Ross Ohmen's Rocketry Obsession
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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 - 2004
My Launches - 2003
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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

Here's what I'm currently working on (big breath):
  1. Repair Wahoo.
  2. Repair H-Bomb.
  3. Repair and complete my small rockets - Roton, Condor, Baka, and others.
  4. Complete the Estes E Interceptor.  Decals and finishing touches.
  5. Build Mod-u-liptical.  Building.
  6. Design and built 5.5" diam version of Estes Omega, powered by 54mm motors.  My first high-power 2-stage bird!
  7. Design and build Estes-class Titan 4B ELINT.  (Flies on 4 24mm motors, with the two strap-ons ejecting at burnout.)
  8. 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.
  9. Replace the Pterodactyl, a 3.9", 54mm rocket.  Starting from scratch, after losing the original at Aeronaut 2006.  
  10. Build the King Blobbo.  Cluster?
  11. Build the 2-stage H-Bomb.

The next launch:  November at TCC - 11/21/09.  Here are my goals for this launch:

  1. Fly the Magnum on a J800 air-starting H97's.
  2. Fly the Ariel on an I566 VMax, with the cameras.  Correct for spin. 
  3. Fly the fixed Der V3 on an F12-5. 
  4. Fly the Wahoo on a J570!!. 
  5. Fly the Tang on a I245.
  6. Fly the F-Bomb on an E23-8.
  7. Fly the Glowworm on an F24-10, then an F39-12.
  8. Fly "Die Alpha, Die!" on a D21, then an E, then an F, then....
  9. Fly the Hornet on a J1299, or K1275!!

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

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