Launch Date: September 15th, 2022

 This past Thursday, the Denver, Colorado area was blessed with a very nice day for flying rockets. Five of our group converged on Dove Valley Park to do just the same.

Participants included Jim Gazur, Lee Reep, Brock Wood, and Darryl Fourrox, a newcomer to our group. Of course, Yours Truly Blogger was there as well.

Also in attendance was my neighbor, Adam Wesorick. He and his two sons have recently taken an interest in rockets, so I invited him to come out and check out our operation.

As far as the weather conditions went, there were 5 mph winds at the outset of the session, but these diminished to minimal as the afternoon wore on. Temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees, and there was a bit of high cloud cover.

A nice variety of models were flown this day, including two-stagers, clusters, gliders, and an odd-roc.

So, without further blog-blabber, here are the pics:

The first model off the pad was my flagship EAC Viper. Powered by a C6-7 motor, the model turned in a very high flight.

The Viper drifted outside of the launch field and landed in an adjacent baseball diamond infield.  When I picked up the model, I noticed that two fins were completely missing. They were not at the landing site. I soon discovered that the aft end of the model just clipped the top of a 20 foot high backstop fence as it drifted over. I located one of the fins outside of the fence, but the second was nowhere to be found.

Release the Odd-Rocs !!!
This is Lee Reep's Halloween Bowl Rocket.  It turned in a very interesting flight on a D12-0.

My Interceptor hits the skies on a B6-4.  

Lee's Neon Tiger ring glider set to launch on B6-2 power.

The model flew straight and high, with the glider separating and turning in a great glide, just as advertised.

After several trim tosses, I had a newly built Rascal rocket glider ready for its maiden flight. This is a fixed engine competition design from 1974 by Paul Conner.

"Heads up on this one...it's trimmed well for glide,
but I don't know what the boost will look like!"
(Image by Brock Wood)

On its way ! 
Powered by a 1/2A3-2T, the Rascal boosted and coasted in a wide spiral to altitude, then transitioned into a very nice glide pattern.
Unfortunately, a nose-first landing on the turf snapped the boom in three places.

Next up was Darryl Fourrox's nicely finished ESAM-58.  The model turned in an interesting flight on a B6-4 motor, weathercocking and arcing over.  The parachute ejected and opened a mere 40 feet above the ground to provide a happy ending to a real heart-stopper!
(Image by Brock Wood)

As usual, Jim Gazur brought some interesting birds to the launch. This one is an Estes Der Big Red Max converted to a 7 x 18mm cluster.   Yep, 7 !!  
Jim used MJG black powder starters. 
Another interesting feature of the rocket is the fins.  These are each built in three sections, then laminated with mahogany veneer. Very attractive finish and very cool. Brock dubbed it the "Mahogany Max".  We think the name will stick.
Actually, Jim says that it's walnut veneer, but we won't tell anyone.

With five A8-3's and two B6-4's blazing, the Mahogany Max roars off the pad for a low and slow flight.  Ejection was at apogee, and the bird floated down for a perfect landing!

A 'mole's-eye' view of the Max at ignition. 
Note the dispersion of the motor jet plumes as they hit the blast deflector.

(Image by Brock Wood)

My Wasp boost/glider ready to go...

A straight up boost on a 1/2A6-2 motor. 
The glider separated and flew very well. All was successfully recovered.

This is Brock Wood's Starship Octavius.  Interesting story on this one: Brock found the model in a trash can in Fort Lupton, Colorado.  Apparently, its previous owner didn't like it very much!  Brock found the model was completely stuffed with an over-abundance of recovery wadding (???).
The Octavius turned in a nice flight this day on a B6-4.  
Brock will likely not toss this one away...

This interesting model is Lee's scratch-built Sci-Fi model, the Kestrel. 
Using ejection ducting, the model made an excellent flight on a D12-3 motor.
The ejection charge went off right at the model's apogee!
The attractive bird was recovered intact.

Next up was my upscale Mosquito, the 'Skeeter Eeter 3'.  
Flying on a C11 motor the bird leapt off the pad and reached a respectable altitude.
The model fell to the ground without a deployed parachute.

To my amazement, the bird had stuck a perfect 3-point landing on its fins ! 
Step back, SpaceX !!
The parachute can be seen jammed inside the nose cone.

Darryl is seen here launching his Estes Goblin on a D12-5 motor while Lee and myself look on.  The attractive bird turned in a spectacular flight!
(Image by Brock Wood)

Another view of the Goblin's liftoff.

And now for something completely different...
This is Lee's 'Bertha and Betty'
Yes, boys and girls, two completely conjoined Big Bertha twins!
This would be the bird(s) maiden flight, powered by a pair of B4-4 motors.

We have ignition.. and boost.....

Apogee at around ten feet or so altitude....

...and ejection on terra firma !
This flight was voted as the most amusing of the day!
Fortunately, the ladies survived with no damage, and would see another flight very soon.

Gosh, but I had so much fun launching the Interceptor earlier,
I thought another run was in order.

The start of another textbook flight on a C6-5 !
(Image by Brock Wood)

Here we have Brock's 'Renewed Mongoose' two stager,
ready to launch on a B6-0/A8-5 combo.

Brock got this interesting shot of the model's liftoff from a
video taken beneath the launcher

...and liftoff from a different perspective.
The model turned in a perfect flight and was successfully recovered.

Jim with his inverted-fin Alpha upscale and booster. 
This model was inspired by a design by 'Lakeroadster' in a TRF post.

The unique booster stage is a ring fin design with cutouts designed to induce spin recovery.

Liftoff on a gap-staged D12-0 / C11-3 stack. The model weather-cocked and didn't get high enough to allow the booster to transition into a spinning motion.
The upper stage sustained a broken fin on landing.

Next up was Darryl's second launch of his ESAM-58 on a C6-5 motor.
(Image by Brock Wood)

A picture-perfect flight and recovery!

The next model out of my tote was the Canopus-2 cluster model.  
This would mark the first cluster launch of my BAR era.
I haven't flown such a model since 1983 !
Brock kindly loaned his custom-built cluster launch controller for this flight.

The start of a perfect flight on a core A8-5 and
an A10-0 in each of the side pods.

Lee soon had his Bertha and Betty prepped and on the pad.  This time the pair turned in a spectacular flight on two C6-3s.

After a liberal amount of CA, Jim had his big two stager ready to go again.
Flying on E12-0 / C11-3 power, the model turned in a much better performance.

Here we have Brock's Custom Rocket Company 'Aztec' upper stage
ready for flight.

Liftoff for a great flight powered by a B6-4 motor.

My final flight of the day was turned in by the Cherokee /Icarus 2-stager.
Motors used were a D12-0 gap staged to a C6-7.
The model carried an 808 video camera. 

A perfect liftoff for a very high flight.  Staging worked great. 
At ejection, I noted the lack of two parachutes. 
The camera payload section had been rigged to come down on its own 'chute. 
I happened to catch a glimpse of sunlight off the payload's aluminized mylar band as it plummeted to earth, marking its probable landing spot.
The section was recovered with no damage except for the broken rigging that had been attached to the parachute.
Sadly, I also found that I had improperly activated the camera prior to launch.
No video on this one.... 

The final flight of the day went to Lee's Halloween Bowl odd-roc.
This time it was powered by a mighty E12-4 for a great flight!

Here are two ground-view pics of the model's liftoff,
courtesy of Brock Wood.

Following this flight, it was deemed time to wrap things up.  Our intrepid group of rocketeers packed up their rockets and ground support gear and headed into the sunset...

Lastly, here are a few extra interesting pics from the day's festivities:

Guest Adam Wesorick from Castle Rock stopped by to
enjoy watching a number of the flights.

I happened to snap this photo of a cool looking thunderhead
anvil forming off to the east of Denver.

Two birds with one shot...
This was taken from a frame of Brock's ground-view video of his Aztec flight.
As the model neared apogee, a real bird flew into camera range right above the launcher!

VERY old school ignition technology.
All three of Brock's launches this day were started with ignitors fashioned from
28-gauge bare nichrome wire, looped and held in place with tamped wadding.
Not a misfire in the lot !


Cheers!