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Rocket on a Rope...?
At NARAM 2000 this interesting Giant Sport Scale flight what happens when you fly a "non-rigid" rocket. This 1:1 model of Goddard's first successful liquid fueled rocket proves that if a rocket lacks the rigidity to be pushed into the air with the motor at the rear then it likely will do no better with the motor pulling things along. Basically, it behaves very much like a very small unstable rocket trying to pull a mass at the end of a rope into the air.
Watch the video which is shown both in real-time and at 1/10th actual speed. What's wrong in the video? Well, watch the guy near the chair and the young man next to him. Also, the rocket nearly zeros in on Richard Ng (the gentleman in the shorts and with a bag in the lower right of the frame...and who casually walks back to the "disaster site" to collect his soft drink sitting on the ground).
The slow-motion portion of the video shows the "dynamics" of the rocket frame-by-frame as it heads skyward and then toward the camera. Believe it or not, the sound during the slow-mo is what the original sound is like played at 10% speed...no dubbing, editing, or sound "enhancement" other than just "playing it slow."
Click here for full flight video by John Pursley (.WMV format, best for broadband connections...right-click to download)
Watch the video which is shown both in real-time and at 1/10th actual speed. What's wrong in the video? Well, watch the guy near the chair and the young man next to him. Also, the rocket nearly zeros in on Richard Ng (the gentleman in the shorts and with a bag in the lower right of the frame...and who casually walks back to the "disaster site" to collect his soft drink sitting on the ground).
The slow-motion portion of the video shows the "dynamics" of the rocket frame-by-frame as it heads skyward and then toward the camera. Believe it or not, the sound during the slow-mo is what the original sound is like played at 10% speed...no dubbing, editing, or sound "enhancement" other than just "playing it slow."
Click here for full flight video by John Pursley (.WMV format, best for broadband connections...right-click to download)
NARAM 2002 Mercury Redstone
The most recent major flying rocket project that I have managed to complete was this 1/12 scale Mercury Redstone 8...the second U.S. manned spaceflight lofting Gus Grissom in Liberty Bell 7.
Far left photo is of the Penrose, Colorado NARAM 2000 (National Association of
Rocketry Annual Meet) original Mercury Redstone model with only an RC ejection
recovery system. Center photo is the entirely new 2002 version (with autopilot and
RC recovery) prior to loading on the launcher at NARAM 44 (2002) in McGregor, TX.
and gives some idea of size of model...yet it weighs just 3 pounds complete with a
hen's-egg "eggstronaut". The photo on the far right is a still frame capture taken
from a video by James Duffy who videoed the NARAM 2002 model on its winning
flight. Click on any of the photos for the NARAM 2002 launch video.
Click any of the images to left for a WMV video of the model in flight.
NASA's Vision for
1966...
Before there was even a concept for the Saturn V that would eventually fly in 1967, there was Nova. Originally conceived in 1958, Nova was considered the minimum vehicle that could take man to the moon sometime in the 1970's, if not sooner.
Here, a Nova, from a baseline design suggestion conceived in 1958 and being made public by Milt Rosen and F.C. Schwenk in a study presented in 1959, lifts off from Cape Canaveral. The Rosen/Schwenk baseline design, though never considered definitive but something to give people something to consider, has grown in popularity over the years and most scale modelers, when seeing drawings or illustrations such as the one at the left, immediately identify it as "Nova." This 1961 concept was envisioned to be operational by 1965 or 1966.
There were more concepts for NOVA than there were for the Saturn series. In fact, the Saturn C4 and C5 concepts very closely fit the definition of what Nova was described as.
The concept at left uses a cluster of four tanks for the first stage, four for the second, and two for the third. Making the various transitions would be an interesting and enjoyable challenge for a sport modeler or a Sport Scale modeler for the NAR's Concept Scale event (though you would need a bit more data support).
1966...
Before there was even a concept for the Saturn V that would eventually fly in 1967, there was Nova. Originally conceived in 1958, Nova was considered the minimum vehicle that could take man to the moon sometime in the 1970's, if not sooner.
Here, a Nova, from a baseline design suggestion conceived in 1958 and being made public by Milt Rosen and F.C. Schwenk in a study presented in 1959, lifts off from Cape Canaveral. The Rosen/Schwenk baseline design, though never considered definitive but something to give people something to consider, has grown in popularity over the years and most scale modelers, when seeing drawings or illustrations such as the one at the left, immediately identify it as "Nova." This 1961 concept was envisioned to be operational by 1965 or 1966.
There were more concepts for NOVA than there were for the Saturn series. In fact, the Saturn C4 and C5 concepts very closely fit the definition of what Nova was described as.
The concept at left uses a cluster of four tanks for the first stage, four for the second, and two for the third. Making the various transitions would be an interesting and enjoyable challenge for a sport modeler or a Sport Scale modeler for the NAR's Concept Scale event (though you would need a bit more data support).
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Every Model Rocketeer Should Visit...
Vern Estes' Home Page. Get a look at where the hobby really "launched" from in the early 1960's
Vern Estes' Home Page. Get a look at where the hobby really "launched" from in the early 1960's
Comments or
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Model Rocketry and Spacemodeling?
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suggestions about
Model Rocketry and Spacemodeling?
Drop us a note!
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Go Back 50 Years...
Vintage Estes Catalogs
and
Model
Rocket
News
Vintage Estes Catalogs
and
Model
Rocket
News
