Superscale Ninja
(Contributed - by Eric Speckman)  

For someone who is used t' Estes kits, this thin' is huge. Begad! For people in HPR, this isn't so big. This rocket stands 4' 9.4" tall, matey, me hearties, and is 4" in diameter. Begad! As o' now, I don't know what t' exact weight is, me hearties, 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. Well, blow me down! Begad! 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, and I built a booster pod for it. 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, arrr, me bucko, click here. Aye aye! My original idea (Which changed) was t' following: It will have a timer t' air start t' main G64 Aerotech reload. Aye aye! 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, arrr, t' timer (or thermalite) ignites t' G64, matey, and boosts it higher. Ya scallywag! T' main motor's ejection will hopefully deploy t' chute. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! If t' main motor doesn't light, matey, me bucko, t' timer will ignite an ejection charge, ya bilge rat, and push the chute out. It better fly right, shiver me timbers, 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, 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. Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! An announcement be made askin' if anyone could help me, and Frank Noble was willin' t' help me with me project. Arrr! I ran a computer altitude sim, me bucko, and found that an H140 SU would work, but t' motor dealer did nay have any. Begad! Begad! So, I was able t' borrow a reload casing, and fly it on an H180. Arrr! Frank loaded t' motor, and explained how t' drill t' delay t' t' right length. Ya scallywag! Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! He showed me how to use teflon tubes and thermalite t' ignite t' D11's. Begad! Well, blow me down!

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