I knew the mosquito was a 13mm rocket, but someone above said to try putting a C6 or D12 in it, I'm pretty sure those won't fit in it. :D

Yeah, I know. The closest "cousin" to the Mosquito is the Astron Streak (18 mm), which I also had one and lost it, too. :(

don't we all lose too many rockets? :chuckle:

I've launched three Mosquitos this fall and lost all of them on the first launch. Orange, yellow, green, it didn't matter what they were painted. They teleported off the launch pad, reappeared when the engine emitted smoke and vanished again after the ejection charge, never to be seen again. I even found the ejected engines out of two of them, but not the rocket.

I think part of the problem is that the thermonuclear ejection charges blow the Mosquito off in a random direction at ejection. At least, as far as I could tell, the thing was leaning over into its apogee turn just as the engine blew out. For some reason the ejected engine is always easier to follow than the Mosquito.

Strangely, I was able to fly the Swift about a dozen times before losing it. The Swift isn't *that* different, although the fins are longer, so I suppose there's a bit more drag. Maybe that makes all the difference.

But I got multiple flights out of the Swift with 1/2A3 engines, but immediately lost the Mosquitos on 1/4A3s. Go figure.

Hmmm. I wonder... If one attached a foot or so of thin yellow kevlar to the inside of the nose cone and coiled it up in front of the engine. Perhaps the string would make it visible. Of course it would also probably prevent tumble and lend just enough stability to cause the thing to lawn dart. As light as it is, that might not matter.

Sometimes you have to make a little room for some new ideas.

Joe

When i fly the little buggers, i put as much pink chalk powder in before the motor as i could, it was tight and released the powder as it was falling, i usually didn't lose them until i didn't put enough powder in and it all came out at ejection. Where did you get the mosquitos at?

Ah, the old chalk trick. Actually, we were loading the Swift with talcum powder and i don't think we so loaded the Mosquitos. That could be a significant difference.

I'll tell you one difference a load of powder makes--the rocket doesn't go as high, thus making it easier to track and find. :-)

Having the nose loaded with talc also made the Swift lawn dart. This is good and bad. The good: the impact tends to jolt a puff of powder up into the air. If you're looking in the right general area, you'll see the rocket hit. The bad; it didn't land gently in a featherweight fall. I would not want to be under a powder loaded Swift when it comes down.

Hmmm. Third possible effect: A power loaded bird will not shoot off as far sideways at ejection, because the higher mass means that the momentum transfer (MV) is weighted more toward the M and less to the V.

I bought some red line marking powder at Home Depot (~$2 for a largish bottle; well compared to a Mosquito it's large), but haven't flown since I bought it so have not had a chance to test it out yet.

I got some Mosquitos in a lot on Ebay. If for some reason Barone wasn't able to set you up, PM me and we'll work something out.

Got mine (Mosquitos) via mail order from Estes back when they were first introduced to the
model rocketry world (early 1970's).

1971-2002, well lived

OMG guys, a little spendy but...
http://www.easternhobby.com/index.p...ion=show_detail