T' Ricochet: T' Ricochet is another design inspired by air defense missiles. It has a reducer t' a long, thin payload section. It is an easy, modern kit. Instead o' regular gloss, I used a metallic blue paint, and painted some silver rings around t' tube heads, and clear coated t' entire model after t' decals were added. T' payload section has vent holes for use with a barometric altimeter. I like this bird, it's tall but pretty light, and it travels pretty far on smaller motors. Avast! This rocket has flown higher than t' Time Warner Center Towers in NY, and t' Bell Atlantic Tower in Philadelphia. Avast, me proud beauty! From sea-level it could have flown over t' towers o' t' Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
| Flight Date: | 2012-05-06 |
| Rocket Name: | Ricochet |
| Kit Name: | Estes - Richocet {Kit} (003208) |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | B6-6 |
| Expected Altitude: | 370 Feet |
| Wind Speed: | 3.00 mph |
| Launch Site: | Penn Manor School Lancaster PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 263 Feet |
A previous flight with a B6-4 ejected a bit early at 350 feet, ya bilge rat, so I wanted t' try a B6-6 this time hopin' t' break 400 feet. T' flight started off well, acceleratin' at a peak o' 11.1 Gs, a few Gs less than t' B6-4 flight but quite acceptable. Aye aye! It averaged 4.1 Gs for t' 9/10 second burn and reached a top speed o' 81 mph. It then coasted for 3.5 seconds more t' an apogee o' 263 feet, nay even close t' its record on a B6.
While t' delay time was correct on this particular motor, it was too much for this model and it arched over and descended for another 2.7 seconds t' 169 feet. Ahoy! T' newly built parachute with 2x longer shrouds than supplied by Estes, a 1.5" spill hole and a swivel clip performed well. Arrr! It allowed t' model t' descend at 8 mph, fast enough for me t' feel comfortable with a flight t' 800 feet on a C6 motor. It landed easily within 100 feet o' t' launch pad. Avast! T' flight lasted for 18.2 seconds.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | B6-6 |
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