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"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 10/30/2016 at 00:15 • Filed to: None

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This was the biggest launch of the day. The rocket is over 8 feet tall and is using an L-sized motor (~1,600 N, or 360 lbs of thrust). This was a check flight before stepping up to an M-sized motor, the size for which this rocket was designed.

Don’t ask how high it flew because I don’t know. The pilot didn’t pull the telemetry data off of it before I had to leave. I do know that one of the smaller rockets flew over 1,300 ft. This one was MUCH bigger. Here’s a really bad picture of it on the launchpad:

I drove 3 hours one-way to see this. It was definitely worth it.

I learned a lot about the hobby today. For the larger rockets, the motors are repackable. You provide the rocket and the aluminum shell for the motor. The motor itself comes as a package with all of the correct spacers, o-rings, etc. necessary for firing. The charge to eject the parachute is fired with black powder and is controlled by an altimeter. There are typically two ejections - one splits the rocket and may eject a streamer; the second ejects the parachute. The rocket comes most of the way down under the streamer. The parachute is set to deploy just a few hundred feet above ground. Any higher and the whole rocket would just float away.

By the way, L-sized engines run $185 apiece. The m-sized motor will cost over $300.

It was a good day.

Frenchlicker > TheRealBicycleBuck 10/30/2016 at 09:07

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I’ve been wanting to get into this hobby. However the type of rocket I want to build requires licensing due to the height it can go up to. The closest club that can do the licensing is 3 hours away at Purdue.

I was wanting to go the route where you refine alcohol and pressurize it to push it through silver mesh though. The solid rocket motors are a lot cheaper and easier to work with though.

Levitas > Frenchlicker 10/30/2016 at 10:24

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I’ve heard, not sure how true, even Purdue doesn’t have their usual launch place with clearances now.

Edit: just checked, apparently they got a new site south of Lafayette, instead of way north.

Frenchlicker > Levitas 10/30/2016 at 11:48

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I tried looking into clubs and it didn’t seem like too many post that often.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Frenchlicker 10/31/2016 at 09:15

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We drove three hours to get to the launch site. The biggest launch of the day (the yellow rocket above) was a guy who was working on his level 3 certification. He had planned to do his certification flight, but the official who was supposed to certify him couldn’t make the event. He flew the L motor as a check flight instead.

Frenchlicker > TheRealBicycleBuck 10/31/2016 at 09:41

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This has gotten me interested in the hobby again. I’m going to have to look into getting certified.