July 12th, 2008 Launch Report

Our club had pretty good luck for our July launch. There was a heavy rain the night before, so the field was on the moist side, and the wind was fairly strong...but we managed 40 flights with only a few problems. Here is a list of the flights for the day:

Owner

Rocket

Motor

Result

Scott Lewis Super Neon B6-3 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Gargas Paradox B6-4 No Chute
Jeff Hallett Ion Pulsar B4-4 No Chute
Ryan Baier Tube Fin B6-6 Good Flight
Bob Kaplow THHN-34 D12-3 Good Flight
Scott Herlache Patriot B6-4 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Courier B6-4 Good Flight
James Kalemis Mercury Redstone B6-4 Good Flight
Scott Lewis Torellian Invader A8-3 Good Flight
James Kalemis Spitfire Redstone C11-3 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Custom Razor B4-4 Good Flight
Bob Kaplow Bicycle Wheel D12-3 Good Flight
James Kalemis Fliskits Herc 5 B6-4 Good Flight
Bob Kaplow HP VMS A3-4t Good Flight
Scott Lewis Red Max A8-3 Good Flight
? Patriot B4-4 Good Flight
James Kalemis Fat Boy Red Max B6-4 Good Flight
Scott Lewis Custom Ion Pulsar A8-3 Good Flight
James Kalemis Thunderbird B6-4 Good Flight
James Kalemis Interceptor B6-4 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Big Bertha B6-4 Good Flight
James Kalemis Fat Boy Red Max B6-4 CATO
Jeff Hallett Bull Pup Bash B6-4 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Alpha A8-3 Good Flight
Garrett Herlache Patriot B4-4 Good Flight
James Kalemis Long Overdue B6-4 Good Flight
Bob Kaplow Woodstock A8-3 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Double Jeopardy 2 B6-6 Good Flight
Scott Lewis Python 4 ASRAAM B6-4 Good Flight
Bob Kaplow Earthlink C6-3 Good Flight
James Kalemis SPEV B4-4 Lawn Dart
Bob Kaplow RAID-5 C6-3 Good Flight
James Kalemis GoonieCeptor B6-4 Good Flight
Scott Baier Centuri Flying Saucer C6-0 Good Flight
Scott Lewis Rhino C6-3 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett DART B6-4 Good Flight
Scott Lewis Gardian A8-3 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Bull Pup B6-4 Good Flight
Jeff Hallett Frick - n - Frack C6-0/B6-0 Good Flight
Bob Kaplow Souper Bowl A3-4t Good Flight
 

November 11th, 2007

Well, the 2007 flying season came to a successful close at the Stephen's farm in Marengo on November 11. We easily beat the 2006 totals in number of flights, motors used and Newton-seconds burned. Any way you look at the numbers, we are growing. Check out the stats! And these! And our most proliferate flyer, James Kalemis, provides a link to the pictures taken by Paul Ebanks. Excellent shots Paul, you have a job any time you want!

September, 2007

Not much launch news from me for the summer, but here are a couple of interesting tidbits. The Woodstock Independent was at the September 9 launch at Raintree Park and had a nice article. Thanks to Mark Bundick for the scan. And at the bottom of the page are the launch stats for 2006, again thanks to Mark.

October 8th, 2006 Launch Report

Jeff Hallett writes:

I arrived late and have no photos to share for this launch (sorry...).

Thanks Mark and Ric for doing RSO duty.

It was a windy, but nice day. Rockets that flew high or had large chutes caused the flier to go on a merry chase. Now that the leaves are gone from some of the trees, you could clearly see my Shuttle Intrepid and Ed's Polar

1 swaying in the tree they landed in back in June.

Brought my kids to this launch and was helping them prep their rockets (hence the no photos..). My daughter flew her Razor (a tube rocket) three times.

A nice flying little rocket. She flew it on a B4-6, B6-4 and then told me she wanted it to go higher. We picked out a C6-5 and I dug out a chute that was missing a couple of its strings, so it would work more like a streamer.

Well it flew pretty darn high and a group of kids still had to chase it off the far end of the field. They did get it back though

I flew my Blue Bird Zero on a B6-4 and it made a very nice easily recovered flight. I look forward to the launch at the farm where I can let go on a C.

I also tested my Astron Ranger on a B6-4 cluster. I must say I was pretty impressed with how a Big Bertha style rocket goes on 18 newtons of thrust.

The chute melted on this flight so the landing was a little hard.

Fortunately, the ground was soft and no damage was apparent. Finally, I flew my Fat Boy on a C6-5. The launch rod was angled a little too far back and this one landed on the rail road track. I climbed the embankment and rescued it before a Metra train would have turned it into a FLAT Boy.

Bob K. flew lots of unusual rockets, including several saucers, a stack of CDs and his cupcake rocket. I noticed that Ken also had a flying saucer to launch. Ken and Bob did a drag race with flying saucers. I don't know who "won", but it did make for an exciting flight. There were a few unstable rockets and one that tried to take the launch pad up with it. I think I counted 4 or 5 lawn darts and there were two that were Black Top darts.

There were lots of other fine rockets flown, I think this was the best turnout of any launch we've had so far.

Mark "Bunny" Bundick adds:

A nice day with some good flying. Looks like a club record for a launch!

Here's the stats I have, absent any flights made after about 4 PM. Can someone be sure to get me the rest of the flight cards and then I'll finalize the launch stats?

I think we need to talk about lawn darts tomorrow night.

Cheers, Bunny
Flier Count
Scott Lewis 13
Bob Kaplow 8
Ed Chess 7
Jarod Baker 6
John Slaughter 5
Ross Kohler 6
Andrew Fox 5
Riley Kohler 5
Ken Hutchinson 4
Mark Bundick 3
Brad Kohler 3
Kohler Family 2
S. Hallett 2
Andrew Baker 1
Ric Gaff 1
Ryan Riebeshel 1
Josh Hallett 1
Total 78
Result Count Percentage
Good Flight 65 83%
Lawn Dart 6 8%
Unstable 2 3%
Core Sample 1 1%
Lost 1 1%
No Chute 1 1%
Separation 1 1%
Shread 1 1%
Total 78  
Engine Count Total Nt-Sec
1/2A 5 6.25
A 18 45
B 35 175
C 21 210
D 3 60
Total 82 496.25
Average Motor   6.1 Nt-Sec

September 24. 2006 Launch Report

Ed Chess reports:

Only two regular members showed up at 1:00pm at Raintree Park on Sunday Sept. 24 for the rain day redo. Rick Gaff and Ed Chess set up two launch pads and had a great time in the sun. The North Wind kept the engines small and the keys for successful recovery were streamers, tumble recovery, and chutes with large spillways. At about 2:30 or so, Marty Baker and his two children, Jarod and Audrey, along with a grandpa (sorry--we never got his name beyond "Papa") showed up and stayed until 4:00 when we shut the range down. Jarod managed to launch 6 rockets, and 3-year old Audrey pushed the button for one of Rick's, so we logged two more children towards NAR's goal of flying 50K children for the 50th anniversary of NAR. Marty was the only one who lost a rocket today--a D-powered "Big Yellow Rocket" that had a large pink chute that carried it far off the field and into the trees. Marty also successfully flew an Estes Trans-Wing Glider that gently circled and stayed on the field. Rick successfully flew his Nike-Deacon (or was it a Cajun?) a couple of times, and even managed to recover it from a nearby roof after the first flight. Other rockets flown included a Swift, a Heatseeker, a modified Yankee (the Yankee Doodle--it was a dandy!), a Gemini DC, a Tri-F-O, Art Applewhite's Stealth and Delta Flying Saucer, an Apogoon, an Honest Goon, a Comanche, a Totally Tubular, and a couple of other rockets whose flight cards didn't get collected from Rick (oops). All in all, a very nice day in the sun, even with the wind a bit stiff and blowing in the wrong direction for easy recovery. Rick took pictures, so look for them on his website.
 

Notes and Action Items from Monday, August 14, 2006 Fox Valley Rocketeers Meeting

Reminder- September 10 and October 8 launches at Raintree Park; November 12 at "The Farm" in Marengo.

NARAM-48 Report - Mark Bundick and Bob Kaplow gave an entertaining and complete report on the National Model Rocket Championships.  Bunny passed out some free plastic detail parts he snarfed from the kitbash session sponsored by Quest.

August 13 Launch Report - We had 35 flights, three failures (91% success!) with no major safety issues. 

Galt Airport "Flyers and Tires" Event Report - Thanks to John Kohler for a super job at "quarterbacking" this event for the club.  We distributed lots of flyers and talked to a lot of people.  A lot of attendees were fathers and sons.  We plan to go back next year with displays on both days and possibly a mid-power demo.  If we do a demo, we have to make sure it can be done safely, and with enough "fire and smoke" to entertain the crowd.

Continued Field Search - Clint Renji brought pictures of the field just across the Illinois - Wisconsin line where the "Country Thunder" music festival occurs.  Ken Hutchinson will map it out to see how big it really is.  Mark Bundick will ask the NAR Safety Committee about the high power restrictions relative to occupied houses on fields.  Norm Heyen reported he has a possible line on an 1,800 acre farm (and a son-in-law to be!) out near Freeport.  Much of the farm is in hay (Hey!  That's PERFECT!!).  He'll report as events progress, but this may be a good HPR spot clear of Chicago's airspace. 

I-Hobby Expo - Mark outlined the events at the "I-Hobby Expo" show in Rosemont (http://www.ihobbyexpo.com).  The NIRA section in Du Page county is organizing the support for a "Make It - Take It" rocket building booth during the Saturday and Sunday (October 21-22) sessions.  He'll contact the NIRA leadership about having FVR help man this booth.  (Aside: for those who've never been, you NEED to check out the 200,000 square feet of hobby exhibits; planes, trains, cars, tools, supplies and, of course, rockets!  Hint: save lots of money by parking in the River Road CTA lot, not the convention center garage; you'll need $1.50 in quarters.)  Contact Mark (mbundick@earthlink.net) if you're interested in helping out, and provide email and phone numbers so the NIRA guys can reach you.

Winter Events - Mark outlined possible events for the December - March time frame.  He suggested a December Xmas party, a January building session, a social outing (bowling, maybe?) or museum visit in February, and an outreach event with the Crystal Lake Park District, Woodstock Parks Department or Challenge Center in March.  Suggestions for the field trip included the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Volo Car Museum, or the Burpee Natural History Museum in Rockford.  Other ideas welcome and further discussion will occur at the September Meeting.

Other Items - Anyone interested in attending either the SMASH regional contest in Kalamazoo, MI September 9-10 or the ROCI Sport Launch in Muncie, IN, September 23-24, should contact Bob Kaplow.

August 13 launch report

Reported by Jeff

We didn't have as many people flying today - but we had a few more spectators than we've had in the past.  Our Booth at Flyers and Tires and the ad in the paper seem to have paid off.  Flying conditions were pretty good today.  No rockets were lost and we only had 2 malfunctions that I could see - Clint had a nosedive into some trees - but he got that one back and flew it again.  Bob K. had his "Fat Bertha" get stuck on the launch rod and we watched as it went through the burn, delay and ejection phases without having moved more than a couple of feet.  No harm done to the rocket - but he did melt the streamer.  I had a 2 engine cluster rocket that I flew first on twin A8-3s then on B6-6s.  I was pretty happy with how well it flew, it made me wish I had done a better job painting it.  The flying pace was pretty slow today and neither Mark nor myself had to work very hard as RSO.  To be fair, Mark had to watch a lot more flights than I did - in the first hour and 1/2 we must have gotten in 20 flights or more, but in the last hour I'd say there weren't more than 10.  We were mostly packed up by about 3:45.

NARAM report

Reported by Bunny

Thanks primarily to the excellent contest flying of Bob and Rachel Kaplow, the Fox Valley Rocketeers finished in 4th place at NARAM-48 in Phoenix. Bob flew a particularly impressive contest, finishing second to the eventual National Champion, Chad Ring.

A summary of the club's performance looks like this:

Place Contestant NAR # Sect # Total Points

A Division

===========

5 Kaplow, Rachel 83988 683 1581

C Division

===========

2 Kaplow, Bob 18L 683 3008

Team Division

==============

9 Moose and Squirrel T-218 683 854

(Bundick / Gaff)

Sections

========

4 FVR 683 5443

Complete points results can be found at:

http://www.sssrocketry.org/naram/events/events.htm

 

July 10 launch reports

Jeff Hallett writes:

(It) was a pretty good day for the launch despite the wind. Raintree looks like it will work out well as long as we don't get too enthusiastic with the engine sizes. Two rockets were lost in the trees to one side of the field (Ed and I each lost one) and one other rocket was lost on the other side in brush. There were a couple of crashes as well, but most flights were near-perfect.

I got pictures from a few of Ed's flights. The Ed MIA photo is the one that got lost in the trees. A fellow named Scott (check the flight cards...) came as well - I got a picture of his MIA rocket on the pad.

There was a guy on a bike that came by to watch for a little while and a family with three girls and a boy. Bob let them each launch one of his rockets....and I think Ed also let one of them launch one of his. Mark and Bob mostly did the RSO stuff. Ken came by a bit later - although I am not sure he flew anything.

The few of us who were brave enough to fly C engines regretted it - Clint had to roam around in the "swamp" to collect one of his, and I lost a Shuttle Intrepid to the trees that way....although Ed managed to loose his "Polar 1" (a baby bertha bash) to the trees using only a B.

Bob Kaplow writes:

As far as flying, I brought and flew 7 of my "small field no chute" rockets, that I flew on A-D motors. We did have a couple lost rockets tot he trees on the north, and one in the tall grass on the south. A small buzzer might help the tall grass recovery.

 

June 11 launch report

There were 42 flights, 90% (38) were successful. We had three fliers (Bob Kaplow, Clint Renji and Ed Chess) tied for most flights (9). The rest of us need to get on board and log a few flights!

The failures were one No Chute, one Shred, one Separation and one Unstable. Other than that, everyone thought the layout and organization was OK. We will have something to help fight any potential grass fires ready for the next launch.

March 26 Building Session At Bob and Judy Kaplow's

Ken Hutchinson

We held our first building session in Bob Kaplow's basement and had about 7 in attendance. Several of us watched (and helped?) Mark Bundick extract an ancient stained glass window from its equally ancient frame. At least three people were actually building rockets. The rest of us offered helpful suggestions to Bob as he changed bits and blades on various power tools. A long time tradition at Bob's winter building sessions is a brief backyard launch. Bob flew a food container converted to a rocket which was no surprise to those who have known Bob for any length of time. Mark demonstrated the cutest little RC electric airplane that he got at Target for about $30. He also demonstrated why you don't want to fly one any higher than you can reach if there are any trees around. He demonstrated that three times just to make sure we got the point. Seriously though it looks like something that would be a lot of fun and which will fly in a very small area. After the building session five of us, four spouses, and one daughter paid a call on the Texan Barbeque in Algonquin for some of their great southern BBQ.