| Model |
Flt
# |
Recovery Type |
Motor |
Comments |
|
Betty-X
|
3
|
Dual 24" nylon parasheets |
Estes C6-3
|
Never one to pass up such an opportunity as a contest reschedule, my
testing program on the Betty-X continued. The durations I was getting
with the dual 18" parachutes had been obviously non-competitive, so I "borrowed"
the parachutes out of my mostly-finished North Coast Bomarc kit and found
a way to fold them so they'd fit in the limited recovery bay of the Betty-X.
With rebuilt motor mount in hand (1/8" balsa centering rings, reinforced
with BT-55 spanning the gap between rings), I launched again in quest of
decent durations. This time, I'd forgotten eggs, so I flew with an
empty capsule, demonstrating that the rocket was stable without the two-ounce
weight of an egg in the nose. Unfortunately, the parachutes (which
had never been flown before), though deployed, failed to open, and the
model tumbled into the grass, cracking the fillets and partially hinging
two fins. With the use of thick CA supplied by fellow modeler George
Tobler, I made field repairs. |
|
Betty-X
|
4
|
Dual 24" nylon parasheets
|
Estes B6-2
|
On this flight, both parachutes opened, one a bit more slowly than
the other, and the descent was nominal. So far so good; the motor
mount hadn't ejected and it was beginning to appear that the stiffer centering
rings would do the trick in keeping the motor mount from pushing past the
latch that held it against ejection forces. |
|
Betty-X
|
5
|
Dual 24" nylon parasheets
|
Estes D12-5
|
This flight, the slow opening of one parachute allowed the other, already
filled, to slow the rocket to the point where the unopened parachute dangled
at the end of its lines rather than filling. Despite this, the descent
was gentle, total time was 58 seconds (comparable to what I'd gotten with
the dual 18" plastic parasheets in earlier tests). |
|
Betty-X
|
6
|
Dual 24" nylon parasheets
|
Estes D12-5
|
For this flight, I found a small rock to serve as a "dummy egg" for
all-up test timing, but the motor mount ejected again (possibly in part
because I'd pulled it out to show someone how it worked). The rear
centring ring was slightly chipped, probably from pushing past the mount
latch. As a result of the mount ejection, although the nose was blown
off, the parachutes remained in the airframe and the rocket descended in
core sample mode. Fortunately, there was almost no damage; other
than some scuffs, the only harm was a small cracked region in the egg capsule,
where the rock attempted to exit on impact. Landing in soft ground
near a drainage ditch probably helped a great deal here. Repairs
were delayed until I could get home; more rethinking was needed on the
motor mount. |
|
Hawkeye
|
8
|
Tumble recovery
|
Estes 1/2A3-2T
|
This was a simple sport flight, unrelated to testing contest models,
and flew (as usual) high, straight, and normal, with recovery close to
the pad. |