Doug Gerrard

Thanks Conway, I thought it was you that worked with the paints. I've only recently begun to work with the automotive paints and I'm learning by screwing things up. I still have time before I'm appl...

Thanks everyone for your comments. I use Martin Seymour which does use a hardener but it too has a thinner. I figured that would be the problem, any type of thinner/alcohol could dissolve the vinyl....

I saw Doug's video, and he didn't use a chute. I did use a chute in the 2 gram test which was to deploy the main. I didn't use the chute in the separation at apogee test. Doug

Does anyone know if you can put clear coat over vinyl decals? Is it recomended, not recommended? My thought was to decrease the drag for better performance 🙄 just kidding. I just wanted better pro...

I planned on a 36" drouge chute with roughly 55 to 60lbs of rocket I have debated myself on the use of a drogue at all. I prefer not having a drogue except for one thing. I have seen drougeless dual...

I will probably use a small chute on the flight, just left it out for the test. For the drouge compartment I have 5" for chute space but another 9" for the coupler. When I tested at 0.3 gms it shear...

I have used pistons on the 6" OD BDCR on every flight except its first flight when I thought all I needed was a deployment bag. The bag came out of the rocket but the parachute stayed in the bag. I ...

oops, I did forget to mention that I use a piston. That will affect the charge required, all the more reason to do ground testing. Just thought you should know. Doug

Bruce, if you haven't check out the video I put on my site you should look at it before you test. I have 24" of 6" tube and the online calculators said I needed at least 3 grams just to shear the fou...

Actually when I ground test I do a net/catch assembly with a large blanket or 2 Absolutely, always rig something to catch the potential projectile. Many ask a couple friends to hold the blanket in fr...

I have used both kinds from Tim Lehr and from Railbuttons.com. Both work on the larger rail (1515 series from 8020 inc). Its your choice which you use, some like the countersink screw and built in s...

I always like Davey Fires but as I mentioned I just can't find them anywhere. I picked up Quickburst at LDRS and they are in just about everyway comparable to Davey Fires. They list their spec on th...

My tests were done with Quickburst. Mostly because I have a hard time finding any others. Doug

Yes, I have zippered fiberglass G10 tubing with kevlar shock cord. However, it was a very long rocket and I was trying to pop the nose cone off first (at apogee) instead of breaking it in the middle....

This weekend I tested the ejection charges for Freeze Frame. You can see the video's at but I have to warn you they are over 10M each. The reason why I say nothing beats ground testing is that for t...