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2012 Missions
Most interesting BPASA flights of the year
Flights are grouped by project Click
on any picture to enlarge
Most cluster flights use
Rocketflite
igniters and Cluster Box |
Night Flights Video
11/17/12 CMASS |
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HellBoy 70 Goes Big - 70 motors
loaded in 2 stages flight 8 video:
11/17/12 CMASS Amesbury, MA
First stage 51x C11-0 engines - all 51x motors fired (=
BP I560)
Rocketry Forum thread
playlist of all HellBoy videos
Second stage 19x C11-0 engines -
18x motors fired (= BP H200)
HellBoy 70 lifted off fast and
straight on a quiet rush of fire and smoke, transitioning quickly from first
to second stage.
All 51x C11 motors in the first stage fired creating a column of yellow
flame and white smoke,
sending up the rocket up quickly reaching a peak acceleration of 16.9 Gs.
Curtis Heisey
Curtis Heisey
Curtis Heisey
Second stage fired one second later, in
a smooth quick transition,
firing 18 of 19 loaded C11 engines and reaching a
peak velocity of 272 fps (185 MPH).
Curtis Heisey
Curtis Heisey
First stage fell 20 ft from
the pad, and the interstage coupler is in good enough condition to be
re-used. Sustainer hit apogee at 1250 ft and the chutes deployed for a clean
recovery less than 200 ft from the pad.
Data from the Featherweight Raven is fun to have, and its advanced
programming capabilities were essential to the success of this flight,
firing the second stage and both ejection charges. This chart of
acceleration, velocity and altitude data from the Raven shows in the (red)
acceleration data, strong thrust of the 51x C11 engines in the first stage,
a spike as the stages separate, and then the thrust curve for the 18x C11s
fired in the sustainer.
The flight went very well, firing 69 of 70 loaded motors. I believe the one
motor that did not fire in the sustainer was due to that flashpan being
prepared more than two weeks earlier, for the previous flight in which the
second stage was not ignited. That makes 213 motors fired of 214 hit by
flashpans in 8 HellBoy flights.
Thank you very much Bill
Spadafora for:
1) helping with setup at the pad
2) being the safety man on the RC emergency deploy charge
3) emailing me a great video clip from the pad which is edited in with the
other videos
4) running a great rocketry club, CMASS, for another great season! |
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HellBoy 50 - 50 motors loaded in 2 stages flight
7 video: 11/3/12 CMASS Amesbury, MA
Rocketry Forum thread
First stage 31x engines: 19x D11-P and 12x C11-0 - all
31x motors fired (= BP I340)
playlist of all HellBoy videos
Second stage 19x C11-0 engines -
no motors fired because Raven altimeter determined velocity too low
The first stage flashpan fired
all 31 engines in the booster in a big cloud of smoke and a trail of flames.
The rocket weathercocked severely due to the windy conditions and being
overstable, becoming more horizontal than vertical at about the time the
second stage was due to fire. Because of the safety conditions set for the
Raven, the second stage did not fire.
As the rocket continued to arc over and started to drop while traveling
horizontally, both the drogue and main were deployed by the Raven at about
400ft altitude. The first stage was dramatic and the flight was safe.
As a planned precaution, Bill Spadafora used the RC control to fire the
safety ejection charge after the chutes deployed to clear that charge before
the rocket touched down.
Unfortunately, due to the
speed the rocket was traveling when the chutes deployed, the onboard video
camera (Boostervision HD Gearcam) was separated from the rocket. It had been
taped to the rocket very near where the Kevlar recovery harness caused a
slight zipper in the HellBoy. Thanks to Bill, Ken and several other folks
who were kind enough to help look for the video camera. Despite looking for
the camera for over an hour, it was not found.
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HellBoy 2011 flights
build and 2010 flights
Rocketry Forum
thread
Flown
4 times in 2012, firing 137 of 138 motors ignited.
playlist of all HellBoy videos
Built from the
Polecat Fat Man kit - a 2x upscale of Estes Fat Boy.
Modified for dual deploy and 19x 24mm motor cluster flight.
27 inches tall by 5.5 inches diameter, flight
weight 8 pounds. Used as sustainer for the two stage flights described
above.
flight 5 video:
10x E9 + 9x D12
flight 6: 19x E9-6
CMASS / MMMS Berwick, ME 4/28/12 LDRS XXXI
- Day
three - 7/14/12
more pictures,
video and info
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Midnight Express
Rocketry Forum thread
playlist of all Midnight Express videos
3.4x upscale Big Daddy, 10 inch diameter x 68 inches tall, flight weight 33
to 41 lbs.
Built early 2012 from Polecat nose cone and body tube, plus built up carbon
fiber and end grain balsa fins.
Flown 3 times in 2012 on K, L and M power.
Big Skidmark
Successful L3 flight
first flight: Pro-X L820 Skidmark
flight 2: Pro-X M1230 Imax
LDRS XXXI - Day one -
7/12/12 LDRS XXXI - Day two - 7/13/12
more pictures, video and info
more pictures, video and info
flight 3 video: Pro-X 54mm 4grain K740 C-Star 10/6/12 CMASS / MMMS
Berwick, ME
It pleased me greatly to fly the same propellant formula as used on the
Space Shuttle.
Lifted off loudly on a hard thrusting bright white flame and column of white
smoke.
Apogee at 1360ft. Dual altimeters plus motor backup for this single
deployment flight.
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LDRS
XXXI 7/12/12 - 7/15/12 Potter, NY
Four days at the biggest launch event on Earth
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Spinning Saucer of the
Apocalypse
Rocketry Forum thread
playlist of all SSoA videos
Original design, 10 motor clustered, spinning saucer, modified upscale of the
Turbine Rocket Saucer. 3ft diameter 7lbs flight weight.
Flights create lots of flame and smoke while spinning at almost 1000rpm.
Flight is for effect, and altitude stays under 100ft.
Typical motor configuration is 2x G engines in the center firing straight
down for lift
and 8x D engines mounted horizontally on top of the outer ring to generate
spin.
Built early 2012. Flown 7 times in 2012 firing all 70 motors loaded.
First 2 flights video: 4/28/12 CMASS / MMMS Berwick, ME
First flight: trial run for an experimental project, used 2x F40 motors for lift and
8x C11 for spin.
Only went up about 40ft but stayed flat throughout flight. Confirmed that
doubling lift and spin power was both safe and necessary.
Second flight: 2x G64 for lift and 8x D12
for spin. Got more lift, getting closer to 100ft,
but a strong gust of wind caused the saucer to land on edge requiring minor
repairs.
 
flights 3 and 4: both
flown on 2x G64 + 8x D12 at LDRS XXXI on 7/14/12
flight 5: 2x G64 + 8x D12
7/21/12 CMASS
Amesbury, MA
This video
gets a good close up of the fast spinning recovery.
flight 6: 2x G64 + 8x D11-P 10/6/12 CMASS / MMMS
Berwick, ME
 11/17/12 CMASS
Amesbury, MA
flight 7 video: used 2x AT G80T engines for lift instead
of the usual G64W, resulting in a slightly quicker
and higher lift and more definition to the helix of smoke created by the 8x
D11-P motors used for spin.
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FlisKits 10th anniversary
launch video
10/20/12 CMASS Amesbury, MA
Jim Flis and FlisKits always make sure lots of fun is had
at their annual anniversary launch.
Fliskits provides delicious cake, pays for the field and sets up fun events
like a 8x way Frick-n-Frack drag race and
their amazing styrofoam cup UFFO rocket specially with streamers.
Jim setting up and cleaning up after the
one-of-a-kind UFFO modified streamer rocket
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RC ECee 10/20/12
CMASS Amesbury, MA
Saucer of DOOM
First flight: Edmonds ECee Thunder modified for RC. Good
flight on C11 + E9.
flight 24: Pro-X H143 Smokey Sam
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English Electric Thunderbird
2011 flights
Rocketry Forum thread
playlist of all Thunderbird videos
2012 flights video
Flown twice in 2012, firing all 22 motors
loaded.
Both flights on 1x F30 + 6x E9-6 + 4x D11-P, a great motor combination for
this rocket,
a nice long burn pushing the rocket up 500 to 800 feet.
The English Electric Thunderbird is a very
cool looking surface to air missile deployed by the British from 1959 to
1977.
It has four drop off boosters with canted nose cones and engine nozzles.
This is a 3/20x scale model of the actual
missile and a 2x upscale the FlisKits kit.
As built: 11x motor cluster of 24mm engines, 42.5 inches tall, 7.5 lbs
flight weight.
flight 8: 10/6/12 CMASS / MMMS
Berwick, ME
flight 9: 10/20/12 CMASS Amesbury,
MA
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VooDoo Daddy flights
1-12 < includes 16x engine staged and clustered flights
playlist of all VooDoo Daddy videos
Years ago my first cluster rocket, and later Paul's first
cluster flight.
Flown twice in 2102 at CMASS in Amesbury, MA.
14 lifetime flights, all 120 motors loaded were fired.
flight 13:
video
4x E9-6 + 4x D12-5 7/21/12
flight 14: 8x D12-5 10/20/12
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Turbine Rocket Saucer
flight 28: 7/6/12 Home Fairhaven,
MA
2012 flights video - Includes 3 Cool Night Flights
My dad was visiting and parents wanted to see a night flight of the TRS.
 
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Demon
Star
Rocketry Forum thread
Modified version of the
R and R Model Aircraft Delta Star
rocket glider.
As built 2.3lbs flight weight,
36" long, 30" wingspan.
Flown 3 times and destroyed.
First 2 flights: 1/14/12 CMASS Acton,
MA
Lifted off fast on G64 engines. Windy conditions made glide
control challenging.
Third and last flight of the Demon Star: 6/10/12 CMASS Sudbury,
MA
A gust of wind pushed the glider over on its
back as it lifted off fast on a G64. I pulled up one second on the controls
before
realizing it was inverted and pushing down, but too late. Glider met
nearby trees at about 100mph and was destroyed.
 
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