Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

For someone who is used t' Estes kits, this thin' is huge. Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! For people in HPR, arrr, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, this isn't so big. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! This rocket stands 4' 9.4" tall, ya bilge rat, me hearties, and is 4" in diameter. Begad! Ahoy! As o' now, 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). Aye aye! A lot o' t' weight is in t' payload section. Begad! Ahoy! T' heavy bulkhead and t' 10 oz. Well, blow me down! PML nose cone add up t' quite a lot. It has a 36" round chute from.

It has a 29mm motor mount tube, me hearties, and I built a booster pod for it. Avast, me proud beauty! It consists o' a rin' o' 8 24mm engine tubes glued t' t' inside o' a coupler. Ya scallywag! For a picture or t' back o' t' loaded rocket, click here. 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. Arrr! At a either .5 or 1 second, me hearties, t' timer (or thermalite) ignites t' G64, arrr, and boosts it higher. T' main motor's ejection will hopefully deploy t' chute. Avast! Begad! If t' main motor doesn't light, arrr, arrr, t' timer will ignite an ejection charge, arrr, shiver me timbers, me bucko, and push the chute out. Avast! Begad! 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, 1997. Avast! Arrr! After talkin' t' some people, matey, me bucko, I decided that boostin' on t' D's and airstartin' t' G be a bad idea because composites are harder t' light. Begad! So I needed a more powerful engine. An announcement was made askin' if anyone could help me, me hearties, ya bilge rat, and Frank Noble was willin' t' help me with me project. Aye aye! Avast! I ran a computer altitude sim, matey, and found that an H140 SU would work, shiver me timbers, but t' motor dealer did nay have any. Arrr! So, me hearties, me hearties, matey, I was able t' borrow a reload casing, and fly it on an H180. Frank loaded t' motor, and explained how t' drill t' delay t' t' right length. He showed me how to use teflon tubes and thermalite t' ignite t' D11's. Begad! Ya scallywag!

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