Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

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

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

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