John A. Wilke

Stunning... It looks contrived, but this is a photo taken from Cassini. There is some tweaking of the colors to make them appear as the would to the naked eye, but it is the real deal. APOD (astrono...

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 for it. I ...

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, th...

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. I...

3 Dogs Rocketry will have some cool Kevlar options going forward. I have decided to make Kevlar a standard item in the 3DR kits (though the regular PR stuff still does NOT include Kevlar). As I'm br...

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 footp...

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 😀 Seriously, there have been a zillion similar fl...

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 tang...

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...

Time to add a selection of Pro 54 casings to my stash. No doubt! I personally don't like dealing with reloads that I have to rely on instructions (which vary by casing size, propellant, etc.). If yo...

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 th...

I have the casings for the JJJ promo..... but I've decided to commandeer them and do a 16 motor cluster. I'm kidding. Come see me this weekend. Remember, if you haven't done so already - you have to ...

A masonry blade is best. They basically look like a giant Dremel disk - they are reddish-brown in color. Wear a mask, you don't need to be sucking that glass dust 😯 I bought a blade recently. IIRC...

That is an awesome tower indeed - but it is costs too many $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and it will still turn to scrap if it gets stuff piled on top of it in the trailer. The current rods and rails have a nice ...

That tower is pretty rickety in any case... it just doesn't travel well. It served so well for my first shot, but towers tend to get wrenched on a lot, and they just don't have the durability of a go...