When I was a kid, I built at least 30 rockets. The trick to likely recovery was to get the rocket back down as quickly as possible. Don't use an 18" parachute when a 12" will do, and use a streamer unless the decent rate will cause damage on impact. Of course, the worst crashes are when the ejection charge misfires and the rocket goes ballistic (remaining in rocket form for the decent as well).
The cheapest/simplest rockets used the ejection charge to jettison the spent motor out the back, letting the (now unbalanced) rocket come tumbling down...no moving parts!
...or, use a dry lake, like I used to do as a child (requires parents willing to drive u out to the remote location)...near Edwards AFB in the Mojave. 12" chute with hole in the middle, preferably silk, was what I used...those cheap thin plastic Estes chutes didn't last long.
Go visit some MR forums, should be able to find a suitable HD cam.
As I child, I got in on the 1st commercial performance engines...only they were 2 expensive for my allowance
. IIRC $6ea for the few F52's that I bought. I fired off one on a bench test once, just so see that fascinating/pretty fuel exhaust pattern of diamonds, and blue flame? So wicked! Made the black powder engines seem like they were for kids, lol.
Damned Calif reg.s I couldn't get the F67, nore the 30lb/sec which would have allowed supersonic flight (though it's possible the F52's @25lb/sec takeoff thrust did achieve that...only did 2 flights IIRC). I think the parachute strap dislodged (glue did not stick to the cardboard tubing?), or maybe the chute failed to deploy, can't remember...but I think it shot up, and then disappeared
. We had a dune buggy, and I think we found it down wind somewhere in the middle of the dry lake...damaged???
I only had the 1340 or Nike Ram (#3 Sept '72 pdf newsletter link bl), you needed to check balance with engine you were using and weight the front payload to adjust. Compared to the whimpy Estes A & C engines I was used to, these were like going from a Yugo to a top fuel dragster! Oh man, the sound of those enerjet engines was unreal, crackly awesomeness---not that whussy, 'high-pressure leak' sound, typical A-C black powder engines make; and then the rocket blasted off so fast, gained even more speed, and was nearly out of sight before your head could react.:diablo:
<^
this is about where PC enforcer twit comes along and accuses me of being OT again, lol...the boy has 'issues' ...
Enerjet "insanely great" products-like Apple, Estes = M$ >
Check out the old Enerjet newsletters & catalogs, scroll down the page in link bl :
http://www.oldrocketplans.com/publications.htm
I so wanted the
3-cluster 2250 sounding rocket, and 1lb payload capacity...kit was only $22 back then---yeah, yeah, I know it's
3x as much as a flimsy cheap inferior product like a Winblows/Estes rocket, FAA approval needed for launch
. (^#4 Jan 73 newsletter)
[FONT=Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica]
Enerjet Special Edition Catalog #741[/FONT]
images of the E24 &F67 series, sm pix of the "
Mach diamonds" exhaust trail
<<<they had a big color image in the orig. 8x11.5 catalog- on 2pg of the
"741" catalog ^link above.
Solid rocket pioneer Paavo John Rahkonen dies at age 79
http://www.rocketryplanet.com/content/view/3155/29/
^see comments section @bottom
The Enerjet Story
http://launchhistory.com/history/centuri/4-the-enerjet-story?showall=1
OK, now come the 'Enerjet fanboi'
ad hominem attack. against me
...u want the truth, u can't handle the truth
