I bought the Estes Tandem 1469
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And went out yesterday to fire the Amazon rocket. The launch went fine with the B6-4 engine, but when we retrieved the rocket, the engine mount had me lted a bit. Specifically, the end cap that you put on the hold the engine i n place melted in the area that is in direct contact with the engine. We we re able to get the engine out and fire a second one, which only melted it m ore. This engine was substantially harder to remove, but we were finally ab le to get it out. At this point we expected to get one more launch out of i t before it would no longer work. The third launch had some other trouble t hough, with the parachute not deploying, and the entire tail section was lo st (blown off the tube). I think I was not careful when I packed the chute in.
My question for the group though, is the engine mount melting a common prob lem? Is there a way to avoid it? We were hoping to use some larger motors, but at this rate, I don't know if it is a smart thing to do. Are the mounts easily replaced? Are they sold separately? Are there mounts made out of mo re melt-resistant materials (perhaps for other rockets, or for the Amazon)?