bobinator

I have faith because we as humans just seem too elaborate to not have come from something intelligent, quote> The counterargument to that is, humans seem too elaborate to have come from something intelligent.

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes How much one of those things cost? and can you recover any of it after launch? Assembly looks pretty easy, since in those pics everything looks modular, unless you had to put all the peices together your self. BTW how do you tell how high it goes? quote> Each rocket shown is about 500 bucks. If you get it all back, the ex motors shown cost about 15 or 20 bucks a pop (commercial that size runs at about 100 dollars). I designed everything to be modular, 6in 38mm fincans, 8in 54mm fincans, 5 inches of coupler (I use the motor as a coupler). I would guess I've spent about 40 hours on each one; fiberglassing and finishing fincans, designing and testing electronics bays etc. I use pressure sensors for altitude. Well, I'm back from the playa. Overall a good launch for me. Friday was commercial so I used it as a prep day. Saturday, I was ready to go in the morning with the 1975n/s 54mm. 7lbs 1oz. pad weight. I hooked the thrust ring on the middle coupler of my tower on the way up, which threw the flight unstable for 3000ft of balls skywriting /=. Luckily my primary charges fired and I got the rocket back unharmed. I filed down the coupler and tried again with the 2200n/s 54mm. 7lbs 12 oz. pad weight. Good, quick push to 14,600ft (I'll post better data when I download it to my computer). It disappeared soon after the 3in. of smoke ran out just after apogee, and I tracked it to the ground with walston transmitter. My dad and I drove off in the direction of the tone, to soon find out we had lost the tone? While my dad was toying with our reciever, I looked across the playa and saw the red main I use. We drove out and found the rocket intact. The plastic around the batteries in the transmitter had somehow changed in flight and removed power from the unit. Also, neither backup charge (ARTS) had fired, I guess I'd better give up on using silver oxide batteries with it and use heavy 9 volts -.- Sunday I was prepped and ready to go with the 970 n/s 38mm (shown in the last picture in my first post). 4lbs 7oz. pad weight. Quick push to 11,900 feet, lost visual when smoke burned out, and tracked to the ground with a walston. Recovered for a nominal flight. I guess it was just one of those 'off' years for balls. It seemed like just about everything cato'ed or shredded. It was quite a rush to be loading a rocket and dodging pieces falling from the sky. Overall, very impressive event, sign me up for next year. I'll post pics of my ebays when I get around to cleaning them up, and also later possible video.

final prep for tripoli balls down in Black Rock, I leave tomorrow at noon. Woohoo laying everything out in prep mode down in the basement, 2 54mm's flying K790and K658 (about 2200n/s and 2000n/s) and a 38mm on the left with about a 950n/s J600. Propellant is our group stuff we mixed up. Aerotech J570 for scale. (gold casing) Hopping for 15k-20k out of the 54mm's and 11k-12 or 13k out of the 38mm. Coring kills me on the 38mm /= our propellant is too energetic for long motors. I've gotten 11,300 out of a J350, 2/3 of the propellant of our ex stuff. Gotta get a slower propellant /= .O well, next year... fincans I'll post some pics of e-bays when I get home, I didn't feel like pulling them apart when I was packing. And this is the 38mm above at our august ex launch. got 11,700ft out of the same motor I'm flying at balls.

Originally posted by: GreekMan but why would you vote for someone that doesn't know how to run ANYTHING! Palin knowns how to run a state and that 10 TIMES better than Obamaquote> explain....

I'm not a Democrat but I'm definatly not a Republican. I'm watching the Republican convention at the moment, there are a few things I just can't understand; I don't know about all this "service to the country" talk because of signing up for the military. The military is only one small part of the country, there are many things which keep it going. I think my dad is a "hero" who "serves his country" because he owns a hardware store. What would people do if they couldn't go to the bathroom because of a broken toilet? How can Republicans so enthusiastically go along with Palin after smearing Obama for months about his inexperience? How can the Republicans say if elected they will bring change to Washington? Over the last few year they have just made a mess of it. What is with the "no new taxes" stuff. At the moment, Bush continues to spend spend spend, he just borrows from the Chinese instead of taxing. Also, I got a kick out of Palin's pregnant daughter after Republicans continually pull the "holier than though art" line. If I was six months older I would vote for Obama, kind of a lesser of two evils thing.

I still get a kick out of Bush and Rice's statements; In the 21st century, nations do not invade other nations....short memory loss eh?

Originally posted by: Duke87 And sometimes you don't even have to pull the trigger, just brandishing the gun or pointing it at someone is enough. quote> Yep, but pulling a gun on an armed robber as a threat doesn't necessarily mean he will back down, he can still shoot. Originally posted by: Duke87 Besides, which is worth more depends on who's it is. Obviously, your wallet isn't worth more than your life. And probably not the life of one of your friends or family, either. But a total stranger's life? That's a different story. I wouldn't exactly miss him if he was dead. quote> Luckily the man being robbed shot before the robber could get him, it could have gone the other way. If you pull a gun on someone who is armed, it's not a guarantee you will walk away. Again, is your life worth your wallet? On the other hand, if I killed a stranger over my wallet, I think after the fact I would still have a hard time dealing with it (even if he was a robber). Originally posted by: Duke87 And then you have the problem where if you just let someone get away with taking your property, you enable them to keep doing so to other people, and for others to do so to you. quote> Thats what police are for, although with my limited experience with them, they aren't exactly the quickest bunch to the scene of the crime lol...(another burglary).

Originally posted by: Duke87 Now see, that is smart and responsible use of a gun. Without it, that guy would have been down whatever it was he was robbed - likely including his wallet, which would have meant he'd have to get a new ID, cancel all his credit cards, obtain new cards for anything else he had in there, etc. A lot of headache. And, more importantly, the next person who decides it's a good idea to try and commit such a crime may think twice now.quote> Meh, the robber's gun was already 1 to many. What if one of them had been killed? Is the value of a wallet (and whatever else was stolen) worth someone's life?...

Originally posted by: sedimenjerry Duke87, here's one of your few more crashes.quote> And how many millions of people drive? It's easy to go out and find a single case, you have to look at overall numbers. And as hym says, that case is irelivent anyway as it wasn't alcohol related.

Well, I was really trying to get an update out this afternoon but it doesn't look like it will happen. I've just got too much to do -REPLIES- anarchy0029- Thanks I spent a long time playing with the different terminal pieces trying to get it close. jacqulina, almighty nienaber- thanks underwearman2007- Yeah, I'll prly end up making it when I get to that area. seanmagon- Yea Park City is sick. nottheboss- thanks, glad you liked! edmonton_stinks- Thanks for catching that, it was a brainfart, I meant apartments. Yeah its tough to find low wealth stuff but I spent a while searching and I've found a few good ones. I'll start using sg's mobile home pack pretty soon (I just found that today it will work great)!

Nice. I might think about using plopable water instead of maxis water though. The cliffs around all the maxis water looks kinda weird. Good work other than that, can't wait to see it fill in!

Nice stuff. Your custom lots look great!