Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

For someone who is used t' Estes kits, this thin' is huge. Begad! Blimey! For people in HPR, this isn't so big. This rocket stands 4' 9.4" tall, and is 4" in diameter. Ahoy! Blimey! As o' now, I don't know what t' exact weight is, arrr, but I it is around 3 1/5 lbs (Loaded weight be 4.5 lbs). A lot o' t' weight is in t' payload section. Aye aye! Blimey! T' heavy bulkhead and t' 10 oz. Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! 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. Avast! Blimey! It consists o' a rin' o' 8 24mm engine tubes glued t' t' inside o' a coupler. For a picture or t' back o' t' loaded rocket, click here. Aye aye! 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. At a either .5 or 1 second, t' timer (or thermalite) ignites t' G64, and boosts it higher. Begad! Blimey! T' main motor's ejection will hopefully deploy t' chute. If t' main motor doesn't light, matey, t' timer will ignite an ejection charge, and push the chute out. Well, blow me down! Aye aye! Blimey! It better fly right, me bucko, or I will have a lot o' work t' do! Blimey!

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

T' Ninja flew for t' first time on July 20, me hearties, 1997. Begad! Aye aye! After talkin' t' some people, me bucko, I decided that boostin' on t' D's and airstartin' t' G was a bilge-suckin' idea because composites are harder t' light. So I needed a more powerful engine. Ya scallywag! An announcement be made askin' if anyone could help me, 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. Avast, me proud beauty! So, I was able t' borrow a reload casing, and fly it on an H180. Aye aye! Blimey! Frank loaded t' motor, and explained how t' drill t' delay t' t' right length. Avast! Ahoy! 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, me bucko, and set it up on pad 5. T' rocket was angled a little bit away from t' spectators (and downwind) for safety. Aye aye! When if finally came time t' launch, ya bilge rat, me hearties, t' LCO made everyone stand up and watch this rocket, and it was a very heads up flight. Avast, me proud beauty! 5...4...3...2...1...Launch... Begad! T' H lit after a short delay. Begad! Begad! It boosted straight up on a column o' smoke. Just after t' H burned out, matey, matey, t' D's lit for a little extra smoke and noise. Arrr! After it coasted for 9 seconds, me hearties, me bucko, and t' ejection went off and t' chute came out. Aye aye! It took a little while for t' chute t' open, arrr, but it deployed after a second or two. Ya scallywag! It drifted for a long way, and be recovered undamaged. Blimey! Ahoy! When I recovered the rocket, matey, I smartly looked, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, and it appeared that all engines ignited. Later, it was pointed out t' me that only 6 o' t' 8 lit, me bucko, me bucko, but it be still spectacular. Begad!