Yesterday (March 5, 2016) we had almost perfect weather for our launch in Needville, TX. I managed to get a few models up, including my vintage FSI 1/8 scale Black Brant - II (newly repaired after the base section nearly got fried back in 2012), newly built Estes Sandhawk along with the Estes Athena and Hawk Hobby's Super Mark.

I flew the Athena first with a Quest A6-4 to check the wind direction and speed. Everything looked great so the Super Mark went up next on a D12-5, which put it up higher than any of the flights flown that afternoon. Drifted over to the next fence on Jeff Robert's farmland. I then flew the Black Brant on an E9-4; perfect flight with nice recovery, landing within easy walking distance from the launch site. Finished out with the Sandhawk for its' first flight. Started to use a D12-5, but at the last minute changed to a C6-3 as I didn't want to take the chance of the nose/payload section drifting too far from the main section.

Couldn't fly the D-Region Tomahawk (which was planned), as the lower "plastic" launch lug snapped off just as I was loading it on the launch pad. Tried to CA the lug, but it was taking too long to set so I shelved it and will just try again at next launch.

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

You're killing me! We had beautiful weather today, but the field is a quagmire, and it likely to be for quite some time. They're predicting a deluge later in the week, so next weekend is looking pretty rough right now as well. The good news is temps in the 60's and 70's for the near future.
Got any other pics of the Super Mark? I've never seen one in the wild.

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Bill Eichelberger
NAR 79563

http://wallyum.blogspot.com/

I miss being SAM 0058

Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle

In paint: Canaroc Starfighter Scorpion Centuri Mini Dactyl Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc Cyber III

Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark

We've been in that position for quite some time ourselves (just ask lukestrawalker, the field you see in the pics is his property). We finally got a break from the rain for the past few weeks and I put a feeder to Jeff a week ago about the condition of the field. Came back positive so I went ahead and called for a launch. The field conditions couldn't have been more perfect. A little later the grass will get about knee high and Jeff's neighbor the next property over will have things growing (that property as of Saturday was just plowed soil). I feel your pain buddy.

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

[QUOTE=Got any other pics of the Super Mark? I've never seen one in the wild. [/QUOTE]


Sorry, I missed your question the first time I answered. A few more of the Super Mark below.

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Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Yep, which he just planted (probably in sorghum) last week... I guess it'll be sorghum-- corn prices and cotton prices are in the toilet and soybeans aren't too far behind, and don't grow that great here... sorghum at least has some pretty decent demand and prices (still)... China is buying all they can get from us, basically.

I opened up the patch by my house Friday evening and called the cows in-- they had been jumping the cattleguard on the end of my drive and my brother, Keira, and I had to lift it out with the tractor and dig it out last weekend... finally got that all done and let the cows back in, which should have kept them out of the launching field while yall were down there...

later! OL J R

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Hey Dave,
Sorry we missed you guys... you're right the weather was absolutely perfect... Keira and I got a late start and when we saw yall down there started prepping some of her models to fly and we were loading up the truck when we saw yall lock up and hit the road, so we just missed yall... Hope to catch up with yall soon...

Anyway, Keira had been wanting to fly some of the rockets she'd built and so we went ahead and grabbed my Zooch Pad 34Z and my controllers and stuff and went down there shortly after yall left. We set up about where yall were, maybe 100 feet inside the gate...

Keira did most of the stuff herself for the launch. First rocket she sent up was her Dr. Zooch "Gumball Lofting Vehicle (GbLV)" with four beads in the gumball payload compartment... Launched it on a C6-3 and it flew beautifully. At ejection the payload capsule separated and came down on its own chute, and the rocket recovered on its standard streamer, within about 100 feet of the pad. The capsule drifted probably 300 yards away and Keira recovered it no problems.

Next she launched her Estes Freefall, complete with parachutist... Again, on a C6-3 Estes motor. VERY nice flight and recovered very nicely, the parachutist on his own parachute paralleled the booster on its own chute for awhile, of course the rocket being heavier came down a lot faster and landed maybe 100 yards from the pad. Keira went chasing down the parachutist which crossed the fence to the northeast and actually landed about 15 feet up in a tree just the other side of the old barn (where the launch box used to be stored). We had to recover it later with a pole saw.

Next Keira launched her Estes "Neon" tube-fin rocket that she built last year for the county fair... When we prepped it she loaded the dog barf and selected one of the mylar "party balloon" parachutes for it, a "smiley face" one from Wal Mart or something, which was AWFULLY big for the BT-50 tube... too big in fact... It wouldn't fit so I tried rolling the parachute in a spiral pattern to make a longer, thinner package that would fit (barely) into the tube. It lifted off beautifully on an Estes C6-3, but when the ejection charge fired it merely popped the cone-- the chute didn't get fully ejected and she streamlined in, and hit hard... crimped the tube in half about halfway up, but the fin can and tube fin can was totally undamaged, so with a new tube graft, she'll fly again... the plastic two-piece glue-together nosecone split at the "eye" in the base... so we'll have to come up with a repair for that... probably epoxy in a loop of kevlar or something...

Keira wanted to end on a good flight, so we prepped her Dr. Zooch GbLV again for another flight. The winds were picking up slightly as she loaded it on the rod and hooked up the controller. She launched after a good countdown and the flight was picture perfect, except the winds aloft were picking up even more so, judging by the weathercocking and deployment at altitude. The rocket came down about 200 feet from the pad and the payload capsule, under its own separate parachute, just started sailing northeastward and didn't want to come down... I was watching the rocket and told Keira to keep watching the payload chute, and she was tracking it well after the rocket landed, until she blinked, and lost sight of it and never got it back. I'd watched the rocket land under streamer to locate it and never could regain sight of the payload capsule and chute again. She started heading northeast toward the center of the farm to look for it while I packed all the gear and stuff and locked up and drove down to pick her up... we searched around in the pasture behind my brother's house for awhile, then went for the pole saw to recover the parachutist from the Chinese tallow tree behind the old barn. Betty got home from her school thing so we picked her up and she and Keira looked for the stray payload capsule while I whittled on the tree enough to recover her parachutist. She and Betty had a birthday party to get ready for and go to, so we quit searching after about 20 minutes and went home for lunch. Later that afternoon after they left, I had some work to do at the farm shop over at my brother's place next door and decided to ride around and look for the capsule a bit... turns out it landed across the road from my brother's place in an open field they had just dozed and disked a week or so ago (probably for MORE friggin' new homes... ) and the little red Dr. Zooch trash-bag parachute was just laying out there fluttering in the breeze, stuck on some dirt clods... I turned on my hazard lights, jumped out of the truck, and hiked about 100 feet out in the field to retrieve it... I had hung the TINY parachute (maybe 4 inch diameter) that came with the "gumball capsule" from the Zooch GbLV on the candelabra over my work table-- didn't realize it'd get hot enough to melt the little thing! SO, I had substituted a standard "Dr. Zooch trash-bag parachute" for it, since I have a TON of those things in my range box and they're pretty small-- maybe 8-10 inches in diameter... I guess I SHOULD have cut the thing down to a smaller size, or put a big spill hole in it... but it was one of the RARE "red" trash bag chutes, so I didn't... (Dr. Zooch kits USUALLY come with yellow trash bags chutes-- Wes told me that the red bags are EXCEEDINGLY difficult to find because they're for "hazmat" or "biohazard" trash-- he got some and used a bunch for trash bag chutes, but then used the extras for his household garbage and the trash man wouldn't pick it up in a red trash bag-- against regulations or some such). Anyway, Keira got her "space beads" back along with her capsule and parachute, which must have gotten too much UV near the window because it's kinda brittle now...

Anyway, she had a great time... looking forward to seeing you guys at the next launch, hopefully...

Later! OL J R

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Oh, the pics... I forgot... LOL OL J R

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

And a few more... Got some neat launch pics with the burst mode on my camera...

Later! OL J R

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Few more launch pics...

OL J R

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Last of the liftoff shots... OL J R

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!