Ahhh.... my first non-Estes rocket. What a great little kit!



Now let me get off track for a second. A couple weeks ago I took a buddy of mine with me to launch a few rockets. He had never done it before and was instantly hooked. He told me he knew of a nice big field at the forest preservewe should go try. Big field?? Woo hoo!! So yesterday off we went to check it out. Indeed the field is HUGE as he said, biggest one I've seen around here, but as we pulled up I noticed the first problem - RC Plane flyers. Ok, the field is in use, no biggie. We'll watch a bit. Then as we got closer, I noticed THIS -



What's with THAT crap? I'm really hoping that's a temproary sign they put up during their scheduled flight meetings. We're going again Tuesday during the day to check it out again. That is the field of my dreams!!

So anyway, we had to find somewhere else and settled on another nearby field. Ho-hum.
This being the Snipe Hunter's first flight, I decided to use an A8-3. It shot straight up off the pad and went much higher than I was expecting





Recovery? Well, I didn't lose it. I know exactly where it is - about 35 feet up in this friggin' tree





It's first flight was it's last. I'll definately be getting another one.

No local tree services that will rent you their cherry picker? You know you are a real rocketerr when you spend $100 to recover a $10 rocket!

Went back today and the Snipe Hunter was nowhere to be seen. Must have fallen and someone picked it up

When that happens, look on the bright side. The finder was probably a kid who will be incredibly excited about what he has found. His Dad will buy some motors, and he will be hooked for life. See, good innit?

I have lost rockets in trees on their maiden flight, only to have someone come up months later saying they collected the rocket off the ground and kapt it safe until they saw me again.

Then again, I park a lot of rockets in trees simply to decorate them. A tree doesn't look right without a rocket swinging from it.

I bought a Snipe Hunter a while back and liked the little rocket, but found out it gets some good altitude on an A8-5 and the thing hangs forever on the little parachute. I added another one to an order a few months ago and plan to build it with a mini-mount so I can fly it on small fields with my stock of A3-4T's and 1/2A3-4T's. I'll probably swap the chute out for a crepe paper streamer while I'm at it.

BTW, your Snipe Hunter looked good and it's a quick and easy build so don't forget to tack another one to your next Semroc order.

Nice looking Snipe Hunter ... too bad it was lost. Did you ever replace it?

By the way, I recently finished a Semroc Snipe Hunter kit, and am wondering what to do about clear coat. I have been using Future Floor finish, but this is the first with a clear payload section. I plan to stay away from getting FFF on the clear payload section. Is this the best approach?

One of the early uses for Future was to remove (hide) scratches from clear canopies in model airplane kits (and, probably windshields in model cars). Clear-coating the payload tube of the Snipe Hunter should not hurt it. If there are any handling scratches in the plastic, the Future should make them nearly invisible.

__________________
Craig McGraw

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SAM 0044
AMA 352635

In addition to the above info, Future can be removed with ammonia. If the finish gets scratched up you can remove and reapply to slick it up again. I remember my payload sections getting really scratched up when I was a kid.

I've never removed a coat of future from a clear payload section, so it might be a good idea to check and make sure the ammonia doesn't hurt the plastic. I don't think it will, but I hate to give that advice and cause you to craze up the tube.

Future can be removed with Windex, which has ammonia in it but not as strong as ammonia alone.

__________________
Tony Vincent
NAR # 45082 L1
CMASS, MMMSC Member

Here's a pic of my recently finished Semroc Snipe Hunter. The Future Floor Finish worked great with the payload section, too.

She doesn't look like this anymore after yesterday's launches (snapped a fin, some dents on the fins and the transition, and black marks on the transition and payload), but fared a lot better than some others...