12-27-2008, 12:32 PM
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BARCLONE Rocketry
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Mobile, Alabama
Posts: 5,357
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by SierraCharlie
[QUOTE=CPMcGraw]To inaugurate this thread with the first new plan we have the Say Cheese, which as the name implies, is a Camera Ship. It has been trimmed to reach 800' consistently on a D12-5, and is intended to fly the Aiptek Mini Pen like TBZEP uses in his modified Stormcaster.
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Nice looking bird ! I will be building another camera ship pretty soon. I had been using a scratchbuilt BT60 IRIS for my Oracle camera until about two weeks ago when my shock cord and the Kevlar separated at ejection. (yes, I know, glue those knots!) I built it with 24mm mount for D & E engines with 3/32 TTW ply fins. With the IRIS nosecone and "E" engines the CG was a bit aft, requiring ballast. The Oracle camera moved things up to about 1 calibre stability. I was getting about 800' ft with a D13, which was what I was using the day of the ill-fated launch. The video camera parachuted to safety, booster continued on a beautiful ballistic decent with the sun glinting off it's fins teminating with a sickening "pop" as it was eaten by a tree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n_IiVa1UEk
Again, glue those knots! |
Pretty good video from that Oracle. Sorry to hear about the IRIS loss. At least the camera was recovered.
Reminds me of a flight I put in with an Estes Sunbird about 20 years ago. Beautiful arc, followed by the immediate separation of the NC from the rubber band. I watched the sustainer do a beautiful death dive all the way to impact, then started walking in that direction to recover it. About halfway to the target, I was greeted by the NC on the streamer as it fluttered down in my face.
Agreed, a drop of glue on the shock chord knots can work wonders. |