The High Cost of High Power

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...

It should be obvious by now that I'm a low-power kinda guy who is straying into mid-power, but not very experienced with high power.

Now, recently, there's been a fad to build upscale Der Red Max and Estes has responded with a kit called Der BIG Red Max.  When the price fell on a special sale to what I could afford, I pulled the trigger and got one for $29 plus tax.

Almost immediately, I was advised that there is/was an upgrade kit to buy plywood centering rings and plywood fins to improve the rocket to accept higher power motors.

Note that the original kit specifies E16-5 or F14-5 motors.  

I weighed the value and decided to invest the $20 that I had saved for the upgrades.  

Now, I had also invested in some BSI two part epoxy that cures in 30 minutes, so I could make higher power rockets.  This cost me some $15 as well.

So, when things got slow, and the launch season was about to start, I had all I needed to build my upgrade.

I installed the plywood centering rings (which were perfect, mind you) as well as the plywood fins (also excellent cut).  I epoxied every joint that I could, and looked ahead to realize I had to attach a shock cord before sealing up the motor mount can.

I opted to replace the rubber shock cord with a Kevlar string from a roll I had bought for $8 earlier.

I painted the nosecone gloss black, and bought a special metallic copper colored paint on discount from Lowe's for $2.95 a can.   Since the cans suggested this Rustoleum paint was primer and paint combined, I did no special prep, other than seal the fins with a slurry of Elmer's wood glue and water droplets.  They looked nice.

So, the big day came and I had prepared the parachute that was included (a THICK Jolly Roger) with the stout string shroud lines, as well as special adhesive tabs.  The instructions said to peal off the plastic cover, and press the tab onto each of  the eight corners, looping the lines from one to the adjacent tab.  I tied triple knots, just to be sure, but didn't secure them with glue in case I wanted to untie one for some reason. 

Still the chute felt stiff but not sticky in my hands as I folded it up like a taco and then packed it after two large handfuls of dog barf.

I took it to the range officer and he inspected it, approving, except that he thought the nosecone was a little loose, so a half a wrap of masking tape snugged it up. 

What was I going to fly it on?  I turned to the vendor who said he didn't stock any of the Estes Black Powder E or F motors...but he had other brands of F33s, F25s, F 28s, in two-packs and singles.  After a little haggling and comparisons, he suggested a single F25-T6 which he said would work.  

I paid $25 (a discount) and he assisted me in inserting the motor. A bit of the paper wrapper had to be removed, and he allowed me to insert the igniter and strip the wires and separate them.  He even walked me to the mid-power pad where we loaded it on the rod, and he suggested swiping the clips against each other to see if they would spark. They didn't. The pad was safe. And so we finished the positioning, turning it slightly into the wind, and backed off to the control point.

The firing officer took the launch card and checked with me, "You made the modifications?"

"What modifications", I asked?

"The plywood centering rings and fins," he asked?  

Oh yes, I caught his meaning. 

We waited for a lull in the wind and after several tries with his control launch board, he suddenly got the right switch, and WOOSH, off it went, arcing to the right, into the wind slightly.

It sailed high, and someplace near apogee, the ejection charge went off, dislodging the nosecone and parachute.   It started down, and I knew something was wrong.
It was dropping faster than I thought it should.

 But, I realized I wouldn't have to walk as far...

The chute had partially opened, but was still half closed.  It twirled and swirled as the rocket dropped toward the ground.   I was only a little concerned as it landed in the soft farmer's newly turned field.  I started my walk.

When I found it, the rocket was fine, but the shock cord and shroud lines were hopelessly tangled...in fact, the shroud lines looked like they had been wound into a thicker cord, (as you would make rope out of twine).

I carried the rocket back, and examined the still-closed chute.  It had opened, but half of the thick plastic maintained its memory and had stayed closed...not flaring open to the full extent. And thus, two of the shroud lines had pulled their adhesive tabs right off the plastic parachute, flailing around and tangling the shock cord on the way down.  

I started asking about what people did about this, and learned that everyone replaces their plastic chutes with nylon chutes as they never trust Estes plastic chutes with their rockets.  I have  to doubt this, cause the Der BIG Red Max comes with a more THICK plastic that is not a thin mil plastic at all.

But as I packed it all away, I was struck with a thought.  I had replaced the:

  • fins
  • centering rings
  • glue
  • shock-cord
  • paint 

and now it looked like the parachute was to be replaced as well.  

The original parts that were left were:

  • The blown plastic nosecone
  • the slotted body tube
  • the motor mount tube
  • the retainer nut on the end

I began to wonder just what I had paid the $29 for the total kit for if the majority of parts were to be replaced?

By my count, I had paid $15, 20, 8, 25 and now another $30 for a chute for a kit that had marketed for $50.

Something seems off to me here.  And I'd like to get your thoughts on this too.  Did I miss something?

This has been the Thrifty Rocketeer wondering why I had paid so much for an upgrade that almost failed. 

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