Like the Old Milwaukee ad from the 80's said, "It just doesn't get any better than this". I only managed seven flights on this November Saturday, but the whole day was just fantastic from the start. I had a socially distanced wedding to attend on Friday and didn't get to do much in the way of prep, usually a hallmark of my WSR flights, but I had done several over the course of the week, enough to at least give me a head start. First on the pad for me would be the Estes Maxi Streak that last flew back in 2011.
The Maxi Streak came about because I wanted something new to fly at the NARAM in Lebanon, OH in 2011. I'd almost given up on the hobby after a run-in with a VOA park ranger in early 2010, but had promised Chan Stevens that I'd help out with the NARAM if needed. A few weeks before the meet I started poking back around in the forums and got reinterested. The Maxi Streak was one of the rockets I built in the event that I got to fly at NARAM. I did get to fly it, but the unreal heat baked the homemade decal and turned it black and grey instead of black and clear. It literally burned into the paint and the image remained even after I peeled the decal off. You can still make out the outlines on the left side of the rocket.
Issues with the wireless launch system caused a long wait and a pad change before it actually launched, but the flight was stellar. Despite the windblown look of the smoke trail, there was just a slight breeze blowing, but it was enough to cause the rocket to windcock right and cross the creek to the opposite cornfield. Based on the ol' eyeball method, I'd say it came up a bit short of the 1000' mark, but it was still a great first flight. At ejection it immediately began drifting back toward our side of the creek and eventually recovered several hundred feet out in what had been the corn.
Flight #2 would be the new Estes Vapor, which I think is a Hobby Lobby exclusive. Built and primed during the week, I did the Fill & Finish work on Thursday night after dinner, then sprayed on the second coat of primer. The yellow went on Friday after work before I left for the wedding, and the black was done about two hours before flight #2. Needless to say, the decals did not make the flight.
And when I got to the field, I realized that the elastic shock cord would not make the flight. I remember thinking about tying it onto the Kevlar at some point on Friday, but I sat it on the step and told myself to remember it on Saturday morning. Technically I did remember it on Saturday morning, but at that point I was almost an hour from home with no Wal Marts in site. In the end I stole the shock cord from the Maxi Streak. It was plenty long enough and had been tied directly to the nose cone instead of being attached with a snap swivel, so I'd likely have swapped it out anyway.
The Vapor is a fairly sharp looking bird that reminds me of the Star Orbiter, a long and simple 3fnc with fairly sleek fins. As with the Maxi Streak, the Vapor got cold on the A-bank of pads and cycled through two launch attempts before I decided to switch it to the B-Bank. Again, that proved to be the answer and the Vapor finally got its shot.
It left the pad with plenty of built up aggression, not to mention power and smoke. The flight path was one that would be familiar to me on the day as it windcocked across the creek, topping out close to the same height as the Maxi Streak did on the previous flight. Ejection occurred as it tipped over and it drifted back our way into the corn. Recovery walks were not terrible on the day, but the lack of rain since the harvest meant serious dirt clods. Hard, too, as we'd see later.
Next up would be the Estes Ventris, a fiftieth birthday present from my wife back in 2002. I was really happy how it turned out back then, so much so that I attempted to fly it for my 1000th flight in May of 2013. That ended badly with the early ejection charge of the F50 motor, more of an F50-2 than F50-6. The nose cone/payload section took off for parts unknown, while the body feel to the asphalt, cracking one fin and leaving another with a large gouge out of it. Estes sent another kit, but I was able to repair the lower section that survived and mate it to the new payload and nose cone.
I was pretty happy with how this turned out, but now it wears the scars from that 2013 flight, and wears them proudly. (I didn't think to turn that side toward the camera.) I had it prepped and loaded in the car, but couldn't remember if I'd brought igniters. When they turned up in my range box I immediately grabbed the Ventris and decided on it as my next flight. The motor would be the same as the disastrous 2013 flight, an Estes F50-6T, because you never let the horse that threw you win. Or you don't learn. Same difference.
I rarely get the opportunity to venture beyond the low power pads, so this seemed like a foreign country to me. I was on the 1/4" rod next to an Archer that was using the mid-power rail. The rockets would get closer before the end of the round. The Ventris was quick off the pad and flew deep into the corn across the creek to about 1100'. It began drifting back toward the pad and crossed over the mid-power pads just as the Archer took off. The picture doesn't show how close it was, but it got closer.
The Ventris landed behind the high-power pads, just clearing the creek and settling softly onto the grass. A minute or so later the Archer came off the ropes like a wrassler and performed a pile driver on the Ventris to the delight of the fans. Some suggested I call 444-4444 or BR-549 to look into a civil suit, but I prefer sport coats.
Fourth flight on the day would be another long timer, the Shrox Icarus that hadn't flown since 2006. I'd taken it to a post-Halloween launch and brought along some of our leftover candy. This attracted a little kid with a big butt who hopped into the back, damaging the Icarus and the Rocketflite Odyssey. Fourteen years later I finally got the parts back into one place and repaired and flew both of them.
Flying on the usual C6-3 load, the Icarus was never in danger of setting any altitude records. What caught my eye about it was that it reminded me of the Estes kits that filled the 1977 catalog, kits like the Andromeda, Satellite Interceptor, Odyssey and USS Atlantis. Kits with a definite sci-fi bent. When I first saw it, I thought it was going to be a huge hit, but it's the only one I've ever seen and I'd love to know who else might be flying one.
Like I said, the C6-3 wasn't going to put this bird in orbit, but it does give a consistent flight. It left the pad to the right, as expected, and was tipping over just as it began the coast phase. Someone mentioned that it was in trouble and they hoped it was a C6-3, not a C6-5. As if on cue, the ejection charge fired and the Icarus began the journey back across the creek. It didn't make it, dropping into the reeds at the left edge of the creek. I jumped down into the creek bed to search for my rocket and was surprised to find it dry. The Icarus was draped over the reeds and was an easy find. I spent some time trying to help find the previous flight, an Estes Loadstar two-stager that had been loaded backwards with the booster engine on top. I'd heard of this happening before, but it was the first time I ever saw it happen. Fairly unnerving to have a rocket pointing straight down when a C6-0 lit. It impacted hard in a bunch of dry reeds, and I initially feared a fire, but there was none. I took note of the spot, as did the owners, but we were never able to find the rocket despite a 30 minute search. The booster, though, was found across the creek, so there is a place to begin the rebuild.
Flight #5 was the Estes Super Neon XL. I think I picked this up during one of the Estes holiday sales, jut because of the low price. Once I got into the project I began to really like how it was turning out, and I have a thing for tube finned birds. When I finally decided it on a paint scheme, it was the tried and true black, white and orange scheme that I'd employed countless times over the years. (Purple and green? Looked like an inside out alien. I passed.)
I'd recently found a couple of my favorite parachutes, some black and white checked chutes that started life as a picnic table cover. I'd picked them up via eBay on a late night "Buy It Now" spree and loved how they looked bringing my bigger small birds down. I contacted the seller about getting some more, but he had stopped selling them because some of the buyers had expected him to deliver vintage Estes checked chutes. I recently bought a plastic picnic table cover to try to cut out my own chutes, but have yet to puzzle out a way to make a pattern.
The flight was the same as all of my others to this point, windcock to the right off the pad, cross into the cornfield on the dark side of the creek, then recover back to the left of the flightline. This one came in hotter than most of the others, and I was surprised to find that it incurred no damage from the hit. I at least expected to lose one of the small fins, but other than some dirt on the nose cone, it looked like it did when I loaded it on the pad.
By this point my goal for the day was in sight. I came in seven flights short of 200 for the year and the sixth flight of the day would take me to 199 and would leave me with a decision to make. With that in mind I decided on something small for flight #6, and something Semroc for #7. (Actually they were both Semroc, but who's counting?) Flight #6 would be the Semroc Saki, which I hadn't flown since 2012.
No real reason for the lack of flight time except for bad luck. It was actually one of the birds that I brought along for the last Dayton launch two weeks previous, but when I reached in the tote to pull it out, I came out with a fin. That trick never works.
Big field, mild breezes, so I chose a C6-5 for this flight. The previous flight at B6-4 Field was on an A8-3, and I could truly throw one that high. It had been loaded with a B6-4 for a flight at B6-4 Field, but I switched it out before I left that morning. The Saki looks small, but it's a fairly heavy bird. It immediately went to the right off the pad. Altitude was decent and it was horizontal at ejection. As the parachute filled there was a huge puff of white that several standing near me on the flightline mistook for something bad. I started laughing because I knew what it was, even though it was unexpected. I'd been talking to Mike Rohde while prepping the Saki and had accidentally dumped a huge load of baby powder into the parachute. I closed it up and rolled it without thinking about it, only to remember it when the chute popped. With authority.
From that point I watched as the Saki drifted across the field from right to left. It didn't seem to be moving with any great speed, but at touchdown I saw a yellow part flying. I figured it was the newly repaired fin and began watching the next rack, which included the mighty Estes Pershing 1-A. It was not a flight I wanted to miss.
The Pershing wasn't mine, but belonged to Pete Bricker. It was the first one I'd seen up close and I overheard him telling another WSR flyer that he'd picked it up in a flea market.
A flea market. I saw wild stuff at a local flea market, Siamese twins, Juicy Cooter purses, a concrete Buddha, but I never saw anything this wild.
I didn't remember what the motor was, but I've since found that it flew on a E20W. Dig the launch sequence, baby.
I should have kept filming, but I was concentrating on getting the launch and by the time I thought about the flight, it was at apogee. Very cool. If anyone needs me next weekend I'll be at the flea market.
Once the vintage excitement was done, I walked out to recover my Saki.
Well named. I could use a drink. Those dirt clods are mean, Jack!
With a car full of rockets looking for a flight for more than five years, I chose a sentimental favorite for flight #200, the Semroc SLS Lil Hustler. I bought this during one of Carl's special sales, the details of which I can't recall. All I remember was being pleased at being able to afford an otherwise unaffordable rocket.
Hey! Orange, white and black! What a coincidence. Yeah, Tony. I do use a lot of white on my rockets.
Anyway, flight #7/200 was on an E12-6. Left the pad without wireless drama and headed right across the creek and over the cornfield. Semroc claimed 1150' on an E9, and I figured 1000' with some altitude lost in the windcocking. Whatever the case, a much better flight than #1000 was seven years ago. Ejection occurred when it was almost horizontal and it returned across to our side of the creek with ease. Landing looked hard, and the broken fin confirmed it. An easy fix. It just popped out of the slot and will need new glue and new fillets.
I was trying to play the considerate spouse and left soon after the flight, but it turns out that I missed something pretty cool. Mike Rohde certed level 1 using a Mega Der Red Max, which confirms my suspicions that it is a viable high power bird if built sturdy enough . Congrats, Mike. I'd have stayed to see that if you told me. I had toyed with the idea of making flight #200 my cert flight with the Mega Red Max, but decided instead to try it with the Madcow Army Hawk which I haven't flown since 2006. I think we're both due.
