I was determined to get some flying in on my staycation, and showed up at the field on Thursday only to find breezier conditions than I was comfortable with. I decided to try again on Friday, but closer to 9am than 10:30am. This proved to be key as I managed to avoid anything more than an occasional fluffing of the flags and got most of my flights in before the flies knew my ankles were on the menu. I actually had a list of rockets that I wanted to bring for this launch. I'd spent a lunch hour at work carefully combing through the roster of rockets that hadn't flown in a long time, then I completely ignored it. That was the result of my Wednesday and Thursday spent cleaning the shop. Several of the rockets uncovered during the cleanup made the list, including the Estes S.P.E.V. and Scale Bash Hawk Motor Test Vehicle.
And the Starlight F-32 Avenger. I had gone to build night at eRockets to start my staycation on Tuesday night, and Mike Rohde and I had been talking about the F-32 Avenger. He had one of the newer kits that came with waterslides as opposed to my older kit that had the sticker decals. My plan had always been to scan the stickers and make my own set of waterslides, but my printer developed a hiccup before I could get the project finished. The Avenger last flew in 2017 and has hung around painted for years before that, but is still waiting for decals.
This was actually the second bird on the pad on the day. The first was the Canaroc FK-3, which was scratched when the glue joint in the two-piece nose cone failed as I was checking for a parachute. The Avenger would fly on an A8-3 and would serve as my wind test bird on the day. The flight was arrow straight with a fairly violent event at ejection. It looked iffy from the ground, but the parachute bloomed almost immediately and brought things down gently in from of the pad and slightly to the right. As wind tests go, this one was encouraging.
Flight #2 would be my BT-50 upscale of the Estes Rogue, also on an A8-3. Back when Gordon was still making decals, I bought a whole sheet with various sized of Rogue decals. I've always said that if we'd finished dinner a half hour earlier in 1977, the Rogue would likely have been the rocket I chose, but our neighbors beat us to J.C. Penney Toyland. One of my earliest clones was a BT-55 upscale of the Rogue, so it was always one that had stuck with me in the 24 years since my first flight.
The Rogue flight was very much like the Avenger, topping out around 350' and ejecting the parachute somewhat early. The parachute deployed almost immediately and the rocket began a fairly quick descent back to the field, landing just to the left of the pad as opposed to just right for the Avenger. It was also a bit closer to the pad, an honor it would wear for just a short time. Starting off 2 for 2 wasn't what I'd come to expect of my B6-4 Field flights of late, but I couldn't complain. That was for later.
Emboldened by the twin successes of the first two flights, I decided to go big for the next flight. That's right, the mighty B6-4 in an eBay rescue rocket formerly known as the Warlock. After swapping out the nose I'd originally swapped onto it with a spare Interceptor nose cone, the rocket was rechristened the Frankenceptor. It may be the one and only flight in this guise.
Being as it came as a part of a lot buy of original designs, I feel safe in saying that this was not a catalog bird from some obscure sixties company. I added the nose cones on the side pods since only one bright red one was included. His color choices weren't that deranged. The size of this rocket made it a decent choice for a B6-4 flight here, and it had successfully flown here on that motor five years ago. This flight was off the pad quickly, with a slight lean to the left. It topped out around 350' and tipped over before ejection, then began a slow, swinging descent back to the field. Landing was in deep left and looked like a hard hit, but it survived without damage. As for the nose cone, I'm not feeling it. I may go back to the cone that it arrived with, a nicely yellowed PNC-55AC from the Arcas and Cherokee D.
Sticking with a theme, my fourth flight would be another B6-4 flight, because success breeds success. Or maybe because it was the closest one to me in the copy paper box carrier I used for today's mission. Whatever the case, the S.P.E.V. that I cloned in 2004 turned up during my cleaning venture, resplendent with a new fin. Oddly enough, the fin that broke off also turned up. Not sure what the future holds there. It was also one of my earlier attempts at making my own decals. Another cool thing about it was that it still had to checkered chute that it had used on every flight. I bought it in an eBay Buy It Now and wish I'd bought 40 instead of 10. They were made out of a black and white checked tablecloth and were pretty rugged. I left appropriate feedback and the seller sent me a message thanking me. He'd sold another lot to someone who had complained because they thought they were getting vintage Estes checked chutes despite the photos and description clearly describing them. I went looking for a checkered tablecloth a couple of years ago, hoping to make more of them. None to be found. Of course, I didn't think to check Amazon. ;-)
Always a great flyer, especially here, the S.P.E.V. didn't fly as high as the Frankenceptor, but the flight was dead straight to 300'. It had just tipped over when the ejection charge fired, and the big checkered chute brought it back right in front of the pad, about 50' out.
I recently went on a paint and decal binge and one of the rockets that I finished was the Estes Airborne Surveillance Missile. It had sat in primer and Fill & Finish for years, probably because I wasn't looking forward to the masking. It's pretty tiny, and even a 1/2A here is almost too much for the field, but I build them to fly them, so here we are. Flight #5 would be a 1/2A3-4T, breezes be damned.
The ASM was quick off the pad and got to apogee in what felt like a blink. Despite the four second delay, it appeared to still be moving forward when it ejected. Altitude was around 400-450' and it came down swinging side to side on the 12" chute, landing about 50' out from the pad. Hard not to like a flight like that.
Again sticking with a theme, the next flight would be the seldom seen Mini-Brute Estes Hornet, also on a 1/2A3-4T. NOW WITH NEW, IMPROVED DECALS!!! This one had languished in yellow and black for a long time, so while I was on my decal rampage I took a Mini Brute bug from the Rogue decal sheet from Excelsior/Sandman. Then during my cleaning frenzy on Thursday, I found an old Estes logo that JimZ had included with a Condor decal sheet in 2001.
Things had gone far too smoothly for me on this sunny Friday. The Hornet flight was almost a carbon copy of the previous flight, the Estes ASM. Great altitude, clearly over 400' with ejection just before apogee. At ejection I waited for the streamer to begin streaming. The streamer. Yeah, should have checked that. I followed the descent with my phone, and it began to look like it was going to smack me upside the head. (That would have been warranted, all things considered.) It crashed to the ground right next to the pad. No big deal. Not even a loosened fin. This is a tough bird.
Oof.
The next flight would be the mid-point for the day, and I'd go big again with the Estes Army Hawk on a B6-4. This one was also part of my decal blitz and it turned out quite nice. Assuming that I remember the recovery gear, it stands a chance of staying that way.
The Hawk would be another stellar B6-4 flight on the day. Definitely a sweet spot for the mighty B. This flight was straight up to 400'. Ejection came just before it tipped over and the flight finished just to the left of the pad and slightly deeper than the other rockets that recovered on that part of the field. Recovered intact, so is there anything else to say about a textbook flight.
Then I got cocky. With several B6-4 flights under my belt, I decided to crank things up a bit. The next flight would be a second gen Estes X-Wing on a C6-3. It was a nice, still day and the X-Wing is very draggy and rated to around 500'. This was a partially "built" starter kit that I bought via eBay years ago. I had it ready to fly one other time and the super glue that the previous owner had used to attach the fins gave way. It took a few years, but I had a tube of Testors orange with me when I was cleaning earlier in the week and I was able to secure things.
I'll admit, when this first left the pad leaning to the right, I thought it was going to clear the fence of the softball complex. As it was it didn't seem to get close to the 500' mark. More like 300-350'. It tipped over and was heading down when the ejection charge fired. Apparently I had selected streamer mode for the parachute, because it never inflated despite fully deploying. It hit in short right field with a mighty crash, but other than a missing dorsal fin on one of the exhaust housings, it was undamaged.
Flight #9 was a scratch build that everyone toys with eventually. I've flown, crashed and treed several over the years, sometimes getting them to do the corkscrew flight motion on the ascent. I call this version Screw You, Cyril. (Bonus points if you can tell me the movie that comes from.) Nothing to this bird, a nail polish painted eBay nose cone from a late night Buy It Now lot, a spare body tube, a masking tape ring peeled down to appropriate thickness, and some balsa to shore it all up. I'm guessing that it is streamer recovery, but we'll figure that out as we go. It might not even have that, as we've seen already.
This was actually a B6-4 flight, which tells me I had it packed and ready to fly in Dayton. All of my A8-3s were spoken for in other rockets, so I let it fly. And it almost cost me. It did what it was supposed to do and there was a slight corkscrew to the smoke trail, but I couldn't pay much attention to that because it left the pad heading right and was making serious tracks for the softball complex. At ejection it actually appeared to be over the infield, but the streamer did enough that it dropped in extremely short right in foul territory. Seems to me that I learned in the past that the smoke trail was more visibly corkscrewed on an A8-3 flight, so I got to learn it all over again. Maybe I should write that down somewhere for future reference. Nah, it'll be fine.
This is where things got ugly. Emboldened by the success of the C6-3 X-Wing flight, I decided to give the Quest Star Trek Enterprise another chance at a flight. Bill Cooke sent me this several years ago and I couldn't resist giving it a flight, which went totally sideways. I hadn't made sure the booms were clear and had one of the leads crossing over one of the clear fins on the back of the boom. When it left the rod, the boom was left behind and the flight quickly went unstable. That was a bigger field, which was a detail I really should have taken into account.
Things went sideways fairly quickly. Literally. After clearing the rod, the Enterprise took a hard right toward the softball complex. Stability was excellent. Altitude was similarly impressive, although the flight path ate into it fairly severely. That flight path was a high arc to the northwest. West isn't a problem, other than the likelihood of landing on the softball field. Northwest means traffic, and the Enterprise had a definite eye on US 27. The ejection charge fired at 150', which might have made the flight survivable, but the shock cord failed. The parachute and nose cone headed toward the woods behind the soccer field. The main body came out of its dive, swooped over US 27, made a quick, looping turn back toward the soccer parking lot, and made impact. Once my sphincter untightened, I walked over to find that one of the booms had been ripped on impact, and the nose cone and parachute were nowhere to be found.
Flight #11 was bound to suffer by comparison. The Enterprise would be a hard act to follow. Not to be deterred, I chose the Estes Solar Warrior on a 1/2A3-4T. This is one of my brother-in-law's favorite rockets, and I picked one up cheap via eBay back before anyone thought about early 90's rocket being "vintage".
Back to normal. The Solar Warrior flight was high and straight, completely without drama. Kind of a palate cleanser. Altitude appeared to be around 300' and ejection occurred just as the rocket tipped over. Descent was fast, but the streamer did deploy, and the SW landed hard without damage 75' in front of the pad in straightaway center. Palate cleansed. Bring out more stinky cheese.
Unable to leave well enough alone, I felt the need to try another B6-4 flight for #12. This would be the first flight for the Scale Bash Hawk Motor Test Vehicle since 2013. I think this was the first rocket that I got flying from the Scale Bash plans, but I got discouraged when my airfoil job on the fins came out pretty iffy and never got around to painting it. It wound up on the old Steelcase desk with the S.P.E.V., so both of them were drafted into service for the day.
The HMTV flight was impressive on the mighty B6-4. I don't know if I changed the pad angle or if this rocket just needs an extra launch lug, but it had a decidedly leftward lean as it left the pad. Altitude was impressive, around 400' and the flight path took it out over the school parking lot. Ejection occurred at apogee and despite suffering from a case of parawad, the HMTV began riding the breeze back toward B6-4 Field. Impact was hard, but didn't seem violent. When I reached the landing site, I found one of the fins had broken off, but my Dad has an ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.
Lucky #13 was not meant to be my last flight on the day, but that's the way it worked out. I got interested in cloning MRI kits several years ago, and one that really turned out well was the Theta 37. I borrowed the paint scheme from another rocket on a Facebox post, so it was a rarity in that it came to the pad the first time in 2018 in full livery. That flight was notable for being a 1/2A flight in a cornfield. I have the altitude listed as 100', and that might be generous. I had planned to fly it at B6-4 Field on the 1/2A6-2, but the launch day didn't work out, and I never pulled the motor. This was also the day when President Lee announced my R2D2 as R2DooDoo, so laughs abounded at my expense. Today's flight would be an A8-3. I checked.
The Theta 37 flight was impressive for being only an A8-3. Altitude was excellent, around 300' and dead straight. Ejection occurred just as it slowed and recovery was obviously going to be an issue. I started walking out toward center field immediately and as I started walking, I heard the engine casing hit just before the rocket impacted. Obviously my taping skills were lacking. I expected the worst, but when I got to the landing site, the rocket showed no damage.
As I said, despite having the Sunward Star Watcher, Estes Challenger 1 Bo-Mar Spartan and the USS Cassiopeia in the box and ready to fly, this would be my last flight on the day. The reason was not due to batteries. I hadn't checked my supply of motor plugs before I left for the field, and the Theta 37 flight used my last A8-3 plug. I had been lucky finding the yellow plug after my flights all day, but at 13 my luck ran out. I have hundreds of yellow plugs in the basement. I need to restock my field box, or at the very least consolidate my Altoids tins.
13 flights is a pretty decent work for a morning launch. The good news is that I have more vacation coming up in October, so the B6-4 Field flying season is still ongoing. Add in club launches, NSL East in November and cornfield season and I should have plenty to talk about before the holidays. Apologies in advance.
MISSED ONE!!!
So, I actually had 14 flights, but a camera issue caused me to not have a movie of the Estes Laser Lance flight. I pull my flight pics from the videos, so I apparently skipped over the Laser Lance.
This flight actually came just after the Army Hawk, and it might be a good thing that I didn't get footage of the flight. It was actually the first flight of the day to experience shock cord failure. The B6-4 flight was fairly standard, a straight boost with a bit of lean out away from the pad to about 300'. Ejection occurred as it tipped in deep center field, and it was immediately evident that something had gone wrong. The nose cone and payload went to the left while the body went right. They hit the ground close to the same time. I figured there would be fin damage on the body, but got to the landing site to find it all in one piece, with just a busted shock cord. It wasn't pretty, but it's still a flight.
