Dad and I did three more launches yesterday.
The Alpha three kit had one flawless flight, and one stuck in a tree but recovered flight.
The Estes highflyer kit...well that one went up about 50 feet, then nosed over and drove into the ground under power.
Ah, well. The more you fly, the more you crunch. All part of the fun.
I bend more of my small ones than the big ones, for some reason. It's easier on the wallet that way, though.
I often modify the smaller rockets using techniques learned building the big ones. Five minute epoxy instead of white glue; kevlar or nylon shock cords instead of the stock Estes rubber bands; nylon chutes instead of plastic; beefed up fins and motor mounts, etc.
Upscaling a small Estes rocket to fly on larger motors is fun, too. It requires some back-of-the-envelope calculations to scale up the various part sizes correctly. I cheat, though, and use computer software to model the flight characteristics of the final version before its first flight.
I enjoy scratch building rockets to fly on D motors, buying parts from various vendors. I used to fly stuff on A through C motors with the kids when they were younger. Even though I have a Level 2 high power certification, the small stuff can be just as fun to fly as the big, high power rockets.
