ROCK's January 2007 Launch

Bull Pup

The first launch of the day was Dan's Bull Pup on a C motor. His rocket flew several times on Saturday.

My first flight of the day was my ARV Condor boost glider on A8-3. It boosted straight up ....

ARV Condor

Right after apogee the ARV Condor fell backwards for a second ...

Backsliding

Then the ejection charge set the two gliders free ...

Gliders Released

The gliders flew well, almost completing a large circle before landing while the booster returned under a streamer.

As always, we had many children at the launch and the kids were invited to "press the button" when launching their own rockets.

LCO

After all, the name of the club is "Rocketry of Orlando's Community Kids." Bracha and I may be "just big kids," but its nice to see some reals kids getting involved in rocketry.

Of course, watching a Big Daddy soar into the sky brings out the kid in everyone.

The Estes Porta Pot Shot made a few appearances to everyone's amusement.

Porta Pot Shot

The little flying outhouse usually delivers a good flight, but some flights are just crappy.

Screamin' Mimi

A Screamin' Mimi turned in a couple of nice D-powered flights.

Egg lofting was one of the themes of the January launch and a few eggs were successfully launched and recovered.

Egg-Lofter

The first egg-lofter launched was a Quest Courier carrying a Grade A Large D-cell battery. A D-cell battery is a perfect substitute for an egg when test-flying an egg lofter. It's not such a good substitute when making an omelet.

Carl actually launched eggs in a couple of his amazing, highly detailed scale rockets. To scale, the real eggs would have been about 20 feet long, weighing a hundred pounds each.

Quest Courier

I also launched a Quest Courier. I flew it on a B6-2 and included a real, raw egg in the payload section. The egg was recovered intact (and later served over-medium with hash browns and white toast).

Shadow on an E18

I launched my recently-rebuilt Shadow Clone on an E18 motor. Unfortunately, the delay was too long. I had planned to shorten it, but forgot. The rocket came in ballistic and it took some effort to pull the nosecone out of the ground. The upper body tube was crumpled. To repair it, I cut off a few inches (restoring the Shadow clone to its proper dimensions, by the way).

Shadow on an F20

Jumping back on the horse, I launched the Shadow on an F20-4 motor. This flight was picture perfect.

My next flight was the Estes Stormcaster Bracha won at the NEFAR raffle a couple months ago. It's a beautiful rocket which always flies well.

Stormcaster

I flew the Stormcaster on a C6-3 motor. I fit the 18mm motor into the rocket's 24mm motor mount using an expended D12 motor casing as an adapter.

Stormcaster

I finished my launches by flying my little Sparrow boost glider. The rocket pops off the pad on an A8-3 motor. I heard the countdown "3..2..1..." then ... whoosh. I saw some smoke on the pad but the rocket was gone. A few seconds later I heard "pop" as the motor ejected. Finally, I spotted the Sparrow as it glided to earth in a series of large circles.

Additional photographs from the January ROCK launch are in the gallery at:

http://www.payloadbay.com/gallery/v/rock/2007-01-06/