Back In The Day, Part 43 - One More Cosmic SteppingStone Tidbit...

 In the very back of my Cosmic Steppingstone newsletter notebook binder, I found this interesting original hand-drawn concept cover page...

At some point around 1983, I had apparently entertained the idea of putting together a small "Best Of..." volume containing the better articles, cartoons, rocket plans, and various items of interest that had been published throughout the history of the newsletter.

Obviously, I never got around to doing that.

But, now, come to think of it.....it's never too late for anything.

Perhaps in the near future, I will pick up this long-forgotten project and finally complete it...38 years after its inception.

I'll be sure to make it available to anyone who might care to download a copy.

...And The Build Pile Just Gets Bigger...

In a recent post, I promised I would treat myself by buying a couple of new kits as a BAR birthday present to me.

Today, I made good on that promise by taking a trip to the local Hobby Lobby.

I ended up walking away with not a couple - not three - but four new additions to the stash.

Three of the kits are strictly earmarked as parts sources for other projects:

The Mean Machine and Baby Bertha are destined to become Big Bertha, Omega and Astron Spaceman clones, three of my 'old fleet' favorites.  

This is after all, the BlastFromThePAST Blog. 

The remaining body tube pieces will likely become various booster stages and payload sections.

The Cherokee-E was purchased mainly for the body tube to replace a BT-55 that came in a Nike-X kit in damaged condition. The leftover usable body sections will also be cobbled into boosters and payload tubes.

Only the  Crossfire ISX kit will be built as originally intended.

It's simply a cool looking design...

Launch Date: May 13th, 2021

 Today's launch on Thursday, May 13th, was a rather impromptu affair based on some weather condition model analysis of the Castle Rock, Colorado area observed over the past two days.  Founders Park, the site of the previous week's ill-fated launch attempt, was the chosen site.  A couple of fellow area rocketeers were notified of the mini-event, but Jim Gazur was the only one able to attend.

I arrived at the field at 12:00 noon to get set up and start flying some birds.  The wind was variable, ranging from 2 to 9 mph.  With the park located on top of a mesa, the winds tend to change direction frequently, making it difficult to ascertain an optimum launch location right away.  

Jim was not scheduled to arrive until 12:30, so I went ahead and prepped the flagship EAC Viper for flight.

The model flew very nicely on A10 power, but the parachute failed to deploy, causing a fairly hard landing on the turf downrange.  No damage was incurred by the model, however.

My second model sent aloft was the Estes Super Shot, the late 1990s version, for its maiden flight.  Since I wasn't entirely sure about wind drift conditions yet, I put this one up on an A8-3 motor.  The Super Shot is a fairly heavy mostly-plastic bird, so altitude was limited to the 150-200 foot range. The model landed nicely, and was picked up by Jim, who had just arrived, and was approaching directly in the flight line of the model.

I'm somewhat curious as to what that object appearing in the image to the left of the smoke trail is. It definitely is not part of the model or launcher.....

Jim had brought only one model to fly - the Dual Deployment Test bird that had lawn darted at Dove Valley on April 30th. The bird was repaired and ready for another test flight.  While Jim went back to the parking lot to do some flight prep work at his car, I took the opportunity to trim out the Orbital Transport glider.  After several tosses and trim clay adjustments, I finally had it flattening out for a satisfactory glide. 

At least it flew well enough to earn my standard 'redneck' badge of approval:

While Jim was still away, I moved launch operations a bit further upwind to provide more field for some of our upcoming higher impulse flights to land in. This placed me in the general vicinity of where I had lost my launch rod the week before.

To my surprise and delight, I found the object after only about five minutes of searching. 

 It was a bit rusted from rain and dew, but is fully restorable for use again.  Besides getting the rod back in my possession, I'm very glad that some poor grounds maintenance guy didn't have to deal with running over it with a lawn mower.....

About this time, Jim had returned to the launch area and was quickly able to get his test rocket ready and on the pad.  

The model carried a load of electronics:  a Perfectflight Stratologger altimeter to record flight data and trigger the dual deploy system, the pyro release mechanism itself, and a newly acquired Estes Astrocam video camera attached to the airframe to obtain images of the recovery system deployment.

The avionics bay is situated in the middle of the model, and the aft facing charge deploys the streamer at apogee pushing out the fin can as if it were a nose cone.  The forward-facing charge deploys the parachute at the selected lower altitude determined by the altimeter.  If the avionics fail the motor's ejection charge deploys the streamer.

Upon ignition, the model boosted nicely on a D12 motor, but for some reason weather-cocked severely. 

It still reached enough altitude to allow the deployment system to work properly.  A still frame from the video below attested to successful system operation.

The entire model landed on the flying field and was successfully recovered.

My next flight was an Estes Generic E2X carrying a special payload section.  This unit was designed to carry both an Estes and FlightSketch Mini altimeter on the same flight, mostly to ascertain the accuracy of the Estes version.

Both altimeters were powered on and carefully loaded into the payload bay. The model was placed on the launcher.

True to Murphy's law, when I tried to connect to the FlightSketch with the app, it showed 'Device not found'.  After removing the altimeter, I found no power.  I couldn't get it to power on again, either. Dead as a doornail.  

The E2X flew anyway, carrying only the Estes altimeter.  On a B4-4  motor, the flight went well, albeit with another 'para-wad' recovery.

The altimeter read 376 feet, which Jim and I concurred as being in the ball park of the observed visual estimate.

The final flight of the day went to my Big Rage carrying an 808 keychain cam on a B6-4 motor.  

The model turned in a very nice flight despite experiencing yet another un-deployed parachute! That was three out of four.

I determined the problem to be from powdering the chutes the day before while pre-prepping all the models.  Even though they didn't get folded up for packing in the model box, they probably still need more powdering right before launch.

Anyway, here are some of the more interesting still frames from the Big Rage video flight..

I've included these two shots of Jim observing the model's recovery.  A couple of frames showed up in the video as the model neared the ground, and the other is from the ground-based cel phone video of the flight.. 

It's interesting to note that the 808 video field depth makes people and objects appear to be much closer than they actually are.  The video frame makes it look like the model is coming right down next to Jim when, in reality, it was well over 50 feet away.

On a final note: after I got home, I attempted to power up the FlightSketch altimeter.

It worked just fine.......

Cheers!

 

The Launch Session That Wasn't....

 Today, the weather in Castle Rock, Colorado was highly favorable for a quickie rocket launch.  So, I packed up a few models and headed for Founders Park, a B-engine sized grass field on the east side of town.

On arrival at the site, I set up the launcher at one end of the field in accordance to which direction a very light breeze was blowing.   After getting the launcher partially set up, I noticed that the breeze had changed direction slightly, blowing more toward a shorter span of the field.  Picking up the launcher and range box, I moved operations about 30 yards upwind.

To my chagrin, the fickle breeze still couldn't decide which direction it wanted to go, so I picked up and moved a second time. This proved to be the ideal final location.

After prepping the first model , I walked it over to place it on the launcher.  Oops, I had forgotten to affix the launch rod to the tripod.  No worries, I've got it right here.....

It was then discovered that there was no launch rod lying next to the range box!  Whaat??

I know I had packed one in the car and remembered carrying it onto the field with the rest of the launch gear.

I surmised that the rod had been left behind at one of the locations on the field I had previously vacated while trying to pick the optimum launch spot.

Re-tracing my steps, I searched all over for the missing rod.  It couldn't be found.  Anywhere. 

Now, friends, you would think that a 36 inch length of shiny steel would not be THAT difficult to find in a closely mown grass field, but apparently it is! 

I even ran back to the parking lot to see if maybe, possibly,  I actually did leave it behind in the car.  Nope.  Not there.

I about-faced and executed a methodic search of the whole end of the field which I had occupied.  Still no luck.

OK, no rocket flights today. I kinda' needed a launch rod for that.

All was not quite lost, though.  I still had one task to accomplish.  

I had packed along the glider from my recent Orbital Transport build with the intention of hand launching it for glide trim.

But now there was a new problem: I had spent so much time looking for that dang launch rod, the wind had picked up in the interim, thanks to some small rainstorm cells that had begun building to the west.  Enough wind was now present to make it impossible to conduct trim tosses of the glider.

Egads !!

With a heavy heart, and no small amount of irritation, I packed up the gear to head home, conceding a complete and utter waste of an entire hour. All flight missions scrubbed.

Some days are better than others...... 

Another New Estes Offering At Hobby Lobby !

 The Leaper kit from the Destination Mars series is now available at your Hobby Lobby store for a mere $14.99.  Leapin' Lizards!

808 Keychain Video Camera Flight, April 30, 2021

 This past week I had the opportunity to get out to Dove Valley Park in Centennial, Colorado for a rocket launch.  One of the flights on the mission agenda was a video camera launch.

The camera was attached to a Quest Big Rage booster with strips of electrical tape.  The model was launched on a C6-5 motor and recovered via a 14 inch parachute.  Estimated altitude of the flight falls in the 500-600 foot range.

Following are a few of the more interesting still shots I pulled out of the video:

An aerial shot of me at the launch controller following liftoff.
Oops, got a cursor arrow in there from the image clip!

An image from higher up which includes the rest of the gang of BARs present at the
 launch site.  Left to right are Lee Reep, Debi Reep, Roy Houchin, and Jim Gazur.
I'm confident that they are all waving and saying "Cheese" !

A good image of a park pavilion and walking paths.  This and the next frame are near the point when the model was reaching apogee and beginning to arc over.

A view showing a couple of park structures and an adjacent street.

The remainder of the video was somewhat unremarkable as the camera was pointed toward the ground during the rocket's descent under the parachute.  A lot of  frames showing soccer field boundaries and goal nets wheeling around below.

On future 808 launches, I intend to rig the camera so that it hangs at around 45 degrees as it descends under the chute.  This might make for some more interesting flight frames.

I also will be flying the camera in tandem with an altimeter.  In this manner, I will be able to correlate individual still frames with the corresponding point in the recorded flight profile.   

Here is a photo of the Big Rage / 808 payload on the pad for this launch:

More to come.....

"By Gum, By Gosh, By Golly..."

 ...I almost forgot.  

Yesterday was my 5th BAR Birthday!  

I can't believe it's been five years already.  Tempus Fugit.

Anyway, I believe I need to celebrate by going out and buying another kit or two.

Maybe three....

Launch Date: April 30, 2021

 Finally! At long last!  A day in Colorado without snow and/or wind!  And no burn bans, either!

It's been a long time coming...

Always on the lookout for a suitable rocket flying day, our little band of BARs in central Colorado took advantage of some very good wind-less, 70-plus degree conditions this past Friday to poke a few holes in the sky above Dove Valley Park in Centennial.

In attendance were Jim Gazur, Lee and Debi Reep, Mike Goss, Roy Houchin, and your humble blogger. 

Without further ado, here are the pictures of the festivities:

Mike Goss launches an Estes EAC Firecat clone
on a B6-4 Motor for a very nice flight.

My EAC Viper clone stands ready for its maiden flight.

Start of a perfect flight and recovery for my new
fleet flagship. You blog readers are going to see a lot
of this one over the next couple of years.

Mike Goss readies his beautifully built Estes Outlander for flight.

Liftoff for a very nice flight on a C11 motor.
Unfortunately, the model sustained damage to some
landing legs on recovery.

My Wasp boost/glider prepped and ready for its maiden
launch on a 1/2A6-2 motor. This design dates back to 1970!

...and liftoff for a perfect straight-up flight.
The glider turned in a 43 second duration.

Lee Reep displays his nicely finished 'Deuces Wild' cluster 
model. 

A perfect liftoff for the 'Deuces Wild'.

My newly built Skeeter Eeter 3 ready to go on a D12-5 motor.

The Skeeter Eeter roars off the pad for a very high jaunt
into the blue Colorado sky...

...and a not-so-successful streamer recovery landing.

Jim Gazur concentrates on preparing a dual-deployment test rocket for flight
on a C11 motor.

The 'test-bed' model looking impressive as it clears
the launcher.

Unfortunately, the model did not attain adequate altitude for the flight computer to 
enable pyro deployment.  Even though the model lawn darted, it sustained very
little damage, and can be flown again.

My Estes Solo ring glider model stands ready for launch.

Liftoff for a successful run.  This flight proved that a 
B6-2 is the optimal motor for the model.

A Cherokee-D flight, courtesy of Lee Reep, takes to the 
skies.  Unfortunately, the model experienced a broken
shock cord.  The nose floated off under the parachute, 
while the booster free-fell, but in a horizontal attitude,
sustaining no damage!

My Quest Big Rage set to launch with an 808 keychain cam 
going along for the ride. This model doesn't exactly look 
like a Big Rage - the original kit Nike Smoke nose cone was lost
on its previous flight, so a Quest Icarus nose is substituted. 
Also, this flight was made without the Big Rage's long
payload section.

Jim Gazur is shown here preparing an ArtHobby Colibri V - 1 meter RC glider
 modified for rocket power.  

A spectacular liftoff of the Colibri !  Lee Reep launched the model
while Jim manned the RC control unit.  This was by far the best flight of the 
day.  Jim had great control of the glider, bringing it in for a nice landing
after executing a couple of touch and go skips along the turf!

My final launch of the afternoon went to the new
Citation Patriot for its maiden flight.

After a picture-perfect flight on a C6-5 motor, the Patriot wafted straight back to the
launch area under its 14 inch parachute, draping itself over a camp chair that had, only
seconds before, been vacated by Debi Reep!  
I then had to start out on a long, grueling 8 foot trek from my own prep area to retrieve
the model.  Good thing I took along a water bottle!

Lee Reep's Red Max leaps off the pad for a very nice flight.

There were a few other models flown for which I have no photos.  

Mike Goss flew an Estes Curvilinear and a Hex-3.  The rest of the crew weren't able to witness these flights, however.  Mike's work schedule dictated a short flight window for the day.  He was flying models solo at the field early before the rest of us arrived, and also had to leave early. 

Lee Reep also flew a Hex-3. He plans to launch it at every launch event to see how many flights he can get out of it. 

Jim Gazur flew a 1.5 upscale of a CMR Manta modified as a rocket/glider with RC control.  The flight was very successful.

Also at the launch was Roy Houchin, who recently moved to Colorado,  Roy didn't bring any models to fly, but promised he would have some ready for our next outing.

It was a great day for flying, period.   After not being able to do much in the way of rocket launches in the past year because of the pandemic, the fire danger burn bans, and lousy winter/spring weather, all of us were very grateful and elated to have had this opportunity to get out for a much needed flying fix.

Cheers!