PHOENIX - SIXTH FLIGHT

Have to fly something this month, have lots of visitors coming over during the holidays and that stresses me out already. Prepping the Phoenix now to fly on a J449 BS motor to around 5000 feet. Not the greatest altitude but just wanna stay low for now. It might be cold that day and hoping for no rain, Forecast says 6 - 9 mph winds no rain and temperatures around 60 degrees. Actually great. Will use a 50" parachute this time and a 24" drogue. Will make charges later today Sunday December 3, 2017. Will be nice seeing that Blue rocket fly on a blue motor ! Maybe after this flight I will be shorten that rocket a bit, it's way over stable and it wiggles a but when going up...

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Update 12/04/2017 - Fuck, crazy as hell today, prepped almost the entire rocket, parachutes and z ties, THEN I decided to modify the rocket !! Damn why now !! Crap! I had to do this, the main chute space was to right yes and I had previous issues with main deployment also so that why ! Capiche ??! So I cut like 5" from the booster tube Yes I did cut the booster !! So that part will be glues on the upper bay were the main chute is... so that will gave me plenty of room more AND the wobble at launch might be gone... always wanted to do that, the booster was way to long in my opinion also, so now I got it right for ever !, Had to salvage some epoxy, screw cap was solid glued on so I made a hole to pour epoxy out of the can and taped it airtight off for the next fixing project ! So I did made a sleeve from a previous left over part and that fit great, got all wedge in those metal angle pieces waiting to dry for tomorrow. Will have to sand a lot to make those two pieces smooth together also. Hopefully will be ready and painted by Saturday for launch... Still have to sand out the bottom tube to fit the Av Bay to slide in and out properly also, lots of epoxy left over from before to fight with. Will also have to re drill all the sheer pin holes, nose cone and Av Bay.

Update 12/05/2017 - Working on the rocket today, sanding the two parts to the transition is smoother, there was a bit of a difference but it seems sanded out, also bondo for the groove filler. All sanded and applied epoxy inside the upper bay were the nose cone fits to make a snugger fit, applied balloons for smoother sanding later when dry. Applied a coat of epoxy & balloons on the entire upper bay for smooth sanding and primer next day. The lower part booster needed to be sanded out to fit the Av bay smooth slide in and out when ejected. Balloons applied all over. Waiting for this all to dry for the next step, ore sanding for fittingand primer, Painting will be done after the flight. Have to weigh the rocket and make new sims.

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Update 12/06/2017 - Sanded the two epoxied parts with 120 grit and 220 grit and also the nose cone. And inside the booster and the upper frame for the av. bay and nose cone snugness. Al part primed and dried for a few hours, then sanded again with220 grit. Looks ok to paint. Still some blue left over the finish the upper frame. Nose cone will be done tomorrow, need to buy the white paint. Then drilling the sheerpin holes upper and av bay ones and a vent hole in lower booster. Maybe waxing on Friday.

Also made all the charges: Main 1.8 - back up 2.2 grams / Drogue 1.8 - Back up 2.2 grams.

Update 12/07/2017 - Keep double checking the weather for Saturday Launch. Looks really crappy for now, high winds and 100 % cloud cover, and some 50% rain in the forecast ! Might skip that day.. Dam, was looking so much forward to that day and in a hurry to finish painting my rocket also... Dam ! Jason has the same opinion - No Go might be the word.

Update 12/09/2017 - LAUNCH DAY - NO GO, it's a NO GO !! Glad that Thea went to the field to take a look and posted some pictures, Standing water on the field, real nasty out there so Greg decided to Scrub the launch for the day ! Great decision there ! Thanks Thea and Greg for being alert.

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Update 12/09/2017 - New launch day set for January 12, 2018. Nose cone painted and came out great. Polish and waxing the whole rocket will be n a few days.

Update 01/09/2018 - Prepping and checking my rocket again after a long pose of Holiday celebration.. Have to find my motivation again. Cold days and rainy weather also, not in the mood but have to do it. So today I drilled the nose cone shear pin holes and the lower body vent hole. Also the switches came loose in the av bay of the phoenix, so I'm gluingthem on again with a better mix and more epoxy. After this is all dry I will drill the lower bay shear pin hols as well. Than waxing and all done. Charges are made from the previousprep last month. Just checking the batteries and the stratologgers.

Update 01/10/2018 - Well shear-pinholes bottom section are drilled and also in av-bay, nice and snug fit. Testing the stratologgers tonight. Stratologgers tested, new batteries installed. All functional for Launch.

Update 01/12/2018 - LAUNCH DAY - NO GO -It's a NO GO today, field is to wet and standing water. Launch cancelled !! So all was ready and keep it ready for the next launch day in February.

Update 01/15/2018 - Alternate Launch date is January 27 now. Will keeprocket prepped, and batteries charged.

Update 01/25/2018 - Installed the charges today and waxed the whole rocket. Applied dog-barf in lower and upper bay.

Update 01/26/2018 - All charges connected. Car loaded up and ready to go, batteries and camera's all charged, Iphone and TAG and RTX charged... Filling in Flight card. According Thea the field is brown, grass has been frozen, but all dry. Maybe no sparky motors allowed.

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Update - 01/27/2018 - LAUNCH DAY - Very Very Windy Day !!! Was very early on the field this time like 9 AM ! Did not feel like prepping the rocket, also cloudy like 200 % haha. Dam, signed in and payed my yearly fee, $30 ! Done. The cloud cover started to break open around 10:30 AM So that gave me a boost to prep the rocket. While screwing in the Av Bay screws the inner rotary switch holder came loose ! Dam.. Have to find some Super quick fix glue. And Yes I got some, really great stuff, dried in second, and also my fingers got glued in place ! All fixed and no problems with the rest of the prepping.

Clayton helped me putting the rocket on the pad and we gave it a 10+ (more like 13+) angle East ! I want it to land on the field for sure. Blue flame showed great at launch and all worked fine, landed in the north field like 800 feet away, good visible to recover. Made also video of the RTX display, but it does not seem to look great after all, have to work on that recording and angle better so i have a clear capture. No issue, I guess I was the only one launching that high. Missed Jason on the field and Eric...

Update 01/30/2018 - By watching the decent data and video, it seems that it took a while, like 200 feet before the parachute deployed. I admit that the chute was packed for more than a month, so it might be all wrapped up tight there in the chute protector..

Update 01/31/2018 - Did some angle calculations, the Phoenix was angled like 10 degreesEast at take off, winds were around 15 mph.

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