OT... to answer a question
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Lead Driver
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From: Rockingham, VA
OT... to answer a question
Post #43 in my build thread asked about flying rockets. It was a question from Steve ibuzzard.
If anyone is interested, this is the video of the last flight of the rocket named "It Burns when I P", a 275 pound 21' long rocket that looked really cool for about 5.5 seconds into its maiden voyage on a "P" motor. That motor was home made, weighed 90 pounds, was 54" long and 6" in diameter and produced 1,500 pounds of thrust. Three of us built this in my garage. I now work on an old truck...
It Burns when I P... the 12" Talon:
ldrs 29 talon P motor.wmv - YouTube
If anyone is interested, this is the video of the last flight of the rocket named "It Burns when I P", a 275 pound 21' long rocket that looked really cool for about 5.5 seconds into its maiden voyage on a "P" motor. That motor was home made, weighed 90 pounds, was 54" long and 6" in diameter and produced 1,500 pounds of thrust. Three of us built this in my garage. I now work on an old truck...
It Burns when I P... the 12" Talon:
ldrs 29 talon P motor.wmv - YouTube
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Lead Driver
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From: Rockingham, VA
The fuel is Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant, or APCP, which is very similar to that used in the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) of the Space Shuttle. It's just one heck of a lot less of that propellant! Ours burns for about 7 seconds, theirs for several minutes. It is solid rocket fuel.
The heat generated has never been measured by anyone I know, because we are required for safety reasons to be far away from the launch at ignition. But I guarantee it's quite hot!
The heat generated has never been measured by anyone I know, because we are required for safety reasons to be far away from the launch at ignition. But I guarantee it's quite hot!
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Lead Driver
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From: Rockingham, VA
No payload. No camera. We really just wanted to get it back in reusable condition. It was supposed to go to 13,000 feet, but was structurally inferior to the 1,500 pounds of thrust, so it "rekitted" itself at about 5,000 feet. We salvaged the motor casing and that's about all. It was the largest single motor rocket at LDRS 29 (Large and Dangerous Rocket Ships), but we didn't even make it onto Discovery Channel's coverage. Yeah, I'm still pissed about that.
We flew the same basic rocket at LDRS 26 on an O motor, but had parachute problems:
12" upscale Talon at LDRS 26 - YouTube
We got on Discovery Channel with that flight:
12" Talon on an O4500 at LDRS - YouTube
Haven't flown a rocket since then, although I have about 7 of them in my trailer. All are home made, none from kits. The highest I've personally flown successfully is to 10,500 feet on an M motor.
Successfully means, it comes back to Earth under parachute and is ready to fly again.
We flew the same basic rocket at LDRS 26 on an O motor, but had parachute problems:
12" upscale Talon at LDRS 26 - YouTube
We got on Discovery Channel with that flight:
12" Talon on an O4500 at LDRS - YouTube
Haven't flown a rocket since then, although I have about 7 of them in my trailer. All are home made, none from kits. The highest I've personally flown successfully is to 10,500 feet on an M motor.
Successfully means, it comes back to Earth under parachute and is ready to fly again.
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Lead Driver
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From: Rockingham, VA
For safety reasons (and common sense) we are not allowed to place anything living inside the rocket. So can't call it a "vehicle".
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Posting Guru
Joined: Feb 2011
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From: Central, IL
Thanks for posting Joe... very interesting. I've shot the model rockets off with my son and now stepsons and we enjoy it. Always cool to see what a fellow FTE'er is doing during the rare time we are not wrenching or spending money on our trucks. Are you one of the rocketeers in the video or are you behind the scenes in Mission Control?
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Lead Driver
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From: Rockingham, VA
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From: paradise, northern calif.
You can be very proud of your achievement. As a boy I tinkered with trying to understand the physics of each rocket componet(it was around the time of sputnick, Eurie Gagarin, then the Mercry programs) . Beleive it or not but in grade 7, i came up with the idea of using generators as part of braking system store and reuse the energy for propulsion as they do on the hybreids, but my teacher said it would never work LOL. I love your work have fun with it.
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Lead Driver
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From: Rockingham, VA
Thanks guys. I originally posted this to answer Steve ibuzzard's question in my build thread. I realize now he's not a regular here anymore since the forum split. So I guess it was REALLY OT!
All that being said,
I won't be flying any rockets until I get Betsy finished. My wife and I have discussed driving Betsy to a rocket launch when she's drivable if we can figure out how to get to Lucerne Dry Lake 90 miles away without taking the freeway. I haven't found a good detour yet. 
All that being said,
I won't be flying any rockets until I get Betsy finished. My wife and I have discussed driving Betsy to a rocket launch when she's drivable if we can figure out how to get to Lucerne Dry Lake 90 miles away without taking the freeway. I haven't found a good detour yet.
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