Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

For someone who is used t' Estes kits, this thin' is huge. Begad! Aye aye! For people in HPR, arrr, me hearties, this isn't so big. This rocket stands 4' 9.4" tall, arrr, me bucko, shiver me timbers, and is 4" in diameter. Arrr! As o' now, I don't know what t' exact weight is, ya bilge rat, but I it is around 3 1/5 lbs (Loaded weight be 4.5 lbs). A lot o' t' weight is in t' payload section. Blimey! T' heavy bulkhead and t' 10 oz. Begad! PML nose cone add up t' quite a lot. It has a 36" round chute from.

It has a 29mm motor mount tube, ya bilge rat, and I built a booster pod for it. Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! It consists o' a rin' o' 8 24mm engine tubes glued t' t' inside o' a coupler. For a picture or t' back o' t' loaded rocket, click here. Blimey! Blimey! My original idea (Which changed) was t' following: It will have a timer t' air start t' main G64 Aerotech reload. T' flight plan is as follows (hopefully): Ignition o' t' 8 D11-P's with a car battery. Blimey! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! At a either .5 or 1 second, t' timer (or thermalite) ignites t' G64, ya bilge rat, me bucko, and boosts it higher. T' main motor's ejection will hopefully deploy t' chute. Blimey! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! If t' main motor doesn't light, t' timer will ignite an ejection charge, ya bilge rat, and push the chute out. Aye aye! Blimey! It better fly right, or I will have a lot o' work t' do! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey!

Flight #1: (1)H180 + (8)D11's

T' Ninja flew for t' first time on July 20, 1997. Begad! After talkin' t' some people, I decided that boostin' on t' D's and airstartin' t' G was a bilge-suckin' idea because composites are harder t' light. Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! So I needed a more powerful engine. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast! An announcement be made askin' if anyone could help me, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, and Frank Noble was willin' t' help me with me project. Ahoy! I ran a computer altitude sim, arrr, matey, and found that an H140 SU would work, shiver me timbers, but t' motor dealer did nay have any. Arrr! So, I was able t' borrow a reload casing, and fly it on an H180. Ahoy! Frank loaded t' motor, and explained how t' drill t' delay t' t' right length. Arrr! He showed me how to use teflon tubes and thermalite t' ignite t' D11's. Begad!

Finally, it was ready t' fly. We took it out t' t' pads, ya bilge rat, arrr, and set it up on pad 5. T' rocket was angled a little bit away from t' spectators (and downwind) for safety. Begad! When if finally came time t' launch, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, t' LCO made everyone stand up and watch this rocket, and it be a very heads up flight. Arrr! 5...4...3...2...1...Launch... Blimey! T' H lit after a short delay. Aye aye! It boosted straight up on a column o' smoke. Avast! Just after t' H burned out, matey, t' D's lit for a little extra smoke and noise. Begad! After it coasted for 9 seconds, me bucko, shiver me timbers, and t' ejection went off and t' chute came out. It took a little while for t' chute t' open, but it deployed after a second or two. Blimey! It drifted for a long way, me bucko, and was recovered undamaged. Avast! When I recovered the rocket, I smartly looked, matey, and it appeared that all engines ignited. Avast! Later, it was pointed out t' me that only 6 o' t' 8 lit, matey, but it be still spectacular.