Friday, June 9, the Colorado Front Range was blessed with some very fine weather, prompting a rocket-flying jaunt to Founders Park in Castle Rock.
On hand to poke some holes in the sky were Mike Goss, Mike Perreault, David Frey and family: wife Anne, and two sons: Xander and Maximus. Of course, Yours Truly Blogger was present, as well.
Collectively, well over 30 flights were logged in a two and a half hour session (I lost count). The prevailing wind was very minimal, perhaps averaging 2mph with occasional gusts of no more than 7mph.
Rather than continue to engage in excessive blog-blabber, here are the pics:
 |
| Mike Perreault's 220 Swift ready for flight. |
 |
Liftoff on an A motor. The tiny bird was lost among the many
similarly colored dandelions dotting the field. |
 |
| Mike Perreault's nicely built Patriot |
Liftoff!
The model later turned in a second successful flight.
 |
| My EAC Viper flagship ready for flight. |
 |
| Flying on a B6-4, the model turned in a great flight, landing on the nearby street. No damage! |
 |
Quiz for you blog readers: name all these rockets!!
This is Mike Goss's arsenal of models all prepped for the day's launch. |
 |
| Mike's first launch of the session was made by a Semroc Rawhide. |
 |
| Great flight on a 1/2A motor! |
 |
| Mike Goss's Duck Dodgers Cadet Cruiser from MPC. |
 |
| The model was well photographed... |
 |
| ...and liftoff! |
 |
| Mike Perreault's nicely constructed Bullpup set to fly. |
 |
| This is the first of two successful launches of the bird. |
 |
Those pesky aliens are exploring again!
Mike Goss's Alien Explorer set for take-off. |
 |
| Nice flight on B4-4 power. |
 |
My Quest Icarus with an 808 video camera strapped to the
payload section ready for flight on a C6-5. |
 |
| Since both Mikes had birds ready to go on adjacent pads, we decided it might be cool to do a near-simultaneous launch to try and catch their liftoffs on the Icarus's flight video. |
 |
The Icarus leaves the pad first, closely followed by Mike Goss's Crossfire ISX. Unfortunately, Mike Perrault's Purple Haze experienced an ignition failure.
The experiment was all for naught, however, when it was discovered that the video camera had failed to operate. No video on this one! |
 |
| A pre-flight photo of Mr. Goss's Crossfire ISX set for launch on an A8-3, |
 |
Mike Perreault is shown here launching his Purple Haze,
an Estes Patriot with an alternate paint scheme.
Mike flew the bird several times this day on B and C motors. |
 |
Mike Goss was soon back in action with a highly unusual model -
a halloween candy bowl obtained from the local dollar store! |
 |
| Will she fly ??? |
 |
| You bet !! On a D12-0, no less. |
 |
By this time, the Frey family had their first model on the pad and ready to go.
This is Anne Frey's "Gary", an Estes Baby Bertha, powered by an A8-3 motor.
Anne is new to the hobby, and enjoyed a successful launch and recovery of the bird! |
 |
| The weather was good enough to allow me to make the call on flying the Big Daddy I had brought along. This is me apparently trying to talk the large model into NOT lawn-darting! |
 |
| A D12-3 motor sends the big bird off on a perfect flight and recovery! |
 |
| Mike Goss's Sequoia ready to fly on an A3-4T motor. |
 |
| Off for a perfect flight! |
 |
Here, Max Frey is seen launching his Alpha III on an A8-3 motor.
The model turned in a perfect flight! |
 |
| An Estes Lynx, courtesy of Mike Goss... |
 |
| ...takes to the skies for a perfect flight. The model landed square in one of the soccer nets that dotted the field. SCORE!! |
 |
| Mike Perreault's newly built Estes Orange Bullet on the pad. |
 |
A perfect launch and flight!
|
 |
Not so much the landing. The model took a hard hit on some asphalt
outside the park perimeter. Ouch! |
 |
| Mike Goss quickly had another model on the launcher, this time a scale Nike Smoke. |
 |
| Off to a great flight on a B4-4! |
 |
| David Frey was up next with a 3D printed model, a WAC Corporal. |
 |
The bird turned in a great run on a B4-4 motor, but suffered
a loss of the motor retainer. |
 |
| My next flight went to a Citation Patriot loaded with a C6-5 motor. |
 |
| Great launch and recovery. |
 |
| Mike Goss's Quest Big Betty ready for take-off. |
 |
| A perfect flight on B6-4 power. |
 |
David Frey was soon back in the action with an Estes Hi Flier XL
which he renamed 'Skylicker' |
 |
Launched by a young neighborhood visitor known only as "Mike", the Skylicker roared off the pad for the day's most spectacular flight.
Motor used? An E20-4 !
It's quite probable that this is the highest total impulse motor
yet to be flown at Founders Park.
In David's words, "The motor report definitely got everyone's attention!"
Sadly, the model drifted down and landed in the very top of a forty-foot Rocket Eating Tree located at the south end of the park, not to be retrieved. |
 |
Next up, Mike Goss ignited a B6-4 motor attached to a very nice-looking model,
the Estes Gray Hawk. |
 |
| Perfect launch and recovery on a nylon 'chute. |
 |
A nice liftoff shot of Mike Perreault's Purple Haze,
sent aloft on its third flight of the day. |
 |
| Mike Goss launched the second 220 Swift flight of the day. Flying on 1/4A power, the model was 'swiftly' lost. During the search for the downed model, Mike Perreault found his own Swift model launched earlier. |
 |
| My next model to fly was a Nike X. |
 |
| An excellent B6-4 propelled launch. |
 |
The launch of a Cosmic Explorer marked Mike Goss's final flight of the day.
Mike managed to fly thirteen different birds this session, thanks to having
everything pre-prepped the day before. |
 |
| Liftoff for a perfect flight mission! |
 |
My final flight of the day went to the Griffin-2, a re-build of a
custom design dating back to 1975.
|
 |
| Liftoff of the Griifin-2 for the start of a perfect flight and recovery. |
Mike Perreault ended the day's flying with another great flight of his Bullpup model. I didn't happen to get any pics of this one.
And 'little' Mike - our mysterious young visitor - he suddenly turned about and walked off the field without a word after learning a lot about model rockets and launching several of our models.
Perhaps we might see him again in the future....
For my part, I had a very rare day marked by seven flights without a single 'chute' failure, no losses, and return of all models in perfect un-damaged condition.
Cheers !
