The weather gods smiled on us this year. It was a tad windy, but pretty mild until the light started to fade. This year we took the unprecedented step of inviting a few non NSRG people...
Here's some pictures that Damian sent of Pete's Little Wild Thing. Nice sequence, but a bit blurry. He should have brought his tripod.
Damian also took some video footage (Footage? What exactly does that mean in the digital age?) ...
Paul seemed to enjoy himself. He sent me this email...
The day saw the inaugural flight of Team Uranus with a vehicle named Nothing2Hide (N2H). N2H is a 340mm equilateral tetrahedron (950 g in flight trim) and rode on a Pro38 402I170. The Pratt ejection charge powered by MAD functioned perfectly. The 14 inch Topflight parachute was intentionally deployed on ascent to avoid frightening simple Lincolnshire country folk with stunning X-Files-like tetrahedron performance (and to confound rocketeer spies from other planetary bodies). Detractors have put about a completely unsubstantiated rumour that it was done only to save the hung over designer/builder from walking very far in the mud. N2H's polycarbonate airframe trial (part of MOAT* R&D) was successful as the impact "effect" was remedied with a wet wipe and a three inch piece of tape. The polycarbonate motor tube proved dimensionally stable under flight conditions with mere masking tape for motor retention - the only (and perhaps last) Team Uranus rocket to ever fly without the security of a Rowes Retainer. N2H's next flight will be on a J and with redesigned forward parachute deployment as it continues as MOAT's test bed. *Mother of All Tetrahedrons, a 850mm equilateral tetrahedron with 9 liters of N2O tankage and a Hypertek M grain.
...and some pictures.
| Flier | Rocket | Motor | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Damian | SilverThing | F23-7 | |
| Damian | Bogroll Bob | B6-4 | Dodgy unstable flight |
| Damian | Rogue Aerospace Hex Courier | C6-5 | Tubular Fins |
| Mike | Matrix | H242T | Nice flight |
| Mike | Prodiginous U | J360 | 3642 feet, main chute didn't deploy. No major damage. |
| Paul | Nothing2Hide | I170 | |
| Richard P | Salad Days 2.2 | D12-0 | It wasn't that good on Baildon |
| Richard P | Dart | H110 | Stuck in the sky, lost. Never to be seen again? |
| Graham | Ariane-5 | C6-3 | Partially deployed chute |
| Graham | V2 (Noris kit) | D21-4 | BYEEEEEEEEEE!!! Somewhere in Heckington |
| Graham | WorstPaintJobInTheWorld | C6-5 | Fed the Rocketgods |
| Graham | Yellow estes thingy | A8-3 | |
| Graham | Estes Mini Mars lander | A3-4T | |
| Graham | Hobbes | G60 | Modded NorthCoast Big Brute |
| Pete W | Estes Heatseeker | B6-4 | Needs C power next time |
| Pete W | Luna | A8-3 | Scratch built from Jack Hagerty book |
| Pete W | Mini Phoenix (Aardvark Rockets) | A8-3 | |
| Pete W | ASP V2 | A8-3 | |
| Pete W | Holverson Zoomie | 1/2A3-T | Scary flight |
| Pete W | Earth vs The Flying Saucers | B6-4 | |
| Pete W | Earth vs The Flying Saucers | C6-0 | Heatshield damaged on re-entry. Consequently, Earth won! |
| Pete W | Vaughn Bros Little Wild Thing | C6-5, 7xA10-0 | 2nd flight of this ill-fated thing. All boosters lit, main didn't. However, "Lovelace effect" deployed streamers prematurely. |
| Pete W | Estes V2 | D12-5 | Beautiful straight flight and not too far to walk for recovery.....unlike some! |
| Darren | Phoenix | F39-6 | Still quite a long walk on just a streamer. |
| Shaun | Bullpuppy | H110 | Across the Andes by frog to recover this one. Picked up Prodiginous on the way back. |
| Dave T | Amraam 3 | H110 | Level one attempt failed, nosecone came off :-( |
| Richard H | Not-so-Mean Machine | D12-5 | |