Chris LaPanse

Mine’s nearing completion – haven’t done the electronics or fine tuned the weight yet, and still need a streamer though.As for gambling?Bring it on

Well, just bought the G80-10T motor for my SSS flight – it will be used for balancing the rocket and of course flying it :DLooking forward to this – it will actually be my first ever G80T flight. I’ve flown…   Read more»

Sounds like you had a CATO. File a MESS report and contact Aerotech – they’ll hook you up with a new motor (the MESS report is so that they can keep track of failures).

It’s rained off and on here, with a steady rain for all of last night :)I should really get out the moccassins, as I have an I315SK left over from LDRS, and want to fly it…

It has a healthy dose of noseweight :)It needs it anyways for optimum mass.

12″???Wow – mine is a LOT less than that. Looking at between 8.5″ and 10″ for my design. (body tube length – 12″ to 14″ overall with nosecone)

If there is a launch between when I finish the rocket and the end of the year (basically, august or on), I will fly it, assuming the weather at all cooperates. As for loosing it – yeah, that’s my biggest…   Read more»

Yep – I may well fly my SSS at hartsel if the burn ban lasts any significant length of time. Still, with any luck, it will rain some this summer (it certainly rained 2 years ago ), and we’ll…   Read more»

Cardboard templates – 2 of themCut a 5″ hole in it, with 3 slots radiating out from the hole, 120 degrees apart. You then line up the two templates with each other on the fins – perfectly straight, perfectly aligned…   Read more»

Sounds great, and I really wish I could have made it :(If anyone got any pics, I’d love to see them.

Pretty sure Apogee has been doing it all along. I can’t say anything about older versions, or reminisce about the good old days with building size computers less capable than my calculator ( ), but I love V8 (actually…   Read more»

Yes – I’ve been amazed by rocksim before. My Black Brant at mile high mayhem was my closest to simmed yet – it got 5120′ out of a projected 5137. I can only hope it’s as accurate on my SSS…   Read more»

Yeah – I’ve had that feeling before As for mine – it looks great on the sims – way above what I ever expected for the contest – but we’ll have to see how close it actually comes to the…   Read more»

Actually I just did. It currently is hovering around 1.2 calibers (with noseweight), and the CG is pretty much central (the noseweight balances out the motor weight). As for mach – I break it, but not by much, 818mph is…   Read more»

Mine is intentionally coming in as light as possible, and I will add weight with lead shot as needed. My thought is that I can always make it heavier if need be, but not lighter, so I will bump it…   Read more»

Yeah – I’m sure that would work. I’ve done one that was just rolled paper with 3 layers of 1/2oz glass – worked fine, but it only had a C motor. Wasn’t sure what the limit would be for the…   Read more»

I bet you could probably do it somehow, but it would be hard. My airframe at .01″ thick is more than strong enough, but I have tried 1 layer layups too, and they have essentially no strength from my limited…   Read more»

Yep – by my calipers, it has a thickness of .010 inches :DDon’t think you can get much thinner than that and have it be strong enough for a G80 :DOf course if you want to prove me wrong, go…   Read more»

Hmmm…Try this one

Well, got the tube done for my SSS. Here it is link on next pageHope it all works out – the tube came out better than expected though as far as weight is concerned – about 3g lighter than anticipated.