Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

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

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