John A. Wilke

YO JOHN!When do the think you will cut a deal with NASA and the Thiokol Corporation to give away an SRB with one of your largest kits? hehehehe…I have a rather large blast coming up this year. It is a…   Read more»

Mike and Sean, you are both right. Yes, we need to take a peek before construction (which I did with Sean as he lives about 12,000′ from me 😀 )The first 98mm Mongoose I ever saw up-close-and-personal was Sean’s. It…   Read more»

(we fired around 1200 motors).

I’m envious 8OJW

BALLS is going to be epic this year. I can’t wait… I am assuming that is the time and place you are going to do the long-burn 98mm?I need to go back to the drawing board and come up with…   Read more»

Outstanding!!! Very nice job, great pics on the tip-2-tip thing. I’d put one of them new Cesaroni N10000 (that is ten thousand, not one thousand 😯 ) in there!What sort of altitude are you looking at for MHM, Sean?

Scott (or anyone else who is looking for a K350) -I have a spare K350 I’d part with if Jon is out of inventory – I won’t use mine until much later in the year….

Motor ejection of the drogue can often do more harm than good… Altimeters like Adrian’s (and others) are so reliable that you don’t have to worry about motor ejection. If / when you use it, the darned motor always seems…   Read more»

I agree with Edward. I use mach delays all the time, even on sub-mach flights. On a lot of my minimum diameter stuff that has high velocity I’ll set them to 25 seconds. The first time I did that, I…   Read more»

Laying glass tip-to-tip is critical if you are going go minimum diameter (in my opinion). I personally like using slots, though some just tack the fins onto the outside. If you do use the slots, make sure and wrap the…   Read more»

I wanted a DC-30 as it will approach 10,000 feet and I do not want to lose my little doggie!But if you DO lose it, I know someone who will sell you another :DI’m kidding, of course! I hope and…   Read more»

I use a 30″ CrossFire chute from Top Flight Recovery for most of my 54mm flights http://topflightrecoveryllc.homestead.com/page1.html Gary is one of the most reputable guys in the biz. I have used his stuff almost exclusively and I’ve never damaged my…   Read more»

Yowza!!!!!!!!!!! very cool photo indeed!

Nylon has a place, too – though not where heat is an issue. I sometimes use nylon above a piston. I often go without a drogue on my dual deploys, so I just cram the Kevlar in there and go…   Read more»

One clarification on the knot thing – I don’t tie loops into the end of the line. The knots I use slip down tight to the quick link (or eyebolt or whatever) and are one-way knots. In other words, the…   Read more»

I am not having the loops sewn for the material that I am offering. I’m a knot guy. Regarding knots vs. sewing – any of you who have ever been TAP’d by me know that I encourage knots over sewing….   Read more»

mule wrote: I suspect the only good spot around here is the Atlas site on a calm day so the sparks stay around the concrete. NO WAY on the Atlas site – the spark plume would easily exceed the footprint…   Read more»

I almost think I need a drogue just behind the nosecone and a deployment bag on this rocket. Actually, you need a piston just behnind the main chute :DSeriously, there have been a zillion similar flights that did not have…   Read more»

The shrouds were *tightly* wrapped around the chute — at least for the 2nd boost.This is one of the reasons I’m such a huge fan of pistons. They WILL get the laundry out. Your chute may still tangle, etc. but…   Read more»

That was indeed a strange set of occurences! For those not there, Steve had a chute hang up at the end of the airframe tube TWICE… It was 99% of the way out, but just didn’t quite shake loose.I’m always…   Read more»

I have often flown MD rockets with long burn motors, including the K250. Some thoughts:- on a true moonburner or slot motor, I line the slot up between fins. The slot is the area that should get the hottest. My…   Read more»