Ross Ohmen's Rocketry Obsession
Home
Model Rocketry History
The 99K Project
98mm Project - Level 3
54 mm Projects
38 mm Projects
29 mm Projects
24 mm Projects
13 - 18 mm Projects
My Launches - 2009
My Launches - 2008
My Launches - 2007
My Launches - 2006
My Launches - 2005
My Launches - 2003-2004
Related Links
Contact Me

Welcome graphic

I started off playing with rockets in junior high school, but sold all my gear for $30 in the middle of 8th grade.

I've spent a heck of a lot more than that since then.

My current status on the hobby is: Tripoli Level 3.

My first trip to the Black Rock Desert in June of 2003 with Aeropac went very well. I flew 17 flights - the biggest being my PML (Public Missiles Limited) Io on a G80 engine. I was hooked.

I went again in September, with hopes of getting my Levels 1&2 certificates. (Level 1 is H & I engines, Level 2 is J, K, and L engines.) I took with me a modified PML Ariel (fiberglassed fins), and big $$ for more engines. I got both Certificates, getting my Level 1 with an Aerotech H128, and the Level 2 with a Cesaroni 5 grain, and a 100% on the written exam. I got over 4200 feet on my altimeter!

Level 1 Flight at XPRS - Black Rock - Sept 2003
cert1_flight.jpg

 
Eventually I built a 4" minimum diameter rocket to fly for my Level 3 attempt.  The first try failed when a shock cord untied, but my second try in August of 2006 was successful!  The Enterprise 98 went to 17,000 feet, on an M2400 Blue Thunder motor, and recovered without damage.

Enterprise 98 on M2400 at Black Rock. Level 3!
enterprise_98_at_aeronaut_2006_on_m2400_2nd_shot.jpg

My Small Rockets Collection
080517_my_collection.jpg
L-R: Bottle Rocket, F-Bomb, Fat Boy, TCC, D-Dart, Big Daddy, V2, Cee-Ya, Baka, and others

090501_ross_in_extreme_rocketry_with_bottle_rockett.jpg
In the May 2009 issue of Extreme Rocketry!

5/6/09 - Holy cow!  I'm getting famous!
 
Last month, I had a small picture in Extreme Rocketry - me and my small rockets collection, at XPRS 2008.
 
This month, (May 2009), I have a full-page picture of me with the Bottle Rocket in the Featured Projects page of Extreme Rocketry!!!

Here's what I'm currently working on (big breath):
  1. Finish the Pulsar - electronics bay.
  2. Repair the Magnum.  Repair paint chips.  
  3. Finish the Super Crayon - Mount the fin can.
  4. Repair the 54mm "Arrow" minimum diameter - Replace the electronics tray, and fly the Black Sky Electronics.
  5. Repair and complete my small rockets - Roton, Condor, and many others.
  6. Repair big HoJo - jacked loose fins.
  7. Complete the Estes E Interceptor.
  8. Design and built 5.5" diam version of Estes Omega, powered by 54mm motors.  My first high-power 2-stage bird!
  9. Design and build Estes-class Titan 4B ELINT.  (Flies on 4 24mm motors, with the two strap-ons ejecting at burnout.)
  10. Build the "Flasher" - Next of four in a series of 38mm "Thunderbolt 38".  This one is a f/g body, f/g fin dual-deploy (eventual upper stage).  Still being designed.
  11. Replace the Pterodactyl, a 3.9", 54mm rocket.  Starting from scratch, after losing the original at Aeronaut 2006.  Load with movie camera(s).  

Upcoming Launch:  Aeronaut,  7/31-8/2.  Here are my goals for this launch:

  1. Foremost, fly 99K.
  2. Fly the H-Bomb on a 3-grain "H", then a 6-grain H300, then  an I200!. 
  3. Fly the F-Bomb on an F40-10. If it survives that...<hehehe>
  4. Fly the Wahoo on a J420, then a J825!!. 
  5. Fly the Pulsar on a J275. 
  6. Fly the Tang on an I49.
  7. Fly the Big Daddy on an F20-7.
  8. Fly the (Red) Crayon on a G71R
  9. Fly the Glowworm on an E18-7, then an F24-10.
  10. Fly the Ariel at night on a Cesaroni sparky 3-grain (again).
  11. Fly the Ariel at night on a J90!!
  12. Fly the Io at night on a G76, or sparky "G".
  13. Fly the Enterprise 98 on a 3-grain M1845.
  14. Fly the Magnum on a K550 air-starting H97's.

 * - Subject to high-altitude/weather/wind conditions. 

Last updated on