Rushin' It

The Thrifty Rocketeer Blog continues....

I admit it.

I was bored, so I started flipping about, looking for something interesting to read on the internet. 
And I came across an entry or link to a well known hobby tutorial website and company that specializes in model rocketry.

Now, I'm certain that it won't take you much effort to figure this out, but I'll change the names to make it at least a little more challenging.

Let's just say that this company goes by the name Zenith Rocketry.  They have lots of how-to construction videos that show building various techniques on a table in front of a black backdrop.   We'll call the presenter, "Tom".

I first linked to an article that listed "7 Most Common Mistakes" people make in certifying for Level 1 and 2.   It was well written, and I spotted myself in one of the first complaints...

People who get in a rush, and so cut corners or make mistakes. 

This one made me think.

It seems like each time I have have a problem, more often than not, I'm feeling pressure at the launch site to try to hurry and get another bird in the air.

In fact, as I recall one particular club launch, I had brought two guests to launch as well, but their time was limited.  The husband had told me that he remembered fondly building what turned out to be an orange Alpha rocket as a kid, and promptly lost it either on top of the school gym or  elsewhere in the neighborhood as it soared over the houses. With that background, I had encouraged him to get into the hobby once more. The husband had bought two rocket kits for he and his wife, and they had built them over the course of a week. 

He went out and bought an Xarconian Cruiser Estes Rocket   (Skill Level 5!!!) and assembled it.  He also bought something a little less challenging for his wife.  She painted hers pink from head to toe. So they brought their two finished rockets to the launch, but had not rocket motors nor recovery wadding.  So I lent them each an appropriate low power motor and a bag of "dog barf". I quickly commented how he could use the loose cellulose insulation to protect the chute and launch relatively quickly, since time was growing short before he had to leave.

I had brought a rocket assisted glider and was preping it to fly, so I didn't pay a lot of attention to his prep work.

He loaded his Xarconian Cruiser  rocket onto the launch rod at the club launch, and then stepped back with his wife to launch the rocket.

Zoom, it went off with a whoosh, and tipped over at apogee, turned over and headed for earth.  There was absolutely no indication of an ejection charge, and no slowing.  It lawn darted and ruined the rocket.  I was shocked.

He loaded his wife's rocket onto the next rod, and again stepped back.  Whoosh, it went up, arced over and again failed to eject a chute.  It lawn darted, crumpling the body tube about half way up the pink shaft.

It was time to go.  They collected their rockets into their car and prepared to leave, just as I was loading my glider onto my launch rod.  I hurried as they were rolling past in their car, so I hustled myself back to the control point, checked continuity and pressed launch.  

My glider shredded itself as it went up the rod, arcing over in a low curve, and crash landed. The boost rocket went higher than the glider and came down close-by.   I was mortified. They hadn't even turned to look out the side of the car as they rolled past to see my flight. 

A little reflection revealed what the problem had been. 

Although he had flown an Alpha as a kid, he had used recovery wadding (only a sheet or two) and never used "Dog Barf".  He had packed it in for more than two diameters of the body tube. I felt bad that I had not supervised him more closely.

As far as my problem, I had rushed, clipping the leads to my ignitor, but didn't position the wires to be out of the path of the glider coming up beneath the leads.  At least one of the struts shredded, and the glider barely flew in an arc.  It had been my own haste in trying to impress my departing friends.

It taught me a good lesson.

But back to Zenith Rocketry's demonstration. Tom had been showing how to assemble a TARC team rocket transition between two stages, and left the problem he encountered in the video.

He demonstrated assembling the centering rings, and inserting a bulkhead or two. And he also stated that you should let the wood glue fillets dry before proceeding.  But then he proceeded.  And as you might expect, the glue didn't hold, and the assembly hit a snag, and then it all had to be undone.

Tom admitted that he had rushed it, and left the mistake in the video to show how easy it is to make a mistake....and that the line in the instructions "Set aside and let dry" is not for show.

I think it takes a lot of guts to share your mistake, and I really admire Tom for doing this.

And it gave me a topic for this week's Thrifty Rocketeer blog.   Have you ever made one of these mistakes?