Before Semroc came back and began offering the old-style motor clips, I also did that with the finger tabs (although I still keep un-cut ones from Estes and Quest kits in case I'm ever out of Semroc motor clips when I want to do a scratch-build). Aesthetically, I've also always found the finger tabs unsightly--the old-style motor clips are just as functional without being prominently visible.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I like em. But of course, they're not a complete panacea. You still have residue and heat damage that accumulates, and they add weight.


Agreed.


I assume you're dumping rounded and airfoiled fins in with them.
I still prefer them cause they just look cooler.


Somewhat with ya on this, as far as the extreme is concerned. Two or three times body length is plenty, but the CW around here is "if theres still room in your chute compartment, you aren't using enough shock cord."



But if you don't put it over everything, it's probably gonna look ugly at some point. Either use it all over or don't use it at all.


Sure, but doesn't matter. If I have the Q2G2s for a cluster, I'm gonna use them before I use Solars. Of course, I was here when Langford first put SureShots to AG-1's and we were flying 20 - 100 motor clusters out on I-85 in Doraville. It got to be where some of our club members were using flashbulbs regularly for single motors!

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Roy
nar12605

With elastic and Kevlar/elastic shock cords, that's been my experience as well. Because the rocket is usually still moving slowly at ejection, when the nose cone snaps back the rocket body isn't in the same location it was in when the nose cone popped off, and it usually misses the rocket body. Watching ejections on low-altitude flights, I can see the whole rocket body/shock cord/nose cone assembly begin to perform a slow end-over-end somersault when the nose cone snaps back (until the parachute inflates or the streamer unfurls and "takes hold").

For lightweight BT-5/ST-5 to BT-50/ST-10 size rockets, I've found that (as Chan Stevens' NAR R & D Report indicated) a non-elastic shock cord of Kevlar works just fine. I usually use 18" to 24" of 100# Kevlar cord. Thick cotton string also works well for this application, although it does get singed and has to be replaced sooner than Kevlar.

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NAR #54895 SR

All true; but I will say that in my experience, the occasional long shock cord has, on more than one occasion, made for me the difference between retrieving or leaving a rocket in a tree. I'm just saying...

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John
YORF #003
SAM #004

Please elaborate...

I'd second both these points. I also in a number of cases, especially rockets with payload sections or large nosecones, have the rocket come down in separate sections on separate chutes. Tends to solve a fair number of recoil damage problems, but more items to keep up with in the sky (though spectators like to see the 'extra' chutes).

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

Where we fly there is this long row of trees that runs down the middle of the recovery fairway. Most rockets that have the misfortune of landing in these trees seldom catch in the tops, but instead in branches to the side. A longer shock cord means the rocket hangs lower, and at least increases the chances of a successful retrieval.

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John
YORF #003
SAM #004

Cool. I could see it going both ways - a smaller cord might not catch at all, whereas a longer one might loop over a high branch and hang down from both sides. I guess if you can somehow pull it down though, that's when it pays off

Having seen some High Power Rockets with l-o-n-g shock cords (a great example can be seen descending under a main parachute and a small pilot 'chute on page 51 of The Model Rocketry Handbook: 21st Century Edition by Stuart Lodge), the main body of such a "treed" rocket could easily dangle down close enough to the ground for the rocketeer to reach up and gently "shake 'n tug" the rest of the rocket down from the tree's branches.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Unfortunately, even shorter shock cords can wrap themselves around branches or overhead wires. My nephew's streamer-equipped Estes Athena (the older E2X kit with the Generic E2X white plastic fin unit and the aluminized nose cone) wrapped itself around a telephone wire several times... :-(

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR