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Old 07-21-2020, 06:38 PM
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5x7 5x7 is offline
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Default Great late Father’s Day Night Launch

A while back I got a few Estes Flickers on sale for $10.50. They have an LED nosecone so it seemed like an interesting idea. I have done 3 other night launches over the years, the first one at Blackrock in 1995, so I feel fortunate to be able to do them. I had an incredibly bright xenon strobe that fit perfectly in a 1.5” LOC tube as the nosecone. That strobe was destroyed at the last URRF night launch about 5 years ago, so I was happy to get something to fly at night again. For fathers’s day, I asked my kids (16 and 20) if they would go to the park with me for a launch and they agreed, but it got too late, so we postponed it to last weekend. In addition to the night launch rockets, I brought a Flip Flyer ona C6-5 as a wind test to be flown at dusk, and a Liquidator for old times sake since I flew it with them a bunch of times when they were little, including a Jello launch. There was very little wind, the Flip Flyer was barely visible after ejection, but landed fairly close by. It was fairly dark when we flew the Liquidator on a D12-3, I could just see the chute on the payload slowly inflate, my youngest was getting into it and caught the booster, while the Payload with ginger ale landed a few feet away. After it landed we divided the flown soda into three cups, toasted to a great day and enjoyed the drink on a hot night. It was fairly dark for the next rocket, an LGM0095 on a B6-4 with one of the Flicker LED noses to see how visible it was. The girls picked the first of three LED patterns, the fast flash, and we flew it, it wasn’t very high and landed nearby but it changed directions and avoided being caught. I had some ignition problems with the actual Flicker, loaded with a C6-5. It was pretty dark when it finally went, great sparks, and the nosecone was barely visible at apogee but I could see it. My youngest took off after it and caught it probably a hundred yards downwind almost in pitch dark, it was up for nearly a minute. I couldn’t make out the catch, just the cheering when she got it. It was a fun night, when it cools a little I’m going to pull some of the rockets they painted when they were little and have another launch with them. Some videos taken by my daughters below.

Flip Flyer Launch (nothing after the launch)

Liquidator Launch and Recovery

LGM LED nose Launch and Recovery

Flicker Night launch Launch only

Last edited by 5x7 : 07-22-2020 at 08:04 PM.
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Old 07-21-2020, 08:44 PM
SCooke123 SCooke123 is offline
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