Warren B. Musselman

Release film from Advanced Composites or Fiberglast.com. I just wrapped it tightly around the case and then started wrapping the wetted-out fabric around it. After I did 3 wraps, I wrapped peel-ply, breather and then shrink tape around it. I…   Read more»

I used a J570 case wrapped with 8 or 10 wraps of .001 mylar release film to make 38mm carbon tube. Just enough slop for the motor to slide in and out easily.Warren

I will be teaching a class for NCR club members on laying up composites, vacuum bagging, making composite airframes, fins, plate and related topics. (I don’t do nosecones – you’re on your own there).The class will be limited to 8…   Read more»

Adrian,Are you using peel ply and breather when you place the fins between the floor tiles or ????Warren

I’ll take that motor tube – I need a mandrel for making carbon tubing.Warren

Should only be a few minutes before we know… then the first image… of the solar arrays. Once we get that, I can go out for dinner and a beer.Warren

Watched it live… well, watched a bunch of nervous people at consoles suddenly jump up and down screaming “WooHOO!!!”Nice when we get it right… Lots of hugs going on in Mission Control.Warren

Thanks Adrian… live now on the big screen in the living room… well, 15 minutes and some delayed from Mars… and mostly showing mission control.Warren

Glad to hear everyone is OK. I just got back from the river and the first thing my wife told me about when I called from the takeout was about these tornados. My thoughts are with all affected.Warren

I’ll take one Adrian. About time I stop talking about it and fly one in one of my birds. Can you bring one with you to the June launch?Warren

Getting small altitude rockets back is the biggest challenge of all. My optimal mass predictions for F and smaller barely have had room for the traditional altimeters I’ve been using (mostly Perfectflight MAWD’s – about 24gr for board, batteries, ejection…   Read more»

I think the L330’s advantage aside from the diameter is its long burn. Also some of the tweaks you used such as the really teeny tailcone and other innovations to shorten the length of the bird really help as well….   Read more»

I stand corrected John. I had remembered that K shot as taking place at MHM, but checking my flight log I realized I never flew anything in 07 and that MHM 07 was more or less rained out.John, you reiterate…   Read more»

Was discussed during one of the exec meetings at my house since last O’fest. Since we are adding staged, clusters, complex and EX altitude records, was thought that allowing motors past their cert life to be used as well.By the…   Read more»

Keep in mind that while the TRA world records cannot be set with motors that have fallen out of cert, the NCR club records most certainly can. I have 2 AT F32’s and 5 G55’s… and there ain’t nothing on…   Read more»

Adrian, I’ve got all the respect in the world for you and what you do. However, there is no way a 29mm bird on an F10 is going to go to 8400+ feet. I’ll be happy to give you an…   Read more»

I have a 4″ MD project being built around the CTI M795 motor – the current record motor – that’s pretty close to optimal. I’ll be tweaking it and planning on flying it either at NCR later this summer or…   Read more»

For true altitude records birds – not going after the low hanging fruit – you definitely need to go apogee deploy only. No question but that the inches you save in airframe length will definitely grab you a bunch of…   Read more»

I’ve done min diameter birds from 18mm up through 54mm so far. My preference is to work with FWFG (filament wound fiber glass), but that’s purely a labor convenience. On 29mm and 38mm you can definitely go with phenolic -…   Read more»

The next O project is going to be minimum diameter… hehe 😯