Hi,
Need some help after the fact here. Launched a D13-7 reload, first attempt actually, in an Estes Nova Payloader. Had 6 launches on the ship previously and it was suffering from the Hibachi effect as the beautiful red paint job was bubbling. Winds were from the South at roughly 4-9 mph according to my wind meter. My field is at:
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doubles as a driving range. You see the white gravel area to the north that is the parking lot for the golfers and the driving stations are just to the south. If you look to the west and a little south, you will see a little black horizontal line which is a small parking area for about 4 cars for folks who fly R/C (and now rockets with me). My question has to do with the ejection charge as I couldn't figure it out with the instructions. I put the red cup over the end of the of the ejection chamber and crushed it and shook it. I was going to remove the cup but it seemed like there was alot of powder in there so I left it connected on the end of the engine. At a launch I went to in a May I asked a level 3 modeler, Pat Hibbs, if I could watch him do a reload. He told me to hop in his truck and he supervised his 13 year old nephew in doing an H reload. Pat had stated that one should crack the cap with the black powder and pour it into the well. He was emphatic that one should cover the well with a large piece of masking tape. In the 18/20 reload if one leaves the cap on, there is about a 1cm space between the powder in the bottom of the cap and the well on the bulkhead of the engine. Again I put the cap on the engine upright and squeezed the cap and shook the engine thinking I would get the powder into the well. I thought there might be too much powder and if I took the cap off the powder would fall out. I did not remove the cap and apply masking tape. When I saw the H reload, I distinctly remember that the black powder filled the well to the top before Pat had his nephew put the masking tape over it. He had a successful launch. All this is moot as I launched my model and my gosh, talk about noise! I've seen lots of other modelers' RMS loads G and higher go off but this little engine really roared. It sounded louder than the E30 and F23 SU motors I fired today too. Might be because I was closer to the launch pad but I was at the same distance when I did the SU's. Well the model went out of sight and never saw it again. Didn't hear an ejection charge fire although it could have been up so high I couldn't hear it. I did fire off a Quest Zenith II with a modified first stage I built from parts I had lying around. It was for a D12-0 booster instead of a B or C6-0. It shot up like the proverbial "bat out of hell", The sustainer is yellow and the booster is fluorescent orange. I saw it stage and then the sustainer went out of sight. I waited and waited and waited. I thought I had lost this model but I heard the streamer flapping in the air. I looked behind me and saw the last 200' descent of the sustainer land 150' behind me and not very far from the booster. I only mention this as it showed that a model might get so high one can't hear the ejection charge. (Or my hearing is bad.) Anyhow, appreciate any answers about my reloading technique and if anyone can point me to some websites that might have better instructions it would be most appreciated. Also lost an Eliminator on an E9-8 and a High Flier on a C6-7. Dang, my eyesight must be getting worse. I am unhappy with myself as I launched toward the south and it looks like I missed the range!! I mean look at the photo of the field. I still missed it OR I may have had recovery system failures in the Eliminator and High Flier. They were Estes stock, old and were made before I started using kevlar shock cords for everything. Put up a Super Nova Payloader and it separated from the body. Had one good flight on an E30 and then tried an F23 BJ engine. Saw the payload bay with parachute land way the heck to the north and west and went BEHIND a tree line. Too far for me to go and I have two of the Super Novas on the self with one still in kit form. There is some consolation there. TIA. Best regards, Kurt Savegnago