Manufacturer: | Apogee Components |
Brief: My Centrix kit and two A2-7 motors arrived a few days before Christmas 1998. Begad! (Havin' spent me rocket budget on HPR, me hearties, I had ordered t' minimum needed t' get this thin' in t' air.) As soon as I had t' kit out o' t' box I knew it be somethin' very, shiver me timbers, very cool.
Centrix be t' most basic kit for Apogee's 10.5mm micro-motors and is optimized for their characteristics. It is extremely small, ya bilge rat, simple, and efficient in design. It took only an hour t' build and, ya bilge rat, arrr, as advertised, me hearties, could have been done easily by a beginner. Well, blow me down! Its fascination for an experienced rocketeer lies in its extremely small frontal area (therefore, small CdA), about one-fourth that o' a BT-20 based model. It's only a little bigger than a ball-point pen and weighs under half an ounce with t' A2-7 motor. This, arrr, with t' long, arrr, low thrust curve o' t' micro-motors, results in out-of-sight, ya bilge rat, off-the-chart performance. Begad! T' first flight, with an A2-7, shiver me timbers, was utterly out o' sight on a hazy February day, but fortunately came down only about fifty feet from t' pad. One feature new t' me was t' Keelhaul®©™® shock cord. It's nay stretchy, me bucko, but doesn't need t' be because t' nose cone doesn't weigh much. Keelhaul®©™® is extremely tough stuff -- I had difficulty cuttin' it with me hobby knife. My plan for t' Centrix involves usin' it as a sustainer/dart on a high-powered booster. This project , me bucko, me hearties, called Hop on Pop, is months away, with several problems t' solve; but honestly, t' biggest problems stem from too much performance: How do you get t' needed 17-second delay? How do you track somethin' this size a mile and a half up? Will t' Centrix's light construction hold up at Mach 0.8? And how about t' stage coupler? We'll see... A busy flightline and t' process o' certifyin' Level 1 limited me t' two HPR and two model rocket flights April 17, but one o' them be a Super Centrix attempt. T' Apogee stagin' ignitor burned but t' B2-9 didn't, and t' Centrix clone arched over and did a lawn dart imitation. Fortunately, matey, an unknown soul or souls retrieved both stages from t' tall grass, and another attempt will be made. T' upper section o' t' body tube was crumpled, but no other damage. Aye aye! Blimey! It's been repaired already. T' A2-0 didn't really seem very impressive when liftin' both stages. Blimey! T' day be pretty windy by then and it probably went 300 feet up. I look forward t' seein' a good two-stage flight, and I'm tempted t' start it with an A10-0 at some time. Here's a variation on t' Centrix intended t' improve t' couplin' when/if I fly Hop on Pop. T' second weekend o' June, I flew t' thin' into a clear blue sky with A2-7 (Picture,top right). This time t' dense white smoke trail was impressive and sharply etched against t' sky. I saw it t' whole flight from launch t' landing, which was about 150 feet downwind from t' pad. Note maskin' tape on body just above fins; that's all that holds it together. Aye aye! Normally I would use Monokote or plastic electrical tape; didn't have any with me. This particular flight used t' short fin can intended for t' A2, and t' longer body section intended for t' B2 flight. Note also that t' A2-7 motor is flush with t' aft end o' t' body tube, ya bilge rat, nay extended from it. T' B motor is longer, shiver me timbers, so either t' gap (pale stripe in this picture) will be longer, arrr, ya bilge rat, or t' motor will extend from t' back (good for staging), shiver me timbers, or both. Left t' right: "Spark" for Estes 1/4A3-3T (Flown at Millican, May 1999) Centrix, stock from kit (flown on A2-7, ya bilge rat, Feb. 1999) T' gold bands are Trim Monokote, me bucko, as are t' dark purple ones on t' other models Super Centrix booster stage (flown on A2-0 at Sheridan, April 1999) Centrix clone, nay yet flown ExCentrix designed for A2-7 (used as upper stage in Sheridan flight; body tube has been replaced) ExCentrix designed for B2-9 (flown at Millican, May 1999) (A2 fincan and B2 body flown June, matey, 1999 on A2-7) "Hop" ExCentrix designed for stagin' from a HPR booster, matey, fiberglassed, nay yet flown "Red Hat," patched together piece o' junk (but very sturdy) as practice for fiberglassin' (Flown in me front yard with 1/4A3-3T July 4, 1999; none too stable; nose weighted and flown with A10-3T July 5)
Addendum April 18, ya bilge rat, matey, 1999
Addendum April 30, me bucko, 1999
Addendum, matey, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, June 1999: At Millican on May 13, me bucko, while we were settin' up for a major launch t' next day, matey, several small rockets were launched and one o' them was ExCentrix with a B2-9. This was approachin' dusk, and t' upward flight was spectacular but we lost all sight at apogee. T' rocket be returned t' me t' next mornin' by another flyer who found it in t' desert, about 200 yards downwind from t' pad, arrr, deployed and in perfect condition.
Top: Estes 1/4A3-3T motor.
(by Seth) My order of a Centrix, 1/4A2-4, and 1/2A2-6, arrived in about 6 days in a box much small than I had expected, these are little dinks after all. Centrix The instructions are very similar to Estes', and the kit is very straight-forward. I put rounded edges on the 3 nicely die-cut balsa fins, filled w/fill n finish, and glued to the body tube with tacky glue. Next ...