08-01-2011, 02:50 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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Originally Posted by BEC
....flying models up near the limit described above (1 inch diameter, 1.5 ounces or less with no motor loaded) off of the mini launcher works just fine.
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Thank you for testing the Mini Launch Pad with your Semroc rockets and for posting the pictures! What were the wind conditions at the time? (I've been thinking that as long as the Mini Launch Pad's launch rod is angled into the wind, it should work fine even in winds above its rated 5 mph maximum. It could be tilted into the wind by propping up one leg on some handy small object, and if necessary a weight could be hung from the pad's center section on a string to make the pad stable with heavier rockets [within its 1.5 ounce net weight limit] on it.)
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Originally Posted by BEC
Here are pictures of two of the Semroc rockets Blackshire listed above including one that is 1.39 ounces sans motor and wadding. It (the Aphelion KV-26) is also shown in a liftoff shot. That flight, on an Estes A8-3, was nominal save for the big smile dent in the NC (the second time in three flights this has happened). That's not an issue of the launcher, though.
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Ouch! Is its shock cord short like typical Estes ones? Your paint job on it--in combination with the roll-pattern decal--is reminiscent of the Estes "Mini-Brute" Screamer's decor scheme.
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Originally Posted by BEC
The last window shows this launcher set, plus the three rockets that are being sold alongside it, along with packs of 1/2A3-4Ts, in some Bartell Drug stores here in the Seattle area. It's funny that I've found variations on the sale prices at different stores - and some store have motors and some do not.
But yes, this launcher can work fine with the Semroc rockets that Blackshire has listed above--of that I am now quite convinced.
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A few days ago I gave away four Mini Launch Pads with Electron Beam launch controllers (from Moon Mutt Launch Sets) to "The Red Couch" store next door to my apartment building so that they can put together their own starter sets (using Estes, Semroc, and Starlight rocket kits [as well as Estes motors] that I had given to the owner previously), but I just bought two more Moon Mutt sets off eBay! I look forward to using the Mini Launch Pad myself. |