Newsletter of the Pittsburgh Space Command NAR Section #473 Newsletter of the Year 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

Transcription

1 Newsletter of the Pittsburgh Space Command NAR Section #473 Newsletter of the Year 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 MAY / JUNE The Flying I-Beam Kids Dual Egg Altitude - Headed To 548 Meters Jef Fineran Watches His Hornet Lift-Off No. 182 Bill Murtha s Estes Pro Series II Ventris Bradley Grant s C Powered Rocket Glider Jef Fineran s IQSY Tomahawk Lifts Off On A I-200 Photos by Greg Brown -- More Coverage On Steel City Smoke Trail 15 Inside (pages 5-9)

2 TEAM PITTSBURGH is published bimonthly by the Pittsburgh Space Command. NAR Section #473 Uncopyrighted material appearing in TEAM PITTSBURGH may be reprinted provided proper credit is given to the author and to TEAM PITTSBURGH. AD SPACE in TEAM PITTSBURGH is available free to members in good standing. PSC Yearly Dues: 17 & under --- $ & over & family --- $15.00 (Membership includes ed newsletter subscription) For an additional $10/Year members can receive hard copies of TEAM PITTSBURGH via USPS Send PSC dues to: Jerry Kraus 207 Hill Ave. Cheswick, PA NOTE: Make checks payable to Pittsburgh Space Command PSC OFFICERS for 2014: President John Pace Vice President John Brohm Treasurer Jerry Kraus Section Advisor Rod Schafer TP Editor Steve Foster Webmaster Team Mike Hardobey Scott Alexander Sean Guzek Website: Submit articles for publication to: Steve Foster 125 Crestline Drive Leechburg, PA Pittsburgh Space Command is dedicated to the advancement of safe model rocketry. 1/13/14-85 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 2 The Team America Rocketry Challenge Finals I once again took a couple days in May to join about 105 other NAR members to assist in the task of running the range for the World s largest model rocket contest - the Team America Rocketry Challenge Finals, which are held outside of Washington D.C. each year. For those of you who have never attended this event, it s one of the best ways to enjoy a model rocket launch without the need or desire to bring your own rockets to fly. It brings together teams of kids from all over the country, working together and competing in a serious contest (a significant prize pool of $100,000); but it s also a fun event, with a variety of other activities going on. So for the NAR volunteers the interaction with the teams can be either engaging or whimsical, depending on the moment. The TARC Finals is one of the most organized events of this type I have ever seen. It is run in part by members of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), but relies mostly on NAR volunteers to staff everything involved ATTENTION NAR SECTIONS: Send newsletter exchanges to: John Pace 111 Crystal Springs Drive Cranberry Twp., PA Phone: (724) Editor s Spotlight with the operations of the model rocket ranges. For most of the NAR volunteers it s just a matter of showing up and getting well thought out instruction on how to perform your assigned task(s), and following through with those assignments. The bulk of the planning and work is done by a handful of NAR members who bring all of the parts together to run it like a well-oiled machine; I always leave the event proud to have served on the NAR team. Can you spot me somewhere in the M on the front cover? If you can, John Brohm could use your help with some rivets! Steve CHANGE OF ADDRESS, PHONE OR --- CONTACT: Jerry Kraus 207 Hill Ave. Cheswick, PA jkraus62@comcast.net Phone: (724) Rt. 228 Suite L1 Cranberry Twp., PA Hours Mon.-Fri Sat. 10-8, Sun 11-5

3 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 3 Better Late Than Never Part 2 Rob Swider NAR# / AMA# L Well I m proud to report that there has been progress on the Estes Space Shuttle kit (Number 1284) that has been in my possession for nearly 30 years. If you read the first part of my build article (TP #181), I had a number of issues that had to be addressed before I could move along with the build: 1. Dry-rotted elastic thread that was used to control the deflection angle of the shuttle elevators 2. Yellowed and brittle decals 3. Crushed nose piece So, some shopping around at the local Wal-Mart helped to solve the first issue. I initially purchased several sizes of elastic cord that looked about right on the store shelf, but turned out to be way too thick to fit thru the control horn openings. After a quick web search, I found that elastic thread was available, but only at select Wal-Mart locations (go figure). A trip to one of these locations yielded exactly what I needed, although 30 yards will be enough for 100 space shuttle kits. If anyone needs some elastic thread for a build, let me know. Elastic thread available at Wal-Mart. Elastic thread installed on elevator horn. With the elevator complete, I could now move on to general construction of the shuttle body. The installation of the one and only internal former is the next step. This former brings a fair amount of rigidity to the core fuselage, but I got a little too heavy with the tube cement and caused a bit of warping in the fuse side. After the former is installed, the next step is the elevator assembly. The control horn has both a section of shock cord and elastic thread attached. The shock cord goes backwards thru the hole drilled in the center of the top thruster and the elastic passes thru a hole in the fuselage front. Unfortunately, when drilling this front hole, I discovered how brittle 30-year-old vacuum-formed plastic could be. The hole ended up being so large that the knot in the elastic pulled back thru easily. A short section of toothpick solved the issue. With the elevator installation complete, it was now time to button it all up. The instructions recommend carefully aligning the top and bottom sections, then taping them before applying any cement. I m glad I listened. In order to get everything aligned properly and glued together, I moved to liquid plastic cement and used capillary action to wick small amounts of glue into each section. After each section cured, I moved

4 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 4 Install of sole former. Shuttle in final glue-up. Decal problem solved, it was time to tackle the crushed nosepiece for the shuttle. My initial thought was to make a replacement from foam and to paint it to match. When it came time for execution, there were several issues with the plan. First, the nosepiece came much further over the main shuttle fuselage than I thought. Second, there are decals that would need applied over the foam and to be quite honest; I didn t know how well that would work. Finally, there would not be access to replace that dreaded elastic thread if ever needed. Installation of the elevator on to the next and gradually glued it all together. I was quite surprised by how rigid the end result was. A final sanding of the edges removed the excess flash and produced a nice finished piece. While I was waiting for all the glue to cure, I set out to solve issue number two (yellowed and brittle decals). At the March launch, I was talking to John Brohm about my decal issue and he informed me that Excelsior Rocketry ( had replacement decals available for my kit. If you haven t any experience with these folks, I highly recommend you check them out. Within a few days, I had my perfect replacement decals along with a Goony Ghost and a Goony Max decal/plan sets. The writer will have to admit that these extra purchases did sidetrack him from working on the shuttle. So, on to nosepiece plan B. Upon closer examination of the area where the primary damage was located, there appeared to only be a slit in the plastic, not a complete slice. From the inside of the piece, I applied a small piece of 3M Blenderm tape that seemed to provide adequate support for the split. I then weighed the recommended amount of lead pieces on my gram scale, and then in place of the lead, I metered the equivalent weight of modeling clay. By cramming the modeling clay into the hollow nosepiece, I was able to push out most of the remaining crinkle. Perfect. So where are the finished photos of my shuttle? Well, I moved it from my main workbench over to my plastic model workbench for final paint and decaling. In the meantime, I built a few other rockets and began refinishing my Loc IV. I m going to try getting back to it in the next couple of weeks...

5 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 5 Steel City Smoke Trail 15 Day 1 - by John Pace Day one of Steel City Smoke Trail 15 (SCST 15) began under cloudy skies, cool temperatures and gusty winds. Throughout the week, my s talked about partly sunny skies and winds under 10 mph. So much for an AccuWeather forecast. To open the event, James Gearhart and Greg Bock of NO- VAAR paid tribute to a dedicated rocketeer and founder/owner of Qualified Competition Rockets, Mr. Ken Brown, who passed away earlier this year. Jim and Greg launched two QCR helicopters in honor of Ken Brown. The models were QCR Kit No. 100 "Ultimate II Helio-Spin Hub". Both were flown on Estes B6-2 motors. After the very touching tribute to Ken, everyone got down to preparing their models for launch. James Gearhart and Greg Bock prior to launching the QCR Kits Unlike past two day regional launches where mostly competitors flew, we were fortunate to have a couple of high power flyers - one from PSC, Dave Carter, and one from NARHAMS, Jeff Fineran. On Saturday, Dave flew his Super DX3 on a CTI I170-9 and Jeff flew his upscale Hornet on an H We also had a few sport flyers. Bill Murtha flew several Estes models on engines ranging from a D to an F. On the high power range the guys started with G's to get an idea of drift due to winds before jumping into H and I motors. We also had a small group of Boy Scouts from group 457 attend the launch early in the morning. The scouts came ready to launch their generic Estes kits on A8-3 motors and enjoyed seeing other NAR members launch several of their larger model rockets. They seemed to enjoy themselves. We hope they plan to attend another club launch this summer. Early morning competition launches proved challenging, with cloudy skies and winds in excess of 10 mph gusting to 15 mph coming from the north and moving southeast. Dave Carter ready to fly the With the high winds, John Doe on a F20-4 B streamer was the model of choice. However, even streamers were landing in the tree line across and adjacent to Route 208. Glenn Feveryear with his B streamer and Jim Filler with his A parachute model found the wind direction and wind speed to be a problem. Glen's streamer model landed in the trees across route 208 and to the southeast, and Jim's C parachute went even deeper into the woods. As the morning progressed, the winds subsided, shifted to the east and the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. Glenn, who has a knack for long and winning streamer flights, put up a streamer model that recorded a time of 4 minutes, 15 seconds, and still managed to keep it on the field.. As the day progressed the weather got better with sunny skies, light winds and plenty of thermals. Competitors were surpassing morning duration flight times. The Flying I-Beam Kids launched their C parachute model that got into several thermals and was probably higher than any model flow that day before those timing the model lost sight of it as it made its way towards Grove City College several miles from the launch site.

6 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 6 With improved weather conditions and an uncertain Sunday weather forecast, competitors decided to launch their B Altitude and E Dual Egg Altitude models. Jim Filler launched a two stage, 13 mm model on two A 10's reaching an altitude of 528 meters nearly doubling any other B Altitude flight launched earlier that day. The Flying I-Beam boys also hit it big with a 541 meter E Dual Egg Altitude flight with altimeter. James Gearhart s wife assisting with his C Powered Rocket Glider For those of you who attended the two day launch thank you for coming. I hope you had a very enjoyable time at our event. For those of you who didn t make it to the launch, you missed one, if not the best, two day launch in years. Not only because of the ideal weather conditions but because of the numerous launches from sport, to high power and competition. It was the one launch where you had the opportunity to see all the different aspects of model rocketry. As I drove home, I reminisced on the people I met, those I hadn t seen in a while and the outstanding flights I was fortunate to witness. All in all it was a perfect day! Day 2 - by Steve Foster Day two greeted us with a 180 degree change; no, not better weather - just the direction of the wind - but luckily (for most) the field runs a long way to the north, and it was a tad warmer. The sport flying was again very active, highlighted by Chuck Garnes who flew numerous well-built mid-powered models. Dave Carter and Jeff Fineran continued with several mid and high powered flights. For the weekend we ended up with a total of 5 H and 5 I powered flights. Dave Carter s Super DX3 carried an onboard video camera which produced some fantastic shots of our launch site as his rocket shot off the launch pad on its way to a couple thousand feet above. Jef Fineran s last high powered flight; a CATO, blowing out the side of the motor - the smile shows he is ready to rebuild and keep flying Although most of the contestants worked on getting duration models back during the first day of flying, there were still some looking to be able to recover a few flights, this proved to be a little tougher with the more steady winds of day two. As it turned out a flight just about 2 minutes long was landing in the field, but most anything over that range would be lost. This proved even more difficult for a few contestants still needing to fly E Dual Egg-Loft Altitude. Glenn Feveryear tried bringing his model back with smaller chutes only to have them fail resulting in broken eggs. Jim Filler got his small chute to work fine, however his model flew so high that even the small parachute couldn t keep the model in the recovery zone (losing an altimeter and a reload casing). So even though the events proved to be a bit more challenging than expected with the weather conditions, everyone had a great time with plans to meet at the upcoming contests later this summer. The results of the contest are featured on the next two pages; KUDOS to all the winners for a job well done!

7 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 7 Steel City Smoke Trail 15 Standings B Streamer Duration Place Contestant Number Section Flight 1 Flight 2 Total Points C Division 1 Feveryear, Glenn Gearhart, James Filler, Jim Grant, Bradley Alexander, Michele Bock, Greg SEP Pace, John Canino, Bruce UNS UNS 0 0 T Division 1 DUCK! T THE FLYING I-BEAM KIDS T C Parachute Duration Place Contestant Number Section Flight 1 Flight 2 Total Points C Division 1 Feveryear, Glenn Bock, Greg Filler, Jim Grant, Bradley Gearhart, James NR 194 NR 0 27 T Division 1 THE FLYING I-BEAM KIDS T DUCK! T UNS 160 NR 0 27 C Rocket Glider Duration Place Contestant Number Section Flight 1 Flight 2 Total Points C Division 1 Filler, Jim Gearhart, James Grant, Bradley Feveryear, Glenn SEP Bock, Greg NR 0 66 T Division 1 THE FLYING I-BEAM KIDS T DUCK! T

8 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 8 B Altitude Place Contestant Number Section Flight 1 Flight 2 Total Points C Division 1 Filler, Jim Feveryear, Glenn Bock, Greg Gearhart, James Canino, Bruce Grant, Bradley EJ 0 0 T Division 1 THE FLYING I-BEAM KIDS T DUCK! T E Dual Egg Lofting Altitude Place Contestant Number Section Flight 1 Flight 2 Total Points C Division 1 Gearhart, James EGG Grant, Bradley Feveryear, Glenn EGG EGG Filler, Jim EGG NR (TL) 0 0 T Division 1 THE FLYING I-BEAM KIDS T DUCK! T EGG 0 0 Steel City Smoke Trail 15 Meet Champions Place Contestant NAR No. Section Points C Division 1 Gearhart, James Filler, Jim Grant, Bradley Feveryear, Glenn Bock, Greg Alexander, Michele Canino, Bruce Pace, John T Division 1 THE FLYING I-BEAM KIDS T DUCK! T Sections Secton Sec. No. Points 1 PSC NARHAMS NOVAAR SPAAR SOJARS

9 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 9 CRUSH CONES by Francis Graham G. Harry Stine, who had a lot to do with founding the NAR, was a fabulous guy, and he helped write many of the safety rules that went with the hobby and the NAR. His work was superlative and comprehensive. Yet, as times change, rules must change, and we can all advocate changing rules now and then, those conveyed by Moses perhaps excepted. G. Harry Stine didn t look at all like Moses, though, and I suspect for that matter neither did Charleton Heston, as Moses passed, we are told, for an Egyptian. So here I dare to challenge a big one: model rockets must have parachutes or a recovery device that does not allow them to come in ballistic. Already we have alternative to parachutes: boost-gliders, so-called tumble recovery, heli-recovery, streamers. These alternative recovery devices make more options available in the design and use of model rockets. I am here to add one more to the list of recovery devices: crush cones. Crush cones are devices fitted to the nose of model rockets instead of regular nosecones. They are long and made of paper, filled with wads of paper and styrofoam chips. When the rocket comes down ballistic, the crush cone takes the impact completely. The remainder of the body of the rocket is undamaged since the deceleration is spread out over the slightly longer time the crush cone crushes, versus, say, an impact on concrete without one. It takes about ½ second to stop a rocket with a crush cone; concrete will stop a regular model rocket coming in ballistic in about 1/20 sec, which means a g- force ten times as much. I began to build model rockets that use crush cones very early in my rocketry-oriented life. Illustrated in the photo above is the Linda Bee, a crush cone rocket lofted in April, A lot of my rockets had crush cones then: the first ring-tailed model rocket, the Ptercircvx, in March, 1967, for example, and the higher power but staged Heavenfire, also in August, I even had standard payload capsules with crush cones that were interchangeable. The most obvious disadvantage of a crush cone is that the cone must be replaced after each flight. It also must be centered correctly or one s rocket ascends in very strange ways. It must be longer in length than a typical ogive nosecone. The advantages are there, however. I never had a crush cone rocket get hung up in a tree or power line. They are quick and cheap to build. And, they do not suffer from ejection charge failures. In fact, an ejection charge is totally unnecessary. The rocket comes in ballistic and that s o.k. If a rocket with a crush cone hits a car or person, Newton s third law ensures the damage will be as minimal as suffered by the rocket itself. I never had those impacts happen, though. I do not know whether crush cones will become allowed or commonplace at launches, or be permitted in competitions. They could be improved upon, I think, using modern nerf technology. But there they are, begging for a small change in the rules. The Linda Bee, launched January 12, 1966.

10 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 10 a more active volunteer role in an effort to draw young people to our hobby. FROM JOHN PACE I joined the Pittsburgh Space Command in the late 1980 s in an effort to get my son Josh involved in something other than sports and video games. At that time in the club s history, we had many more young members than we do today. I wanted him to use his mind and his hands in building and creating something on his own. Although it was difficult pulling him away from video games, which I found to be an addictive past time, I did manage to get him interested in the hobby even if it was for only a few years. Interestingly, he did come back to the hobby at various times during his high school days using the skills he learned as a member of the rocketry club on a few school physics projects. Eventually, he moved on to other activities which seems to be the norm for late teens involved in our hobby. Overall, Josh s involvement in our rocketry club was valuable and a factor in his college major (electrical engineering) and current business career. Unlike other Dads who got into the hobby because of their son s interest, Josh s departure did not affect my continued involvement in model rocketry. I remained a member of the club and tried to take As I look at our club launches and the communications between club members over the past three (3) years, there are disappointing trends. The people flying rockets are getting older and fewer young people are attending our launches even with the addition of a 1000 acre field, and high power capabilities. In addition, club communications are confined to the same members who also happen to be club officers. Finally, other than the club officers, we receive few articles from volunteers for the bi-monthly newsletter, or help with launch equipment setup and teardown. In summary, we are a club in decline. Without new volunteers we cannot sustain a bi-monthly newsletter or the service level at the launch site you have come to appreciate over the years. If you truly enjoy the hobby of model rocketry and want to see the Pittsburgh Space Command a viable club years from now, younger members, not old guys like myself, need to step-up to the challenge of taking the club into the next decade. Any volunteers? John Pace President PSC 473 TEAM PITTSBURGH IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE PSC TEAM! IF YOU RE READING THIS YOU ARE PART OF THE TEAM. WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ARTICLES AND PHOTOS. PLEASE CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING SOMETHING TODAY!

11 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 11 (Team Pittsburgh #178). The prototype is configured from a Nike booster mated to a Bristol Aerospace Black Brant Vc, resulting in a very effective, versatile two staged sounding rocket. And like most any prototype, the fins for both the booster and the sustainer are three dimensional, a quality that would have to be reproduced in the model. The booster fins have a taper from root to tip and are diamond shaped in cross section. Photo 1 shows the fins on the prototype. with master craftsman john brohm NAR #78048 BUILT UP FINS When building our sport models we usually craft the fins from a simple sheet or slab of balsa. Depending on our mood, we may or may not take the time to fill the grain for a smooth finish, and it s very likely we don t bother to sand an airfoil into each fin, as after all it s a sport model. Performance is hardly our concern, and if we can get the model back safely from each flight that s a plus. And with the beating that most sport models take, the value equation that trades a quick build against a perfect finish most often defaults in favor of expediency. Perfectly normal and perfectly reasonable, as we d like to get that sport model into the air as soon as we can. Photo 1: Nike Booster Fins The sustainer fins are a little more complex in cross section, possessing not only a taper from root to tip, but also having three distinct side panels leading edge, side, and trailing edge as can be seen in Photo 2: Over in the scale world, things are a little different. The whole point of a scale model is to try and build the thing to resemble the prototype as closely as possible. As for fins, well, this often means something 3-D, as real-world fins usually have a shape perhaps an airfoil, perhaps a wedge shape, perhaps a diamond shape in cross section. But almost certainly not a slab or a sheet, and so that means some extra work and craftsmanship. For The Flying I-Beam Kids scale entry at NARAM 56, I had built a 1/8th size model of the Black Brant VIII Photo 2: Sustainer Fins

12 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 12 At the scale I was working to, the fins on the model would be relatively thin, so in this case it made sense to shape the cross section from pieces of balsa sheet. Once shaped properly, I covered the fins with sheet Styrene to aid the finishing process. The sheet Styrene also lends considerable strength and stiffness to the fins, an important quality for fins that are so thin. Next, I marked the panel seam lines on each side. A piece of masking tape was placed along the back side of the line and then the taper from leading edge to panel line, and from trailing edge to panel line, was sanded into shape. Photo 4 shows the finished result. To begin, I had Rod cut some 1/32 thick aircraft plywood cores on his school s laser cutter. Photo 3 shows the ply cores and sheet balsa blanks for the Sustainer fins. Photo 4: Sustainer Fin Sanded to Shape I cut sheet Styrene panels to cover the fins. Each piece was sprayed with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive and then placed into position. Photo 5 shows this step underway. Photo 3: Sustainer Fin Blanks Using thick CA I glued a balsa blank to each side. I selected a balsa sheet thickness that was close to the root thickness of the scale fin. Using my sanding block, I then carefully sanded the root-to-tip taper into each side of each fin. KOPTER R O C K E T S WALT SENOSKI SHADY STREET MT. PLEASANT, PA KOPTERROCKETS@ZOOMINTERNET.NET Photo 5: Sustainer Fin Sanded to Shape The same steps were repeated for each of the booster fins. Photos 6 and 7 shows the fully sheeted results.

13 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 13 Photo 6: Sheeted Sustainer Fin Photo 8: Finished Sustainer Fin Photo 7: Sheeted Booster Fin A word of caution regarding the 3M Spray adhesive. If the seam line between the plastic panels isn t fully sealed then it s possible for primer and paint solvent to seep into the seam and dissolve the adhesive, leading to the edge of the panel lifting. If you re unsure about how well you might seal the seams then you might wish to consider using a different and impervious adhesive to lay the plastic panels, something like a thick CA or perhaps an epoxy. My experience with contact cement on such thin sheets over a broad area hasn t been too successful; the contact cement can cause the thin sheet to be a bit wavy. With the fins fully covered, it s on to the finishing and painting stages. With a bit of spit and polish, we get the results in the following photos: Photo 9: Finished Booster Fins And there you have it - some scale fins. Indeed, a little more work than the normal flat fins we stick on our sport models, but the payoff is in the character these shaped, three dimensional fins bring to the model. I hope you have the opportunity to give this technique a try sometime, and I m looking forward to seeing your results at the flying field. Pittsburgh Space Command has some new members - be sure to say hello to them when you see them at an upcoming launch. David Clark Brad Grant

14 Team Pittsburgh #182 - Page 14 Upcoming PSC Launches and Event Calendar Please consult the website at for any last minute changes and for directions to local PSC launches. You may also contact a PSC club officer through the website or obtain a club flyer (with map) at Hobby Express in Cranberry Township or J & C Hobbies in Penn Hills. Month Day Time Event Where? Comments June ECRM-41 Contest & Sport Launch Mount Airy Maryland 1/2A PD, FAI SD (MR), B HD, C RG, Predicted Alt, RDD July Sport & High Power Launch Weber Farm Grove City, PA PSC/Tripoli Joint Launch July TBD NARAM-57 Tucson Arizona 1/2A PD (MR), FAI SD (MR), B HD, C RG, Predicted Alt (Alt.), B Alt (Alt.), E ELA (Alt.), SPSC, R&D August R&R Picnic - Launch With High Power Weber Farm Grove City, PA Our Annual Club Picnic September RAMTEC-18 Fort Indiantown Gap, PA 1/4A HD (MR), 1/2A PD (MR), A FAI SD (MR), B RG, 1/4A x2 Cluster Altitude (Optical) September Sport & High Power Launch Weber Farm Grove City, PA Launch Time Extended Weather Permitting October Carl McLawhorn III Sport & HP Weber Farm Grove City, PA F Flex Wing - Other Events TBD November Sport & High Power Launch Weber Farm Grove City, PA Launch Time Extended Weather Permitting December Annual Business Meeting Panera Bread Fox Chapel PSC Planning Meeting For 2016