On Saturday, July 17th, some MASA members came out to the
Elk River VFW for an "extra" summer launch.
Today was a great day for rocket flying at Otsego. Not much
wind but in a bad direction to the West at first. Paul and I
arrived around 850. We wanted to get an early start on flying some
of the untested models we have built since last fall. It's well
over 25 different types. We brought several pads and controllers
in case they were needed. I also brought a large amount of
wadding. I just got two stop watches for Open Contest which I
needed today.
The trip was worth while on the first flight alone. The second
rocket in our tube structure series is the Small Profile Pyramid.
In order to fly this pyramid without a pod required 3 oz. of nose
weight. This Pyramid was launched on a D12-3. It took off the pad
in a flash climbing straight up with just a little vertical turn
after burn out. The weight was not a problem for shock cord or
chute. The profile is thin 1/16" balsa and only one tip was
broken on landing. Now on to the F level pyramid.
My next flight was a retest of the Borg (tube) Cube. Paul put a
styrofoam ball over the pod weight for effect. I thought it would
be a wind drag. I tried it on a B6-2. It arced over and came half
way down before the chute came out. The sphere is too much drag.
I flew 4 ultra light weight thin finned 1/4A Open Contest
rockets using fiber glass and 1/64" plywood fins. Two used
3" streamers and two used (12" and 15") mylar
chutes. Since no times are present these will be entered into the
records. All the rockets flew higher than expected but the
deployment was late or not complete. Still the times were fairly
good for now. 1/4 A streamers were 23 secs. and 1/4 A chutes were
29 secs. with only late deployment.
I finished up with 1995 EC 18 (Edmunds Conard) on a B6-2 for a
long glide. This was it's first flight after being built 9 years
ago. Paul wanted to try new and old rockets. He flew
his Wacky Wigger on a B6-4 for another great flight. The steel
fishing leader is doing the trick now. Next he flew the
Cruise Missile on a A3-4t for a good flight but the cramped chute
was pretty badly torn up.
Paul found a broken Boink rocket and rebuilt it into a Boink-less
rocket. He flew this 3 times for really great flights. He used a
B6-4 and 2 C6-5 motors. Good chutes and landings. I call it the
Fickle Finger Of Fate Award Rocket. (Rowen and Martin).
Paul flew my Alien Space Probe twice on a C6-3 and my Strike
Fighter on a C6-3. He finished the day with his Tornado on a A8-3.
While all this was going on 6 people came and flew with us and
left at different times. An open house so to speak.
Paul helped a new member to be and his young son get their
rockets going. He is good at that. He also coached them on using
our wadding material.
Also Lee Grimm tried for a Open Contest record for 1/2A BG
Duration. Lee's first attempt broke the old record of 27
secs. by Alan Estenson. We lost sight of Lee's Deltie after
1m 15 secs. But this was easily over 2 minutes. Yes he did get it
back so we have another new record. Great flight Lee. Lee made two
more attempts but one hung up in the pod and the other was another
great flight but only 1 min. 02 secs. Good but not like the one
that sailed away. Paul and went after it but we still lost sight
of it because of the haze and glare.
Everyone was commenting on how high the rockets were flying. It
looked like one size larger motor. Dave Whitaker had some great
flights on his Big Daddy and one from the Launch Pad and many
others.
The only thing that would have been better would have been a
North-South wind. But flying new experimental rockets , 3 Open
Contest Records and a new member (Lynn Christin) is not a bad days
work.
