Adrian

Jim is a really nice guy, he does the most flawless carbon fiber work I’ve ever seen, and he has an incredibly detailed tutorial up. If anyone wants to know how a perfectly-finished carbon fiber fincan can be constructed, check…   Read more»

I was checking on the November launch on the calendar, and I noticed that it says it’s supposed to be at the Atlas site. That should be the North site, right?With my sustainer intact and with some unburned motors from…   Read more»

I’ll be there. I don’t know what I’ll have to fly yet, but August 1 to October is too long to go without flying. I love flying from Hartsel for flights under 14kft.

I’m almost done developing a new line of altimeters based on an ultra-accurate digital-output pressure transducer that is calibrated over temperature at the chip factory (as opposed to by me). One model of this new line, the Wren, is a…   Read more»

Woo Hoo!:D 😯 :DThe two Parrot altimeters read 15960 and 15969 feet AGL at the instant of the apogee deployment charge, which was about 1.5 seconds early. After deployment, there are plenty of data points much higher than 16000 feet,…   Read more»

(50’s announcer voice)When the wind blows from the Southwest and your rocket is about to fly high…Beware! Strange disappearances have been reported in this seemingly tranquil corner of the prairie. Five highly visible rockets have gone missing in this triangle…   Read more»

Recovered without a scratch, near where Ed’s rocket came down. More details and data later.Based on a transmitter signal that came on 14.5 minutes after launch and went away about a minute after that, I’m pretty sure that the main…   Read more»

If the volunteer calendar is up-to-date, only 9 out of 30 launch duty slots have volunteers for Saturday and Sunday. Monday and Friday are even thinner. Please check the calendar and sign up for a slot or two. Or three.

I’ve supersized my launch tower in anticipation of some larger projects. Now it has 8-foot long 1.5″ diameter aluminum uprights, and a new ring at the top that will accomodate up to 10″ fin circle diameter. I’ll bring it to…   Read more»

There’s a winter storm watch posted now, with 3-6″ likely late Friday night and possible blizzard conditions on Saturday. Sunday looks better, with the storm cleared out. There may be 6-12″ on the ground then, though.

Cross-posted at RP, but this is too fun to keep in one place.Check out this 38mm forward motor retainer I got at Home Depot this evening, for $2.97:I’m sure an enterprising person could also figure out how to attach a…   Read more»

More fun stats from the Mad Rex’s final fight:It left the rail at 150 mph10 feet above the ground it was doing 191 mph0 to 500 mph in 0.225 secondsPeak sustained Gs: 114Peak measured Gs: 130Peak velocity at liftoff +…   Read more»

It’s probably too late to modify this year’s alphabet contest, but as a variation for next year, we should have the first tie-breaker go to whoever does their set with the least number of rockets.Or maybe just make the contest…   Read more»

I have some rockets ready to go, but the weather is predicted to be ugly. Winds picking up before sunrise and blasting from the North by noon with sustained speeds of 20+ mph. Cloudy and a chance of snow. Let’s…   Read more»

The flight I launched on Sunday of Oktoberfest, that Mike found and gave to me yesterday, went 8241 feet, based on the standard atmosphere. Accounting for the ambient temperature at the time, it really went to 8575. This used the…   Read more»

Lost: 24mm carbon rocket with a 9″ yellow-green fluorescent chute. Altimeter probably recorded new Tripoli G record. The flight was nearly vertical, probably around 9000 feet, and the wind was around 7 mph from going from the SE to the…   Read more»

Last fall, Chris LaPanse gave me his last G25 in the hope of helping to set a G world record before the motor contest cert expired. Well, I was too busy crashing and losing F10 rockets to make a rocket…   Read more»

O.k, I’m taking a break from finishing altimeters and my regular job to bring you data from John Wilke’s K record shot.First, a note on the altitude. Parrot #118 was along for the ride, and it has had a rough…   Read more»

On Sunday morning, my G25 launch got off to a great start, with a vertical boost, and the transmitter came on at apogee as expected. I had a good tracking signal for more than 5 minutes, which told me it…   Read more»

Some of you may have already seen this topic on TRF or the forums on RP, but I wanted to get this out to more people:A thread on altimeter accuracy on TRF got me doing a little more research into…   Read more»