YAY! Rocket May Day

Today it was Mrs. Adams' class's turn to fly their rockets. The weather cooperated a bit though we still had winds, just enough to sacrifice a couple of drifters to the rocket-eating tree next to the playground. It was a fun day for all.

Another shot at Flying Friday

If the weather cooperates, a lot of rockets are going into the air on the 22nd. Two to three classes and one with parachute work to do. Here's a pic of Mrs. Davis and her crew. She's holding a crayon rocket, with the signatures of her students and fellow teachers we'll be flying for as her farewell gift. She'll have to move on to another district, the victim of cuts of teachers in Lancaster. She's one of the good ones and I hate to see her go. With luck, she'll pick up a position in the area, and more kids will be introduced to rocketry!

Too Windy!

It was too windy for our school rocket launch with Mr Dawson's class, so I passed out some more rockets I promised to another 4th grade class, Mrs. Leemus's, the last for the school year. The kids were really happy and excited to have a chance at flying rockets.


In the next two weeks, they'll have them all painted up with parachutes installed ready to fly. I gave the teacher one too, an Estes Skywriter. The class put their names on it, and it will sit proudly on her desk for years to come.

Work Continues

This week, The launch pad got a blast deflector and I glued the aft centering ring in place with epoxy. I also installed the inserts for the engine retainer. Epoxy fillets were applied to the fin joints and rings. That strengthens things up a bit. The nose cone bulkhead was glued in place with Z R/C 56. Hopefully we'll install the recovery system this week and call it a wrap. On Monday, May 11, I've got a school rocket launch coming up. I'll have a few pics of that here for you afterward.

The Crayon's Launcher

My pneumonia has dissipated, and I'm back at the work bench. This is the launcher I made for the Crayon and the other tall rockets in my fleet. It came to me during one of my particularly nasty nights of coughing during my bout with my ailment. How its made is explanatory, most of the tube and stuff came from home depot and the aluminum is scrap. I'm a sheet metal worker of aircraft by profession, so bending this stuff was easy.

Next up, I go back to the recovery stuff, I got some rings I needed from a local hardware store instead of buying on line ( SUPPORT YER LOCAL HARDWARE AND HOBBY STORES!)