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4-H Fair Results
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July 14, 2010
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Justin, the kid next door who got me back into rocketry, and Jaclyn, his
sister, are 4-H members; I'm their Project Leader for Aerospace, which in my
book means rocketry. This year, Justin showed one rocket at the Knox
County, Missouri Fair: His "Bomb," a rocket he designed with
OpenRocket to look like, well, a bomb. Jaclyn showed two rockets, a
Semroc Saki and an Estes Crossbow SST.
... click here to read more ...
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The weather forecast said that the next week would be unsuitable for
launching; so, despite 12-20 mph breezes and a cloudy sky, I decided
it was time for our 4-H club launch. This year, Sam wasn't able to
participate, so the group consisted of Jaclyn and Justin. My daughter
Taylor and I also launched some rockets.
... click here to read more ...
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Back Yard Launch
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June 24, 2010
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For about the first time this year, launching conditions were perfect
this afternoon. So, I launched a few in the back yard with Taylor (my
daughter) pushing the button and helping to retrieve them. Sorry, no
pictures this time.
... click here to read more ...
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SPARC Launch
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August 22, 2009
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Once again, I joined the SPARC guys in St. Peters, Missouri for their regular
monthly launch. They were launching at the soccer field this time,
so we drew some spectators, which was pretty cool.
... click here to read more ...
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Back Yard Launch
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July 19, 2009
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The wind quieted somewhat suddenly Sunday evening, and my thoughts turned
naturally to rockets. Four kids (my daughter and three neighbor boys)
were in the yard, so I got four low fliers together along with my handmade
controller and my modified Estes stand, and headed out to the back yard.
... click here to read more ...
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My first launch of the year happened to be our 4-H club launch. I had three
project members present: Sam, Jaclyn, and Justin. It's Justin's third
year doing 4-H Aerospace, but the first for Jaclyn and Sam.
... click here to read more ...
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SPARC Launch
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September 28, 2008
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Some time back (like, last year), Troy (akpilot) issued an open invitation to me to attend one of his club's launches. I finally got the chance yesterday.
... click here to read more ...
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Celestial Navigator
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September 3, 2008
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This will be my first truly homebrew design. I've always been a
kitbasher; even my beautiful (and sadly missing) Dawn Star was bashed from a
Patriot and a Baby Bertha. About the only original rocket in my fleet is my
Phoenix, which was more an accident than a planned design.
That ends now. I've just received notice that my parts order has shipped from
Semroc, including two 9.5" ST-10 tubes, an 18" ST-7 tube, an 18mm engine mount
for the ST-10, appropriate centering rings to allow me to mate the ST-7 to the
two ST-10's, and a medium-length ogive cone to cap it off.
Click here to read more...
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A Perfect Day
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September 7, 2008
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The weather this morning was beautiful, and the weather forecast was for more of the same all day long. Partly cloudy,
temperature in the 70's and 5-10MPH breezes all day. I knew better than to believe that last... I've learned that, in
Missouri, you prep your rockets when there is a breeze, and often there will be none when you start to actually launch; but
start prepping when there is no breeze, and a stiff one will blow up on you. But this is a good thing, I thought, as I
wandered out into the light breeze.
... click here to read more ...
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Labor Day
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September 1, 2008
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My daughter Taylor and I launched a very few rockets in the back yard tonight,
starting around 7:30pm; thus, we had about half an hour of useful daylight left.
Mainly, I wanted to test my new miniature X-24 Bug (3/4 scale, 13mm power, all
paper except for the bulkhead) and try out my over 20 year old Centuri Flying
Saucer. I also launched Taylor's Gauchito. Rather than dragging out the four-way
stand, I used an Estes stand (modded with a ceramic tile launch deflector) and
my wooden launch controller. It was about 85°F and apparently windless.
... click here to read more ...
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Sunday Evening Rocketry
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July 13, 2008
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After waiting seemingly forever for (a) decent weather and (b) all the hay and wheat to be mowed,
we finally got our chance. Taylor, Justin, Jaclyn, and I all got in some launches, and for the
most part we were very satisfied. All of my rockets which got launched had never been launched before.
... click here to read more ...
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New Centurion -- Completed!
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July 7, 2008
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I have built a rocket which I call the "New Centurion." It's inspired by the
classic Centuri Centurion, which had an innovative (for the time) ejection baffle system.
My New Centurion has an offset-tube baffle, breaks at the midline (just above
the baffle), and features three interchangeable engine mounts (1x18mm, 2x18mm, 1x24mm D/E).
Click here to read more...
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Well, it's done! Today I took five pieces of 2x6 lumber scrap, ripped them down to 2x4,
then cut the four leg pieces to 30" length. The top board happened to be just under 53"
long, and I left it that length; with a bit more than 5" on each end to hold the leg
brackets, I was able to space the tilt and swivels 14" apart.
Click here to read more...
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Pharos I: Fantasy Scale Rocket
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February 7, 2008
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Cyclone -- Assembly Complete
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January 17, 2007
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Tonight I finished assembling my Cyclone, and I'm quite happy with it
despite one glaring error.
Click here to read more...
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My Old Photos Now Online
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August 21, 2007
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Well, here they are... the pictures that, had I any sense, I'd never allow to be seen.
The pictures that graced the pages of my last 4-H Model Rocketry project book.
... click here to read more ...
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Cloudy But Calm
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August 19, 2007
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This afternoon was cloudy but fairly calm, with breezes of around 5 MPH or so.
Justin and I decided to launch a few of our rockets, including some of mine that
had never been launched as well as a few that hadn't been up recently.
... click here to read more ...
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New Online Tool -- Centering Ring Generator
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May 25, 2007
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I've created an online centering ring generator tool. It creates 150 dpi PNG images,
which can be downloaded and printed. Click here to try it out.
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This is an experiment, for sure. I'm using ipligence.com's IP Geolocation map, below.
If I discover they are evil, I'll drop them... so please, email me if you believe they've sent you popups
or any nonsense like that.
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