerie models. I can understand this had I flown a Big Bertha, but they were all grounded for the day.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Centuri Design Contest F-150 Hurricane Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Gee'Hod, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Solar Sailer II Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark, Snake Jumper
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