I finished my Semroc Maple Seed back in March and flew it for the first (and only) time in June at the farm in Wisconsin. It was kind of windy that day so I had some tilt set to the launch pad so the rockets would go over the woods, deploy, and drift back into the empty bean field.

I launched the Maple Seed and two of the three fins did a beautiful helicopter recovery back into the field. The third fin I did not have balanced correctly and it dropped like a rock into the trees, never to be seen again (the same trees that ate my Estes Avatar but that is a different story).

When I got home I put the rocket and the two remaining fins into the retired rockets box, never to be flown again. But, I was surfing ERockets and Randy is selling replacement fins! So I ordered one and hopefully the Maple Seed will fly again at the Fall launch in Fairfax IA this October.

When you have the fins balanced correctly, it really is a cool sight to see them helicopter in.

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I need to get one of these.

I was taking to Carl at his booth in Michigan at one of the NARAM launches and he was showing me his maple seed design. Throwing it up in the air and letting it float down. He handed it to me to try and just at that moment a big gust of wind came and knocked over his display stand directly into me. I caught the stand but one of the tines went right through the maple seed.

I felt bad but he said no problem I have another one at the hotel. He was more interested to see if it would work with a hole in it. It did not.