Paint design?

Thinking of this as a paint design

Got my taps lined up. These are the guys that have to check out my handy work and make sure I don't kill someone ;) . I am finishing up my docs so the only thing to do from here is to actually start working on the rocket.

Here is the overall specs and measurements.

Level 3 project is slowing taking shape.

I am going to be updating the blog with changes and news on my level 3 project. Here is to a launch in the first quarter of 2011.

Last Ball launch Photo

Launch this last weekend went much better than the one before. Got four flights in. The first was the Bomarc that I fix after the previous nose dive from 800 feet. It flew on a g123 and demonstrated quite a bit of lifting effects from the wings. I also had a easy single deploy h123 flight of my small endeavour rocket. A more exciting first flight for my rocket named last ball. It flew on a h400 to 1900 feet at about 450 mph. Finally came the first flight of Hawkeye. I will post the video but it will make you dizzy it got to 4125 feet and broke through some clouds. Looks like I had another avionics failure so I am retiring Hawkeye and it s avionics. Overall a pretty good day of rockets.

I placed my motor order.

Got my order motor in. One J a couple of H's and a 29mm hardware. I am getting everthing setup for the first flight of Hawkeye and my first HD on board video.

Back in the rocket Saddle.

Finally having some time to do some rocket work now. So hopefully I will have some updates soon.

Hawkeye 95% Done

I just have some little avionics work and some decals to put on. Hopefully looking for a May launch with so hd video to follow.

No love this weekend

It was a very bad launch weekend with only one out of four flights being successful. First it was sharky's machine. It flopped as bad as the the Burt Reynolds movie did. A defective motor caused a no ejection so it nosed dived into the earth from about 800 feet. Next came a lost rocket in a tree. Not a big deal but it had my wireless camera attached. Finally blue note did not fire its main chute so it came in at about 40 feet per sec resulting in serveral stress fractures. Blue note is going into retirement.

New Eye in the sky

Project Hawkeye.
The goal is to get this rocket to 7000 feet with a hd camera attached. This project will also test a new composite structure. I am going to use basalt instead of the more common carbon fiber or fiber glass for the body tubes.

Its been a long time.

I am finishing up a new project that I got for Christmas from My Mom and Julies. I think I am going to name it Sharky's Machine if my wife can make some shark teeth decals. I hope to get some pictures up soon and maybe get a launch in this weekend. Since this is a smaller rocket I wont have to make a 2 hour drive to the larger launch sites.

Second Flight of Blue Note

Second Flight of Blue Note. It was a pretty good flight except the drogue charge did not fire. Lucky it came in with a flat spin before the main parachute charge fired. No damage so I am not complaining.

Videos

Thanks to everyone that made it happen. Julies my great wife and Austin Area Rocket Group.

Launch this last weekend

Had a pretty good launch this weekend. Blue note went up on her maiden flight and I had a shadowhawk also fly for the first time. Both rockets were recovery except my main chute did not deploy on blue note.

Some Primer pics of Blue Note

This was my first attempt using automotive paint. I was half successful. I had to resort back to high grade spray paint for some of the rocket. I finish everything else this weekend and the final pictures will be up once the decals come in.

Ejection Test

Testing the ejection charge. Its a little much but I am happy the shear pins broke and the chute deployed cleanly.

New Color Scheme

Here is the a first draft color scheme. Any feedback would be great. I am finishing up the fin can now and looking for a November launch!

Video of launch done August 30th 2008.

Here is some onboard video from my camera that was attached to Sam Barone's rocket. Thanks for the ride Sam.

Unnamed project is now named

The rocket will be called blue note. I decided on this mostly due to the name I gave my rocketry operation. I named my rocket operation JAZ Rocketry (Julie, Alexa, Zoey) and anyone familiar with jazz knows the blue note label.