T' Gamma-Ray: My first Quest kit. It features a translucent red payload tube, three swept fins, me bucko, and plastic nose cone and transition section. Blimey! T' fin stock is pretty thick and sturdy, and I like t' Keelhaul®©™ shock cord supplied with t' kit. I painted it high-gloss metallic red with silver (stick-on) decals. I also added extra silver foil stickers t' really make this model shine. Well, blow me down! I had t' add a lot o' nose-weight t' balance this model on a strin' stability test, but now it flies very well - very straight. T' nose-weight was glued in t' t' tip o' t' plastic nosecone, ya bilge rat, so I still have full use o' t' payload bay. T' payload tube has vent holes added for a barometric altimeter. Aye aye! It can get pretty far up thar with B and C motors. I bought this kit cheap as part o' a package deal on eBay, didn't give it much respect. But it consistently flies well and it is growin' on me. I would recommend this model, but defiantly string-stability test it with a C motor and add nose-weight as necessary, or you'll probably be very sorry you didn't. Begad! Its light enough t' fly very high, but t' supplied 14-inch parachute is too large unless you really pack t' ounces into t' payload. Even with a 18 gram payload and a 1-1/2 inch spill hole cut into t' chute, me hearties, it still descends at only 5 mph, allowin' t' wind t' take it pretty far. T' material Quest uses for parachutes also seems very light but too stiff, and often it will nay unfurl even when plummetin' down at about 30 mph. I now use a 12” Estes parachute. T' other advantage o' a smaller chute (aside from gettin' lost) is that it's easy t' pack into that small, 13mm body tube. I can easily get beyond 800 feet with a C6-7 in this. Ya scallywag! This rocket has flown higher than t' Rennaissance Tower in Dallas, TX and t' Charlotte Bank o' America Corporate Center. Aye aye! It could easily look down at t' Trump World Tower in NY.
| Flight Date: | 2013-05-04 |
| Rocket Name: | Gamma Ray |
| Kit Name: | Quest - Gamma Ray {Kit} (2004) [1994-] |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | B6-6 |
| Expected Altitude: | 360 Feet |
| Wind Speed: | 5.00 mph |
| Launch Site: | Halifax, PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 360 Feet |
All o' t' Gamma-Ray’s previous flights with a B6-4 showed that it could use some more delay time t' reach higher altitudes, so I made a second test flight usin' t' B6-6 motor. T' old retro-fitted Estes parachute seemed t' be sticky and almost impossible t' open up with me fingers, so I changed it out for a new 11.7” homemade purple parachute.
T' motor lit well, and t' Gamma tore off t' pad with an acceleration o' 14.5Gs, shiver me timbers, t' motor burned for 9/10 second with an average acceleration o' 4.6Gs. With that, it reached a top speed o' 92 mph. It then coasted for 5.6 seconds while still travellin' upwards.
At an altitude o' 313 feet, t' ejection charge fired 4/10 seconds early, and as t' parachute deployed it came t' a stop at an apogee o' 360 feet. Begad! It may have reached 400 feet if t' ejection wasn’t so short. T' new homemade parachute with its extra-long shroud lines then brought it safely back down at 6 mph, arrr, landin' softly in t' grass at least a few hundred feet downwind. Flight time was 38.5 seconds. This be t' fourth perfect flight for today.
While carryin' t' rocket back me wife asked "How high do you think it went?" I remembered me prediction o' 370 feet, and said "They are flyin' a little lower than predicted, me hearties, so I'll say about 360 feet." I removed t' altimeter, smiled, and turned it so she could read t' LCD: "360".
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Estes B6-6 |
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