John A. Wilke

I twisted Scott’s arm long enough to where he PROMISED he’d put an “L” in that thing :-)That is an Intimidator 3 — or at least it will be when Scott is done with it. Nice kit!

And congrats to John Wilke whose I216 flight was officially recognized on the Tripoli record site, too.Thanks, Adrian – I see you poking around up there on I motors as well :DI understand there is a new set of rules…   Read more»

Well, JW, I agree with you on LONG shock cords, my L3 100 foot can attest to that. Although this guy, JW, doesn’t use masking tape to reef the Kevlar, he uses electrical tape! I have yet to use latex…   Read more»

I’ve really never worried about black powder under about 20K MSL. Above that, I do three things…First, I follow the technique here http://www.wimpyrockets.com/page16.html Note that the author there is none other than Tony2. I’ve used this with clean recovery to…   Read more»

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…   Read more»

Hey Warren – I now own two screwdrivers :DThere are some really intense and incredibly capable altitude guys in the club. When going that route, the KISS thing is pretty much gone. Bret, for me – I don’t worry about…   Read more»

I have to say, I think a well-optimized, carefully made rocket on an N5800 C-star could go higher than any 75mm rocket on any current commercial 75mm load. You certainly do sacrifice a lot in the drag department when going…   Read more»

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 boost.Warren, I think…   Read more»

This is indeed a great thread. For my part, I nailed my L1, had a perfect L2… and then failed two L3 attempts. In the end, I took a deep breath and built a kit — it was a Dynacom…   Read more»

I think if you are way very close on static margin, it does show some reduced performance. From what I’ve seen, if you are +1.5 or greater, your performance pretty much evens out.That is the case with Rocksim 4.0, anyway……   Read more»

I think the thing that strikes me as most peculiar about all this is that the guy is wearing a cheesy pair of loose-fitting gloves. Your hand could pop right out of those and you’d be dead (in just a…   Read more»

https://www.libertylaunchsystems.com/apps/wpisa.dll/LLS/RocketKits/PerformanceRocketry/RKPR0010?:154D8E306D9444318B4FAF3B84FBF7F9.3897:Batman, here’s the info on the Intimidator 5, as is, just buy it from JW. ;)Indeed – my price is about $90 better than the one in the link above (even after you pay sales tax).I have one left 8)

Wow – I didn’t know we were launching on 1/1/11???Meeting on 1/8/11…

Art, I think the Ft. Collins store had them for 2 or 3 days last year… it is a GREAT disc, by the way!Sorry the thread got hijacked, but it was for a worthy cause!

Filament wound is a little heavier then the convolute. I will also add that I have seen both zipper but the convolute seemed to zipper easier and with less force.I can honestly say I have never zippered an airframe. Not…   Read more»

That’s interesting to hear about filament wound. Too bad I already purchased that type. Is it strong in the axial direction, but not as strong w/respect to side impacts? Both filament and convolute are way more than strong enough in…   Read more»

A masonry blade (one of the cheapest, by the way) does WONDERS… Convolute cuts cleaner than filament and it sands easier, too – just in case you need to square things up.With any of the above — make sure you…   Read more»

I really don’t think any apology is necessary and I don’t think Bret stepped over any line. He predicated the post with an ample disclaimer.Warren, if everything here has to be 100% rocket related, then you need to delete your…   Read more»

On a semi-related note, a buddy of mine from New Zealand is totally captivated by contrails. I teased him about it, and he pointed out that they rarely see them in NZ – not that many flights at high altitude…   Read more»

Nice job Tim and Keith!!! I didn’t get a chance to hunt this year… next year, perhaps? I did take the .300 Winmag out and it still knows how to shoot 8)What caliber did you guys use? which season did…   Read more»