#31
|
|||
|
|||
With an audience on the hill, I pulled the last bullet from my bandolier. Back in the Yahoo Old Rockets days I started a thread asking what everyone considered their first "jaw dropper", the rocket that shocked them with its performance. Mine had been in 1979, an Estes Wizard on a C6-5 from my front yard. It windcocked off the pad, but easily cleared the church at the top of the street by several hundred feet. We lost it, but then spotted the bright orange streamer drifting back toward us. It never made it. It landed on the roof of the house at the top of the street and slid down into the gutter. No one was home, so I decided to go ask for permission to retrieve it the next day, but it poured that night and by morning it was mush. For my 18th and final flight of the day I picked the Wizard that I used for my bronze level NARTREK back in 2002. This flight would be an A8-3, so nothing jaw-dropping this time, right? Well, the kids sure thought there was. The Wizard left the pad dead straight despite the breeze, easily overflying the field. At ejection it began racing across the field, looking like it was easily going to land across US 27, but at the last moment the breeze died and dropped it onto the fence on the third base line. Sounded like a musical instrument as it was dragged across the links and I expected the worst. I need not have worried. Not even a scratch, and it impressed my fans on the hillside.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc - Starfighter Scorpion Centuri - Mini Dactyl Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc - Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark |
#32
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
I always thought the Vampire was cool when I was a kid, but the stores around us never carried it. I like the Black Diamond. Another version of the Viking.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc - Starfighter Scorpion Centuri - Mini Dactyl Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc - Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark |
#33
|
||||
|
||||
As draggy as the goonybirds are, I wouldn't be surprised if an A3-2T would be a better choice than the A3-4T
__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!! Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't ! Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY. ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC ! |
#34
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
I'm sure they'll whip me up a batch. That's a designation I haven't heard in years. Next launch 4-18-20. Wish me luck.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc - Starfighter Scorpion Centuri - Mini Dactyl Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc - Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark |
#35
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
Yup - all the parts are identical between the Estes version of the Viking and the Black Diamond. I went so far as to buy a starter set that included a Black Diamond off of eBay when I was researching the Viking before that build thread that Gordy had me do in exchange for sending me his last Centuri Viking decal. Good luck on the 18th. I just tried to fly at my usual site today to find the parking area cordoned off. King County parks closed because....well, you know.
__________________
Bernard Cawley NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member SAM 0061 AMA 42160 KG7AIE |
#36
|
||||
|
||||
Oops... I was not aware the A3-2T no longer existed. I have a bunch and rarely fly 13mm motors.
I knew the A3-6T has been dead for decades, but not the-2.
__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!! Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't ! Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY. ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC ! |
#37
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
They've really carved up our motor selection in the past twenty years, which IMO puts a tarnish on our new "golden age" of rocketry. Until you mentioned them, I'd completely forgotten about them.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc - Starfighter Scorpion Centuri - Mini Dactyl Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc - Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark |
#38
|
|||
|
|||
Bill, thanks for giving us all a boost by posting your launch pics. I was planning to launch solo during the lockdown but parks here are closed and citations are being issued so no go.
__________________
I like the unusual, the off beat, the avant-garde. No 3/4 FNC for me! |
#39
|
|||
|
|||
Quote:
There is a sign up reminding people to not congregate in groups at the fields, but I took that as them not wanting ball teams practicing. I hope it doesn't come to the point here where they just object to a lone gunman launch. Ft. Thomas is a walkabout town. You see people walking, running and riding bikes all over.
__________________
Bill Eichelberger NAR 79563 http://wallyum.blogspot.com/ I miss being SAM 0058 Build floor: Estes - Low Boom SST Semroc - Marauder, Shrike, SST Shuttle In paint: Canaroc - Starfighter Scorpion Centuri - Mini Dactyl Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter, Multi-Roc, Solar Sailer II, Xarconian Cruiser Semroc - Cyber III Ready to fly: Estes - Solar Sailer II Semroc - Earmark |
#40
|
||||
|
||||
This definitely is the 2nd "golden age" of kits, but it sorely is NOT compared to the BP SU offerings we had in the 70's and 80's.
I like the E and F motors that Estes produces to replace the end-burning Mini-Max and FSI motors we had then, but we have no REAL port-burners at all. The C5-3 returning is a good START, but would like port/core burning B, D, E, and F motors return Not being able to drill cores to make B14s safely with modern CNC equipment is pure bunk. So is not being able to re-create the D20 and F100.
__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!! Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't ! Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY. ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC ! |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|