04-04-2019, 12:57 AM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by mwtoelle
Agreed, a piston would be helpful, but a piston launcher is tricky to use. The launch weight of a full-up Mini-Comanche-3 is the range of 2.2 - 2.3 oz. The problem with three stage model rockets is getting them safely off the ground with the motors that are available today. The Estes Farside/Farside-X, the Centuri T-Bird, and Centuri Arrow-300 were able to satisfy the demand for three stagers, but the demise of the B14-0 led to their being dropped. Even Estes decided to use D12-0s in their Comanche-3 to ensure a safer boost than was available in the older kits after the B14-0, B8-0, and C5-0s were discontinued.
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Clustering the first stage of the Mini-Commanche-3 (adding three--or even two [although it would look unsymmetrical, but it would fly fine]--13 mm booster motor tubes on the sides of the center tube) would greatly increase the first stage's thrust and acceleration, although clustering the igniters must be done carefully, and it requires more juice than a four-AA battery launch controller can put out. Another, simpler option for the Mini-Commanche-3 would be to make a BT-20 first stage, which would house a B6-0 or C6-0 booster motor (the A10-0T first stage could be used on dead-calm--or nearly so--days). |