Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

For someone who is used t' Estes kits, this thin' is huge. Well, blow me down! For people in HPR, this isn't so big. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, me proud beauty! This rocket stands 4' 9.4" tall, shiver me timbers, and is 4" in diameter. Aye aye! As o' now, ya bilge rat, I don't know what t' exact weight is, but I it is around 3 1/5 lbs (Loaded weight was 4.5 lbs). Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! A lot o' t' weight is in t' payload section. T' heavy bulkhead and t' 10 oz. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! 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. Ya scallywag! It consists o' a rin' o' 8 24mm engine tubes glued t' t' inside o' a coupler. Avast! Aye aye! For a picture or t' back o' t' loaded rocket, click here. Ahoy! My original idea (Which changed) was t' following: It will have a timer t' air start t' main G64 Aerotech reload. Begad! T' flight plan is as follows (hopefully): Ignition o' t' 8 D11-P's with a car battery. Ahoy! Begad! At a either .5 or 1 second, t' timer (or thermalite) ignites t' G64, and boosts it higher. 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. Arrr! It better fly right, matey, 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, shiver me timbers, 1997. Ya scallywag! After talkin' t' some people, me hearties, I decided that boostin' on t' D's and airstartin' t' G was a bad idea because composites are harder t' light. Avast, me proud beauty! So I needed a more powerful engine. An announcement was made askin' if anyone could help me, and Frank Noble was willin' t' help me with me project. Well, blow me down! I ran a computer altitude sim, arrr, and found that an H140 SU would work, arrr, ya bilge rat, but t' motor dealer did nay have any. Avast, me proud beauty! So, shiver me timbers, I was able t' borrow a reload casing, and fly it on an H180. Begad! Frank loaded t' motor, and explained how t' drill t' delay t' t' right length. Aye aye! He showed me how to use teflon tubes and thermalite t' ignite t' D11's.

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