The TOGinator - Big Mixed Cluster

TOGinator Featured in the EMRR 2009 rockets calendar Futuristic 7ft tall rocket flown on large clusters of 20 to 30 engines 4 inch diameter body 18 inch wingspan Flight weight up to 15 pounds	Page 1: build and flight 1 (April 2008) Page 2: rebuild and flight 2 (Oct. 2008) Page 3: flights 3-5 (2009-2010)
TOGinator rebuild and flight 2 10/4/08 CMASS Amesbury, MA Click on any picture to enlarge
After a hard landing on the first flight, rebuilt upper rocket body larger and stronger. Central tube went from 38mm to 54mm with 13oz fiberglass.
Minor repairs to tail end. Used Bondo spot putty to fill out complex join points.
Sanded and masked inside of engine tubes. Added four more 24mm engine tubes 18" up from the tail for effect. Then multiple coats of primer between sanding.
The TOGinator now shares the same 4" electronics bay, parachute compartment and nose cone as the Ultimate FireBall.
Installing 30 engines for flight 2: 3x G71R, 12x E9 and 15x D11-P. J power on a mix of AP and BP. Each of the three engine types arranged symmetrically. The AP engines' ignition accelerated by lightly sanding the propellant slot and painting in some Rocketflite MF pyrogen. The 3 Redlines will create spikes of flame in the field of yellow flames and the E9s a longer thrust and smoke tail.
Main chute prepped in a deployment bag. Series strings of 2 to 3 Rocketflite ML ematches before and after installation into the engines. Series and parallel wiring of ematches greatly reduced ignition current load to about 65A. Typical all parallel igniter load would have been about 360A. At the pad with Bob Krech assisting, adding the extra wire to the upper ematches and taping it to the back of the launch rail.
photos by Doug Gardei Nice clean launch on 10/4/08 soaring straight and quickly to 1260ft. Fired the 3x G71 Redlines, 12x E9 and 12x of 15x D11-P engines.
Flight Videos: TOGinator 27 engine cluster - complete flight (12MB) TOGinator liftoff - 10x slowed and 1.6x zoomed (5MB)
This time the main chute ejected but did not unfurl, picture thanks to Bill Spadafora. My son Paul helping with recovery. The business end of the rocket after the flight. Some scorching from the E9 ejection charges and minor damage in the tail after a fast landing.
Check out the third and fourth flights of the TOGinator on Page 3 - flights 3 and 4 - Aug. and Nov. 2009