Chris LaPanse

Chris,I think what Shredder is getting at, is assuming that all water in the tank has been heated to the gas phase, no liquid in the tank. If that's the case, the pressure in the tank will be absolute...

Even if the system was laying on its side it shouldnt matter if the nozzle is above or below the container. There should be no air in the system and as soon as the water hits the atmospheric pressure ...

Chris, 1. Yes the possibility is very high in the steam condensing or cooling off before its exits the system. So testing will have to be done to make sure we do get the water hot enough so it keeps a...

This seems like a really interesting idea, but I do see a couple of problems. 1) You'll need to get the water EXTREMELY hot, since when it flashes to steam, it also cools substantially (energy is abso...

Absolutely. I'd be glad to loan you the handheld (and help you set it up) if you want.

I recently got my hands on an N2801 skid, and I'll probably be flying it at LDRS, but I don't have a casing. Does anyone have one that I can borrow for LDRS next fall? Thanks,Chris LaPanse

Wow! Congratulations Troy!

12 grams may seem excessive on a 6" airframe, but it depends on the length of the bay and as I recall Conway's bird was a bit long. The UprOar project, a 7.5" project with an inner airframe of 6"" and...

I use 2+ grams for a 3" airframe, depending on the volume, so 2.8 g on a 4" PR kit seems a little low. Ever since Conway used 12 grams on his secondary charge on his 14', 6" L3, I would go higher. It'...

Well, if you can contain the black powder, it works pretty well at nearly any altitude. I've had good success with surgical rubber tubing and zip ties for a number of 12000-19000 foot flights (includi...

And these are the areas were I think the "how hard should you push it on a cert flight" comes into play. While pushing the envlope is certainly part of the fun in our hobby, how far can you push it r...

Crap. Something new to worry about 😉 Per Wilke: "or a nosecone ablating to where a hole forms" Uh, this is something I have not worried about. I've had polystyrene over Mach 1 with no obvious damage...

Cones are always best, IMHO and testing and literature, for Mach+, but how long will your rocket fly over Mach? Not really... Von Karman is quite a bit better.

I flew a minimum diameter, 98mm rocket ("Higher Calling") on an M1939 a few years ago... it was not optimized for altitude. I've learned so much since then. I did recover cleanly, and it was a cool b...

I decided to abandon the KISS philosophy and go with what I was excited to build, attempt and fly.... and am nevertheless still working on the L3 cert. 2 attempts, a complete loss and a second purcha...