Extreme Air Mail! Mailing Tube Rocket Project!

Way too heavy or underpowered in my rc airplane mind. Weight is everything in the air.
 
You could use electronic deployment. It would require a bit of tweaking to your setup. I'm not sure about chaining ejection charges after a -0 motor. Just putting some BP in the end and holding it there would probably be enough. That starts getting into more dangerous territory, so make sure to read up on handling of BP and such.

I would suggest a more powerful motor, perhaps an Aerotech F22 would give enough extra thrust to make a 3 second delay work.
 
In reviewing the video it looks more like a 5 sec delay? Was it a D12-3 motor? To my eye, a true 3 sec delay might have worked.
I guess you need to rebuild the tail end to accept a cluster of 2 x D12-3s!
I still think the heavy vehicle with the slow lift off is cooler to watch than the typical blur off the pad....
Robert
 
rwm said:
In reviewing the video it looks more like a 5 sec delay? Was it a D12-3 motor? To my eye, a true 3 sec delay might have worked.
I guess you need to rebuild the tail end to accept a cluster of 2 x D12-3s!
I still think the heavy vehicle with the slow lift off is cooler to watch than the typical blur off the pad....
Robert
Click to expand...

Ya know I thought so as well. I watched the vid and counted it out and it did seem like a 4-5 second delay. I think the Estes motors are +/- 1 second on the delay. 2-3 seconds would cut it very close but I do want to try it again with another motor. The motor I used was labeled D12-3.

I might be able to get out this weekend for another launch.

Actually just after the video was filmed a police officer rolled up in a SUV marked "Sherriff". The place we've been launching is a county park and he looked to be making his morning rounds. I had just put the mailing tube back in my truck and my sister was wrapping up the launch leads. We had planned to launch a few more rockets but for those we didn't need to use the safety of the 100' leads we used for the mailing tube launch.

He asked us what we were doing and I told him, launching model rockets. He seemed to have no idea about the hobby and I asked him if there were any rules against it in the park. He said, "Not that I know of." I told him we came out very early (7:30am) and came to a big empty field for safety reasons and if it's OK we'd like to continue with a few launches. He said it could be a danger to other people and pretty much told us to pack it up.

Back at home my sister looked up the county park rules and there are rules prohibiting things like bottle rockets, mortars, missiles, and explosives, typical firework stuff, but nothing that explicitly prohibits model rocketry. There's a model airplane field very near our launch site so I know flying models are allowed.

I like this hobby a whole lot but I can't shake the feeling that I'm doing something illegal every time we set up the launch pad. Large open fields are hard to come by here in Southwestern PA and public land is all but non existent. I'd love to be able to launch a few rockets early Sunday morning once or twice a month without looking over my shoulder constantly.

I plan to go back to the same launch field until an officer/ranger explicitly tells me that what I'm doing is illegal. We're gonna try to go even earlier next time since we estimate the officer gets to the park around 8am and begins his rounds. We'll try to be done by then.
 
It's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission! Hold your head up and act like you're in charge.

Disclaimer: Since I'm not a lawyer in PA (or anywhere for that matter) I recommend that you do what's right for you. On film of course.
 
Right on. I need a T-shirt that says "STAFF" and a clip board. Maybe a white hard hat and I'd be good to go for just about anything!
 
FWIW, I spent 5 months in Pittsburgh last winter working on a Netflix show called Sweet Girl. I really enjoyed the area and people. I hope we get another opportunity to work there again.
 
Good first effort, but yeah, that takes me back to watching the small rockets using A-series engines. A C-class engine should be putting that waaaay up there, and a D should put it out of site. Yeah, weight, bad.
 
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