March 16, 1997 - Launch Report
I had since made a new nosecone for the SuperShot out of balsa wood. I shaped it by drilling and gluing a dowel into the end, then chucking the dowel in my Makita drill. By holding the balsa block lightly against coarse sandpaper, the general shape took form very quickly. Then I switched over to finer sandpaper and gave it a smooth surface. Painted it with sanding sealer then spray enamel and ended up with a pretty good nosecone for my first one ever. Even Teresa was impressed. She was even more impressed that I had been able to repair the rocket for about $2 in parts, and now didn't need to go out and buy another.
I changed the shockcord mount to use a 20# fishing leader that stuck out the top of the body tube. I knew this was inviting a zipper, but I reinforced the top 1/2" of bodytube with CA glue. I also replaced the shockcord with heavier 1/4" sewing elastic about 3' long. I made a parachute out of an old mylar balloon and shroud lines out of 20# braided kevlar fishing line.
Jonathon's stepfather Jeff had heard all about the March 7th outing and wanted to see these rockets for himself. So Kyle, Jonathan, Jeff and myself got in the van and headed over to the launch site.
We were the only ones on the soccer fields today. We set up the launchpad and out came the SuperShot. I know I loaded it with a B6-4 for the first launch of the afternoon. It lifted off a slight angle but high for a B6. The ejection charge fired okay, but the chute tangled and didn't open completely. The ground was nice and soft, so no damage at all.
Jeff was suitably impressed. He was surprised at how fast it took off. I guess he was expecting a slow majestic liftoff, something more NASA-like. No, these things rip like they've been shot out of a cannon.
Put an A8-3 in the Twister and grinned over at Jeff. "Wait until you see this little thing jump into the sky."
"5-4-3-2-1" Whoooosh!
"Oh Man!", says Jeff. Followed shortly by, "Where is it?" I had to admit,
I didn't know either. It had whizzed straight up and outta sight in the
sunlight. I think that was the highest flight the Twister has made. Estes
could be proud of that A8.
When the ejection charge went off, we all spotted it. The tail section came down towards us, the maple-key part took it's time and spun down a half a minute later about 100' away.
It was such a nice day that I loaded a C6-5 into the SuperShot next. I was sure that the changes I had made to it would make it more robust and less likely to separate again.
"5-4-3-2-1" Whoooosh! Yowzah! The Supershot also went straight up this time, and a long way up at that. It seems to be coming down as a unit this time, but the chute isn't opening again. Rats! A perfect day for duration and the stupid chute won't open. The rocket came down without damage again though, so I cannot complain too much.
Well, it wasn't totally unscathed. The mylar chute had a few pinholes in it from hot ejection particles. I wasn't too upset by that. I planned on a replacement before the next launch date anyway. I think the mylar was just too stiff, the balloon I got it from was 8 years old. Once folded into the bodytube, it wouldn't unravel. I didn't know about powdering a chute with cornstarch to keep it from sticking then either. I've since found another mylar balloon lying out in a field that I'll make a few more parachutes out of.
Jeff enjoyed the rockets, I think he and Jonathan may get a starter set now for themselves. I was worried for bit because they both started talking about how cool a "rocketcar" would be. Sorry guys, rocket motors can be dangerous if not used properly. We can buy them freely because of the safety rules which everyone does and/or should observe. Goof with that and you may screw it up for all of us.
They listened.