Ross Ohmen's Rocketry Obsession
24 mm Projects
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I'll list interesting (slightly bigger) projects here.  Note that 24 mm will be the BIGGEST motors these rockets can hold.

 
"Glowworm" - 24mm minimum diameter "Arrow".
 
Features:
1) BT-50 tubes
2) "Engine-Blocked" for 24mm "E" and "F" engines.  Spacer for "C" and "D" engines
 
Flights:
1) Flew 7/18/04 at Fresno on a C11-5.  Worked, but the Pico altimeter said I flew to 65000 ft!  (I don't think so).  Suspect the ejection charge shook the battery loose, and then it "underran" - started from "0" feet and decended 800 ft...
 
2) Flew at Snow Ranch, 5/7/05, again on a C11-5.  Disappointing altitude, incomplete 'chute deploy, and invalid Pico reading.   Darn!  Repaired body damage.
 
3) Flew at Fresno, 7/17/05, on a D12-7.  Spectacular flight to high altitude, but the rear body separated at eject, and came down fast.  Minor paint damage.  Pico gave me an invalid reading again!  Mailed mfg, and discovered 1) there's a lookup chart, for the 5-digit number, and 2) my 63,000 reading is off the chart, and indicates a chip s/w problem.  Mailed in to get it repaired.
 
4) 8/4/06 - Aeronaut.  Tried launching on an E9-8, and the motor blew the nozzle!  No damage to the rocket, but that's frustrating...
 
5) 9/23/06 - XPRS, 2006.  Launched on D9-7, and discovered that Zip Ties do not work to hold in red-hot engines (they melt).  But I got it back successfully.  The Pico Alt says I went 1315 feet!
 
6) 9/23/06 - XPRS, 2006.  Found the engine, and put in an (old) Aerotech E15-10.  The delay was much longer than that, though.  A late ejection tore the parachute up, but the rocket was unharmed.
 
7) 12/2/06 - Snow Ranch in December - what a beautiful day.  Flew to 650 feet on a D12-5, with a MAWD (and mini battery setup.)  Lost the nosecone, and the altimeter fell the whole way, but there was no damage.  Still beeping on the ground!
 
8) 4/21/07 - TCC Fresno - Flew on an E9-8.  Roared off the pad, and started to waggle, until the payload section pulled off at burnout.  Violently deployed the 'chute, which miraculously stayed together.  Suspect mis-alignment of the payload section, or loose coupler.
 
9) 08/03/07 - Aeronaut - Flew on an E18-10.  Roared off the pad, and got a little squirrely around burnout.  Continued arcing up and over, where it disappeared.  Saw pieces falling, and raced out to recover the rocket without a 'chute!  Or a motor!!!  Missing 24mm.  Dang!!  Couldn't find it.  But the rocket went 1800 ft.
 
10) 10/19/07 - October Skies - Flew on an E15-7.  Ejected right at apogee, and went about 1400 ft.  Separated, and the rear body core-sampled the soft earth.  Rats! 
 
   Got the earth out with a large drill, (and baking on top of the 'fridge.)  Will try this again...
 
11/18/07 - TCC Fresno on a D12-7.  (Replaced all the shock cord with Kevlar) Ejected right at apogee, and recovered without error.  535 ft on the 15K.  7305 on the Pico.
 
1/20/08 - TCC Fresno on an E9-8.  Didn't eject at all, and lawn-darted!  Destroyed the MAWD, heavily damaged the PICO (thrown out), and busted the antenna on the Walston.  Dang!!!
 
3/18/08 - Rebuild is proceeding.  Skipping the extended forward payload.  Primed.
 
06/2/08 - Rebuild is complete.  Prepped with a C6-5.
 
06/18/08 - Re-prepped with a D13-10.  Should shorten that a little...
 
Upscale Cobra - a 3 x 24mm cluster rocket built with the help of BMS.
 
11/20/05 - TCC Fresno - Great flight on 3 x D12-5s!  And, the rocket stuck the landing!
 
05/06/06 - Lunar Snow Ranch - Flew the Cobra on 3 x E9-6's.   Impressive and cool, but it weathercocked alot.  Okay, because it blew back to us!
 
09/24/06 - with Aeropac at XPRS - Flew on 3 x E9-6's.  Great flight!
 
11/19/06 - TCC Fresno Thanksgiving Launch - 3-E9-8's (Thanks Charlie!) - Stately liftoff with acceleration into the clouds, under power. Came back into view, bounce off a car, and onto the dirt road. No damage (probably due to fiberglassed fins.) All 3 engines lit - great flight!  The MAWD says I went to 900 feet.
 
03/03/07 - Lunar at Snow Ranch - Upscale Cobra on 3xE9-8s.  This rocket finally stayed (mostly) vertical, instead of weather-cocking horribly.  As a result, it went really high, and drifted a long way on a (Fortune) de-mil'ed 36" parachute.  Once again, all three motors lit!  Thanks to Kimmee for bringing it back.
 
08/02/07 - with Aeropac at Aeronaut - Flew the Cobra on 3-D12-5's.  Tilted the pad AWAY from the wind, 'cause this thing weathercocks so badly.  It went high!  I chased it down in my car again.  More fun!
 
10/20/07 - October Skies at TCC Fresno - Flew on 3xE9-8.  Great, vertical, flight.  Perfect eject, and slow decent in still air.  And it stuck the landing!!!
 
01/20/08 - TCC Fresno - I flew the Cobra on a 2 D12-0's (that I had plugged with epoxy), and 1 D12-5.  Great spinning flight, but ejection didn't throw the parachute out, just the nose section.  It tumbled for a moment, then settled on a nose-down attitude, and core-sampled.  Dang!  Minor damage, but it'll involve new paint.  Drat.
 
05/16/08 - Dairy Aire at TCC Fresno - Flew the Cobra on 3 D12s (2 plugged D12-0's), and a D12-5 with extra BP.  Nice flight, but too much BP as the nosecone separated.  Thanks to help, I found it!
 
05/31/08 - Newark with friends - Flew the Cobra (again) on 3 D12s (2 plugged D12-0's), and a D12-5 with extra BP.  Nice flight, but the nosecone separated again!  I recovered it with help (thanks Dave C), and improved the friction fit.
 
06/07/08 - Lockheed Young Astronauts - Flew the Cobra (again) on 3 D12s (2 plugged D12-0's), and a D12-5 with extra BP.  Nice flight, but it landed on top of a building!  Someone retrieved it for me.
 

Upscale Astron Cobra
upscale_cobra_reduced.jpg

 

The TCC Special is a 24mm-motor bird based on a BT-80, Fat Boy nosecone, and an image that used to be on the TCC web site.  It's got 8 fins!  And yes, I turned the nose spike on a drill.  It worked!

01/20/08 - Flew the TCC Special for the first time, wearing no color, at TCC.  Flew fine, and took no damage.

05/17/08 - Flew the TCC Special on a D12-5.  Looked great, and flew terrific.  Recovered without error.

05/31/08 - Newark - Flew the TCC Special on another D12-5.  Looked great, and flew terrific.  Recovered without an open parachute - no damage.

06/14/08 - Flew the Special on a D12-5 at Moffett with LUNAR.  No parachute, but no damage, as landed in the weeds.

TCC Special
tcc_special_1_reduced.jpg

Blastoff!
tcc_special_2_reduced.jpg

 

TCC Logo rocket
tcc_logo.jpg