Warren B. Musselman

I’ve been thinking of coming down to Hartsel – just to check it out. I’ve got a couple birds I can fly. Maybe I can car pool down with John Wilke or something.What’s the Hartsel waiver and window waiver AGL?Warren…   Read more»

Bob Messner made an Icarus flight at MHM – at least he paid for one, but I never heard the results…Warren Musselman

Use the web Luke… google has it. Formulas for BP, Nitrocellulose, nitrogylcerine, etc. etc….. did you know you can make RDX plastic explosive from boy scout heat tabs?Warren

MATCH rockets! Damn, I haven’t thought of those since I was about 9 or 10 years old… maybe younger. Sugar propellant I played with too, straight sugar and Potassium Nitrate… also tried my hand at Zinc/Sulpher, but damn near asphyxiated…   Read more»

Personally I see it as a big plus. I’m certainly not experienced enough to feel comfortable without other, more experienced, eyes on the project.Warren

Tripoli has less onerous rules than NAR in some ways such as the break circuit required for the deployment pyro charges. On the other hand, TRA theoretically requires the TAP to actually observe the L3 rocket under construction. I haven’t…   Read more»

I’ve never used 209 on a rocket – the last time I used it was when my hobby was building boats (whitewater and fishing drift boats, mackenzie-style dory) and at that point I ordered it off the web from a…   Read more»

Yes, outgassing is the issue. You can try reducing the temperature of the cure to slow it down enough so that they don’t form or you can try heating it up to accelerate the outgassing and get it done before…   Read more»

You’re using dual charges? I would stick with a single charge, but dual matches and dual altimeters….but that’s just me….and I’m probably worse than Wilke when it comes to oversized charges. I don’t advertise this much, but I had one…   Read more»

Why 6-32’s Bruce? I have 3 x 4-40 nylon screws and they hold things together just fine and surely shear when I do a deployment test.Warren

John, I’ve flyfished probably as many places as you – the Madison, the Firehole, the Galatin and damn near every fishable mile of the Platte and scads and scads of backwoods places in Colorado including almost every lake, pond, creek…   Read more»

Now THAT’s funny… I clearly remember my ex-wife complaining about what I spent on a Remington 700ADL and a top-end Leupold scope, hunting clothes, and a whole bunch of other stuff to hunt deer and elk when we moved to…   Read more»

Well my initial thought was to start with olive oil – but, greater viscosity might be necessary.Warren

I think the egg needs to be suspended in oil with about a mm or less space around the egg. The egg will float on the oil and when thrust hits, it will sink into the oil like the piston…   Read more»

Personally I think we need a test flight before we determine the final rules for the contest… I want to see what an “average” rocket with an H999 does to an egg yolk.Warren

You may be right… I’m just going with the common sense view that a solid object floating in a liquid will move within the liquid under acceleration.Warren Musselman

I’m surprised at you Chris – floatation only will occur at rest – the egg as a unit will sink under thrust. I was guessing it would float – ideally there will be neutral boyancy. I sense an experiment on…   Read more»

I will admit that the more you guys talk about this, the more I think about this challenge. I wasn’t talking about jello necessarily, but something like a mineral oil filled payload bay. The egg will float in mineral oil…   Read more»

I was thinking some sort of fluid or gel suspension system could do the trick…Warren Musselman

Well, personally, I don’t know that you could fly an egg on either of those motors without scrambling the contest even if you could keep the shell intact. As contest director, I’m VERY open to this sort of contest -…   Read more»