Might as well make my rocket report.
Last week the kiddos took out the Quest Astra III kit and launched it four times, more or less successfully. Also had four more or less successful
landings.
Assembly of Quest Astra IIITo start with, I put the rather simple rocket together the night before. It called for the gel model glue like one would use on plastic model planes. Well, I didn't have that, but I did have some old-school
JB Weld. That seemed to work wherever glue was called for, uh-huh.
I like the way Quest has a kevlar cord connected to the motor mount up through the body tube and then it tied to an elastic cord connecting to the nose cone.
Another mod to the kit was to use a dab of wood glue on every knot, shock cord & parachute.
Last, I used a fishing barrel swivel & hook about 3" short of hte nose cone as my chute/streamer attachment.
Model Rocketry Pain in the ass FactorFinding a place to shoot them off was much harder than expected. The city of Richardson bans them at all parks. Plano has just one place in one park where they can be shot from April-October...with a permit if you are 18+ years old. I managed to get a permit.
When I was a kid, any ol' park that looked big enough was good enough. Seems our hyper-regulated society is regulating such hobbies out of existence. I would have no place to shoot them in cycling distance, were I living at my address and 12YO.
The local rocketry organization,
http://www.dars.org/, has a couple other spots that can be used year-round, but they are a good ways away. Like, 20 miles & 60 miles, roughly. DARS wants $15/year to launch rockets at these sites, but they can only be utilized during sanctioned launch dates & times. Also, they imply, per their membership app (
http://www.dars.org/images/darsapp.pdf) that they expect you to be a member of a national org (
http://www.nar.org/) or (
http://www.tripoli.org) both of which cost $60+/year.
The PITA factor was something I did not reckon with, as I ordered the materials. I am mightily angry over it, to be frank.
Flight of Quest Astra IIII was able to talk my neighbor, the disabled (TBI) PhD EE who lives behind us, to come along. We have both done rocketry, but he has the distinction of being arrested by the city for shooting off rockets. So, along with my 4YO son and 3YO daughter, we went to the designated launch section of the designated park.
All shots were done with Quest A6-4 motors, the minimum suggested motor. The launch site is so small, I would be loathe to launch this rocket with a B motor and a chute. A streamer would be the way to go.
There was a slight breeze and I took that into account with my launch site. The first launch was my daughter's turn and it went up in a large arc. I think I used too much dog barf wadding and the chute did not open, but clumped together, despite the suggested chute fold.
The second launch was my boy's first, done with a rather long streamer made from yellow "Caution" tape. This sucker was WAY overloaded, despite the lesser amount of dog barf. It went up, cocked over and looked to power into the ground cone first when, 10-15' above ground, the recovery blast went off, decelerating it and disrupting its flight. The only damage done was a busted plastic fin.
I mended the fin with Krazy Glue gel, which did a smash-up job. I called a break and we got drinks & snacks as the Krazy Glue set.
Next flight, also set off by my boy, I cut off half the streamer and it went up pretty well, mostly stright...and came down pretty well. The fin held up to the impact. (Next time I use a streamer, I'll use the length of the original, but cut out half of it from the side with alternating slices.)
The last flightwas also set off by my boy. I used the chute, again, with minimal dog barf, and pushed it all down way toward the engine mount. It was the best flight & recovery, as it went up straight up and came straight down, as the chute deployed wonderfully.
Every launch we counted down from 5 and then yelled "Blast off!" and mashed to launch button. My daughter was scared of hte rocket launch and did not want to be that close after the first. Both hooted & hollered as the rockets went up and ran after them as they came down.
Everybody enjoyed the outing and I was impressed at how robust the starter rocket was.
