LIGHTNING

Short 3" rocket, high flier. Build from scratch, Cardboard and two wraps of Carbon fiber and two wraps of fiberglass. Very small fins. Av Bay is integrated inside the rocket with NO switch band. Fins have metal leading edges. Rocket will fly up to Mach 1.25, but again as always, overkill build with lots of epoxy and rocketpoxy, build as a tank, can take a big hit. Wooden fins with Carbon fiber and fiberglass.

Update 12/17/2015 - After the last flight on December 12, 2015 the rocket ended up in high pine trees. When pulling it out it got minor damage, also pine juice all over the rocket frame. Will also make window bigger for better video framing. Upper frame needs repainting, Will eventually repaint the whole rocket. Also fins have minor damage, to be sanded.

Redid the sled with the stratologgers on a G12 fiberglass sled. Seems all fits nice with Iphone space.

Fixed the stop ring of the Av Bay in the upper frame that I jammed out by removing the av bay!

Update 12/02/2016 - Cleaned the whole rocket after the last launch in Tifton Georgia - Turkey Launch, lots of sand got inside the frames... Next is polish and wax, the rocket seems to be beat up a bit.

Update 04/21/2021 - Started fixing the rocket after it landed on the roadway at SRA on April 17, 2021- Was a great flight, straight up and down with streamer but it just landed an the road nearby. Fins were a bit damaged at the tip and one of the switches in he AvBay came lose. Used rocket poxy on the fin tips and clamped them with blue tape in between. Will touch up paint the rocket when all fixed and done and dry !

Update 04/22/2021 - Sanded the rocket-poxy on the damaged fins a bit down to smooth and gave them a primer coat, when dry I will paint those. No paint job on the nose cone and upper bay yet.

Update 04/23/2021 - Painted the red yesterday on the fins, and today I taped it all off to paint the white squares on the fins, that did not came out pretty. Will sand that down and start all over again.

Update 04/24/2021 - Sanded the first white coat down a bit, and sprayed a new coat of the white paint, it's a bit better but still not good enough, Will sand down and use primer before putting on a new coat of the white paint.

Update 04/25/2021 - Still the same result on one fin with the white paint, paint is cracking up but it seems better, so will do a few sanding coats and painting till it's acceptable.

Update 04/26/2021 - Did sand the coat again, light primer, sand lightly and last spray coat of white, done, looks ok. Will do the whole rocket again, from top to bottom when I have a high performance flight lined up, sometime, somewhere...

Update 03/17/2024 - Repainted some parts of the rocket, Hasn't been launched for a while, Might fly it at Airfest #30 - September 2024

Parachutes: Main 44" - Drogue 24"

Charges: Drogue 1.8 grams/2.0 grams - Main 1.6 grams/2.0 grams FFFFg.