Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

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

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

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

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

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