The ZOG-43 The Newsletter of NARHAMS, NAR Section #139. NAR National Champions 2001, 2004
NARHAMS Rocket Tips Teflon tape is to coat it with baby One pompom is usually plenty for Edited by Ed Giugliano, NAR 46086 powder heavily before the first fold/ models in the BT-5 to BT-50 body Here is a rocket recovery tip from John rolling and periodically thereafter to diameters. Two or three can be McCoy. John writes: keep the material from sticking to combined for BT-55 to BT-80 One of the very best tips I have for itself. Even this very thin white models. I use 2 in my Super Vega micro, standard and large model rocket Teflon material will usually outlast model currently. The pompoms and flyers is replacing that expensive tissue the model. streamers are very durable and are or dog barf wadding with either Teflon Teflon streamer tied directly to generally not damaged by the hot plumbers tape or PTFE military grade Kevlar shock lines is the complete ejection gases. Some of the ends may Teflon Tapes. The Teflon can be used recovery system in most of my blacken a bit, but just wipe off this for streamers or to make Teflon Micro-Maxx fleet. For larger models, material. The bigger wear problem permanent wadding pompoms. McMaster-Carr company carry a line comes from stuffing the streamer into Regular old white Teflon plumbers of PTFE Teflon tapes in military the body tube – please be careful as tape is an excellent substitute for 1/2" grade thickness that are also tinted in the thinner streamers can tear easily. to 2" wide streamers. 1/2" and 3/4" yellow, orange and red, these tapes I have several models where, with plumbers tape is commercially are available in widths 1/2" to 2" and proper care, the streamers and available at just about every hardware all come packaged on “43 must be a pompoms have lasted for years. and home improvement center, any sign” yard rolls:) Please see the photos accompanying brand will work. The only trick to using Pompoms are made from the very this article for additional information. inexpensive 1/2" or 3/ Another tip from Ed: 4" white Teflon One of the best things to use on your plumbers tape and workbench is a thick plastic cutting about 12" of 70 to board found in millenary shops. 100lb test Kevlar line. These have one inch gridlines inked Cut a piece of Kevlar on them and greatly assist you in laying it on the table Continued on page 5... top, cut and place 30 - 12" long pieces of FEBRuARy 2005 Teflon tape Vol 27 Issue 2 crisscrossing the Kevlar line at about the Inside this issue: center. Tie an Page 4- overhand knot in the Kit Review: Laser-X Kevlar capturing all Page 6- the Teflon strips. Baby March Moon Madness powder the strips Page 9- before picking the NASA Space Place pom-pom up. Shake Page 11- out the excess powder A Cluster Competition Plan and attach the pompom to the shock AND MORE! cord below the chute. FEBRuARy 2005 Page 1 ZOG-43 ZOG-43 ZOG ROYAL COURT NARHAMS ON THE WEB Volume 27 Number 2 http://www.narhams.org ( NARHAMS OFFICERS ) February 2005 Send and receive E-mail with other ZOG (President) NARHAMS members through NARHAMS Jennifer Ash-Poole ZOG-43 is the official newsletter of Web page grouplist via yahoo-groups. NARHAMS the National Association of 410-674-6262 Rocketry Headquarters Astro Modeling Section # 139 Vice Zog (Vice-President) NARHAMS is the oldest model rocket club Jim Filler in the United States! COLLECTOR OF THE ROYAL ZOG- 43 is dedicated to model rocketeers of all ages, abilities, and interest. We are TAXES (Treasurer) committed to providing the most current, Ed Pearson 301-577-7775 up-to-date information on model and real world rocketry, and to provide educational KEEPER OF THE HOLY WORDS material as well as entertaining information. NARHAMS serves Baltimore, the state of ( Secretary ) ZOG -43 is published monthly and is Md., Washington DC and the surrounding available to anyone on a subscription basis. Metropolitan areas. The club is a section Chris Kidwell 571-434-7507 Current rates are $10 for meeting pickup or of the National Association of Model email or $15 for postal mail U.S. Funds for Rocketry (NAR) and we are the oldest COURT JESTER (Section 12 issues a year, payable to NARHAMS continuously active model rocket club in Advisor) the United States, first established as a high Material in ZOG -43 is not copyrighted. Khim Bittle 301-293-2399 Free and unlimited reproduction is granted school club in 1963, changing our name to with the proper credit to the author and/or NARHAMS when chartered as a NAR ZOG-43. section in 1965. NARHAMS is the only five time winner of the NAR “Section of For more information..... the Year” award. Directions to College Park If you have any questions about ZOG-43 Years won: 1997,1998,1999, 2001, 2004 Airport: or NARHAMS, or if you have any comment(s), correspondence, free NARHAMS members regularly fly their Follow I-495 to Kenilworth Ave. South. merchandise or if you’d like to submit an model rockets at NASA’s Goddard Space Make a right onto Paint Branch Parkway, article, send them to : Flight Center on Soil Conservation Rd. in then make a right on Cpl. Frank S. Scott Greenbelt Md. The launches are open to Dr. At the airport entrance go straight to the ZOG-43, 5269 Rivendell Lane, Apt 5, the public and are held the first Sunday of Operations Building, the annex building is Columbia, Md. 21044 every month (weather permitting), starting adjacent to the “Ops” building. E-Mail ZOG-43 at: at 1 PM. [email protected] Sport Launches are usually held the second ZOG-43 is edited by Kevin Johnson, and is Saturday of every month at Middletown an eight-time winner of the NAR/LAC Recreation Park in Middletown Md. Check “Rockwell” Trophy, recognized as the best the web page for updates. NAR section newsletter. NARHAMS welcomes all prospective new members to our monthly meetings. They are Years won: 1969, 1973, 1975, 1990, 1991, held on the first Saturday of the month from 1992, 2003, & 2004 5:30 to 9:30 PM at the College Park Airport Zog-43 staff typist is none other than Annex Building. Dues are 10 cents a week, Jennifer Ash-Poole a.k.a. Secretary to the with an initial 50 cents up front (good for 5 Stars ! weeks) as a sign of good faith. Photographs: by Kevin Johnson, except NEW: Monthly meetings available on-line where noted. via chat-room , simply go to the NARHAMS homepage and click on the ZOG-43 is produced on a Compaq Evo PC link. with a Pentium 4 processor using Adobe PageMaker. Masters are printed on a Canon ImageRunner 5000 copier/printer. This Edition: 35 copies
ZOG-43 FEBRuARy 2005 Page 2 A Valentine’s President RAMTEC-12 at Great Meadow Message By Glenn Feveryear, NAR 24931 Hello fellow rocketeers, this is the official announcement that RAMTEC- Even though it’s still winter, and only 12 will be held April 2 & 3, 2005 at Great Meadows, The Plains, VA. The the second month of the year, there NOVAAR section made provisions for SPAAR to take the RAMTEC road are a lot of things going on in the show to their field. All of the information you should need is available at club in the next few months. We have www.spaar.org/ramtec, including directions and a registration form. a new cadet program starting, our Time is short, please pass this information along to as many sections and 40th Anniversary to celebrate, contest flyers as you think would be interested. This will be a big departure several contests, and a tour! from the normal scheduled dates for RAMTEC. We need to get the word If you have ever wanted to help with out. a building session, but weren’t sure Events are: D Dual Egglofting Altitude, D Helicopter Duration, B Rocket how to do it, come to the cadet Glider Duration, 1/4A Parachute Duration. building session at the airport. If you have any questions, please contact me via email at Helping about 20 kids build a [email protected] or by phone at 717-456-5570. rocket is a learning experience. This Looking forward to see all of you this spring. is completely different from having ! several kids build one rocket, or only having a few kids build them. Accessorize Your Car the Rocketry Way We have also been asked to help the Step 1. Tie these balloons to your car Step 2. Drive like mad .. hit 100 mph 4-H Flying Tigers with a field in Step 3. Watch people freak out. Step 4. Tell the Highway Patrol you thought Montgomery County. In they were real. Montgomery County, it is illegal to ! fly a rocket. Joe Shepis, a 4-H leader, has asked MARHAMS to help with a letter writing campaign. If you get the NARHAMS yahoo group e-mail, you will have seen Joe’s plea and his link. Take a moment and look at the 4-H Flying Tigers page: www.4h-flyingtigers.us and click on the For Parents link. If you live in Maryland, help out a fellow club, and see if we can get them permission to fly in a Maryland Park. So look at your calendar, and plan some rockets. Zog Bubbles ! FREDERICK, MARYLAND 1305 W. 7th Street Frederick, MD 21702 Phone: 301-694-7395 Fax: 301-694-7394
Show your NARHAMS membership card and receive a 20% discount off rocket kits, motors, and building supplies!! FEBRuARy 2005 Page 3 ZOG-43 Kit Review: Laser-X The service from Semroc is I took the club retrieval pole into excellent; I ordered on line and the brush to get up close to the Semroc Astronautics received my package in the mail a offending tree and was able to get By: Jim Filler NAR #27862 few days later. The kit came in a the hook end over the elastic and Semroc Astronautics is a new “old” nice box with colorful artwork and Kevlar cord. After several yanks I company located in North Carolina. good packaging to protect the parts got my nicely finished model back The information on their website within. Looking at all the parts, it from the trees tore up, in pieces and www.semroc.com states that the is very clear that all the parts are of damaged quite severely. origins of the company started in very good quality. The enclosed Feeling a bit disturbed, I rounded November 1967 and after a 31 year directions are written and up all the parts from under the tree, “quiet phase”, Semroc now qualifies diagrammed very well. The kit is proceeded back to my prep area and as a B.A.R.M. (Born-Again-Rocket- reproduced as the original kit was, glued everything back together with Manufacturer) with a balsa nosecone, and a paper some CA a la scale model repair at I ordered the Laser-X, a “retro repro” transition between the two body a contest. Then it hit me……… kit for only $11.50 postage paid. The tube sections. The only items that what am I doing? I’ll just build Laser-X was originally introduced by are really different from the another one. Centuri in 1968. The futuristic styling original kit are the decals, and the When the Laser-X comes up on the of that era produced many kits that are upgraded shock cord using Kevlar build list again, I’ll make a few still revered by many as the classic era and elastic. changes. First I think I will use a of model rocketry. The build was actually straight balsa transition, and I will use bass forward; the amount of balsa to be wood for all the fin area to help with finished requires a lot of work. I decreasing finish sanding and time. personally do not care for the paper Last but not least, I’ll fly with a transition, but opted to use it larger motor and stay away from anyway. After the construction was them darned trees! completed and the sanding and Overall, I recommend the Semroc filling were where I wanted them, kit. The parts and instructions are I decided to paint my model gloss done very well. This particular white and add the colorful decals model is a sharp looking model in no particular location as directed when completed, and it does fly very in the instructions. I would like to well.! compliment Semroc on the quality of the decals that they provide. They were very easy to work with and I had no instances of the decals tearing under the normal adjustments made sliding decals around to a good alignment. The scheduled sport launch for NARHAMS last September would be a chance for a first flight. I prepped my Laser-X with an A8-3 for a nice first flight. Wouldn’t you know it, the famous Middletown breeze grabbed my rocket after a very nice flight profile and deposited the model right into the The Laser-X awaiting its maiden flight. rocket eating trees? First Flight! Photo by Jim Filler Ughhh…… as Charlie Brown would say. ZOG-43 FEBRuARy 2005 Page 4 2005 Top Ten NAR Contest Points NAME NAR# SEC# PTS WF C Div Standings Bruce Markielewski 38377 482 2961 6 As of January 3, 2005 Russ Anthony 81741 482 2550 6 Contact Tom Lyon
More pictures from the January sport launch- L to R Richard Hickok’s Fast Burning Menorah, Rob Edmonds’ AcroShark, and Kevin Johnson preps an Honest John. Photos by Kevin Johnson and John McCoy. FEBRuARy 2005 Page 5 ZOG-43 The March Astrobulletin 1846. Albert Einstein called Galileo “the – Moon Madness father of modern By Paul Miller, NAR 51615 physics – indeed of As winter “marches” to the end modern science this month, our heating bills have altogether.” eclipsed all totals from previous Since Galileo’s years. So much for global warming, Moon looks just like little Zogmeisters! Did you know the one I’ve been that the highest recorded March talking to for the last temp in the NARHAMS region was 60 years, I’m making 93°F on the 23rd in 1907? On March it my telescopic target 15th, 1993 thermometers climbed all this spring. The the way to 15°F! The astronomical Moon was my spring equinox finally arrives nighttime companion Sunday the 20th of March at 7:34a.m. from my crib in the EST. Let’s SPRING our bodies ahead early 40’s. I continue and welcome the warmth of the Sun to share lunar climbing the sky a little higher each observations with day. students in the spring, summer and wroks, Diana Brueton’s Many Moons I’ve just read Dava Sobel’s fall, but I seldom talk to it now. The (ISBN-0-13-553322-X) is my Galileo’s Daughter. What a brilliant Full “Worm” Moon for March arrives personal favorite, blending lunar fact scientist, and thanks to an adoring on the 25th, a.k.a. Good Friday. It’s and fiction with an historical and ingenious daughter, we know tough to see stellar and lunar stuff perspective. The Farmers Almanac about their remarkable relationship. during a Full Moon, so it’s best to look presents lots of lunar material as well. Sobel’s tome Longitude was equally at other times. Finally, the terrific website at http:// compelling. Galileo’s 1609 Moon Rand McNally and National skyandtelescope.com gives the sky drawings are awesome. His 1610 Geographic made the best lunar maps for every night of the year. log of observations of Jupiter and its I’ve seen. Orion makes quality, Some basic lunar stuff might “Galilean” moons are amazing. His inexpensive Moon filters for your improve your understanding of out records of January 1613 reveal that telescope that reduce glare and heavenly neighbor. The Moon has a he probably observed Neptune as it improve contrast. Universe slow wobble in its rotation called passed in close proximity to Jupiter! Publishing provides a glow-in-the- libration which partially allows us to This was merely 223 years prior to dark calendar called The Lunar Year. see up to 59% of its surface over its formal “official” discovery in Affordable guides for the Moon time. This also means that we won’t include Peter Grego’s see the exact same face from month Moon Observers to month. One month, or moonth, is Guide (ISBN-1- about 29 ¼ days in length. In other 55297-888-5) and words, it takes that many days for the Michael Kitt’s The Moon to return to the same phase. Moon – An observing Using the Full “Worm” Moon of guide for backyard March 25th as an example, the next telescopes (ISBN -0- Full “Pink” Moon will occur on April 913135-09-7). The 24th. NASA information The Moons albedo, or reflected booklets for the light from the Sun and Earth, also Apollo lunar determines our ability to make lunar missions also prove observations. The Moon reflects interesting. Of the about 7% of the light falling on it, many popular Moon which turns out to be ultrabright. ZOG-43 FEBRuARy 2005 Page 6 Albedo makes features like the Calendar of Events for 2005 Jun 11- 10 am - 4 pm Sport launch, cluster/ dark maria and bright lunar rays staging theme Feb 5- 10 am - noon Cadet building session Jul 2- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, open difficult to see with the Full Moon. College Park Aviation Museum building session, focus on staging Spotting craters and other Feb 5- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, A Jul 3- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch landmarks are next to impossible Cluster Altitude (John McCoy) Jul 9- 10 am - 4 pm Sport launch, airborne at this time. Observations seem Feb 6- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch trooper spot landing, special prize for 40 best when the lunar terrain is Feb 12- 12 - 4 pm Sport launch, Red Rocket troopers deployed Day Jul 10- 12 - 4 pm Goddard building session, placed into high relief by low- Feb 26- 1 - 5 pm Udvar-Hazy Tour Dulles, open to public, tie in to Goddard Contest angled sunlight. Try to target your VA Jul 17- 10 am - 4 pm Goddard contest telescope within 15° of the lunar Mar 5- 10 am - noon Cadet building session Jul 30 - Aug 5 24/7 NARAM-47 OH terminator, the line that separates College Park Aviation Museum Aug 6- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, pirates its night and day. Since the Mar 5- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, 40th discussion (Alan Williams) anniversary party Aug 7- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch terminator moves about 12° each Mar 6- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch Aug 13- 10 am - 4 pm Sport launch, pirate night, successive evenings may Mar 12- 10 am - 4 pm KATE-3 section meet theme reveal new features in sharp Apr 2- 10 am - noon Cadet building session Sep 3- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, contrast when our atmospheric College Park Aviation Museum elections, night launch discussion (John conditions permit. Apr 2- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, 1/8A McCoy) techniques (John McCoy) Sep 4- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch I use a 12mm Plössel eyepiece Apr 3- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch Sep 10- 10 am - 10 pm Record trial, FAI to view major lunar features. I Apr 16-17- 9 am - 4 pm ECRM-32 regional S6A (A SD), night launch make certain that the telescope is meet Sep 25- 12 - 4 pm AIAA Picnic Launch rock-solid on an equatorial mount Apr 24- 12 - 4 pm Rockville Consortium Oct 1- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, leftover with a clock drive and has been of Sciences Rockville, MD parts scratch building (Jim Miers) May 1- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch Oct 2- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch cooled down to ambient May 7- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, Oct 8- 10 am - 4 pm Sport launch, temperatures. My Orion NARAM models (Chris Kidwell) Oktoberfest theme, microbrew launch polarizing filter tones down the May 14- 10 am - 10 pm OPOSSUM-9 open Nov 5- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, glider brightness of the Moon. It screws meet/ night launch building session (Robert Edmonds) into the bottom of the eyepiece. I May 21- 8 am - 5 pm TARC Flyoffs Great Nov 6- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch Meadow, VA Nov 12- 10 am - 4 pm OPOSSUM-10 have considered buying a zoom May 28-30- Balticon-39 Baltimore, MD Dec 3- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, holiday eyepiece, but a quality one is Jun 4- 5 - 10 pm Monthly meeting, party expensive and I’m saving for HP fiberglass tubing (Mark Petrovich) Dec 4- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch rocket motors. I guess I’m more Jun 5- 1 - 2 pm Goddard Public Launch Dec 10- 10 am - 4 pm Sport launch than just a lunatic! Atmospheric turbulence can play havoc with Moon watching. My first astronomy prof. called it schlieren-heat waves refracting light and making a visual experience just plain miserable. I Sport launches are held at Middletown Park from 10am-4pm, waiver up attempt to avoid parking lots, to 3.3 lbs and “G” motors not exceeding 62.5 grams of propellant. All buildings, and any other heat- flights “E” power and above are restricted to 5 degrees from vertical and radiating surface or object. I try between the hours of noon and four PM. Call ahead to confirm launch to make lunar observations over and waiver availability. trees, shrubs or meadows Business meetings are held at the College Park Airport Annex Building. whenever possible. I usually wait Meetings begin at 5pm with building sessions or presentations and last until the moon is at least 45° above until 10:00pm or so. the horizon, thereby avoiding a Questions? Call Club President Jennifer Ash-Poole at 410-674-6262 or thicker atmosphere. visit NARHAMS online at http://www.narhams.org The First Quarter Moon will be found in Taurus to Gemini and will achieve it’s highest elevation for FEBRuARy 2005 Page 7 ZOG-43 March. Looking high toward the • NASA Lunar Exploration- south around 8p.m. on March 18-19, nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/Apollo_25th.html the Moon cam be seen in Gemini • The Lunar Observer- with Saturn just below Pollux. users.adelphia.net/~dembowski Mercury reaches its greatest • Lunar lore and myth- elongation on March 12th. It will be www.almanac.com (click on Almanac Links 2005) near the edge of its orbit, farthest from the Sun, just as its orbit slants “We will… gain a new foothold on the Moon and… prepare for new journeys upward from the horizon at its to the worlds beyond our own.” greatest angle. Attempt to spot - George W. Bush, 43rd US President, 1/14/2004! Mercury 30 to 45 minutes after sunset, low in the west from February 27 to March 22. Even if you aren’t a Moon Child (born under Cancer), check out the Moon in March. Just follow this sequence for study or merely a quick glance: Last Quarter Moon: March 3 New Moon: March 10 First Quarter Moon: March 17 (No, the Moon isn’t GREEN.) The January sport launch. Photo by John McCoy Full Moon: March 25 Will you see the Man in the Moon, Rocket Tips, from page 1 the Lady in the Moon, or a Rabbit getting proper 90° angles when assembling a model. Some are marked with [or the Moon poodle, according to arcs and radials which is helpful when fabricating parachutes and flex wing Peter Alway – kj] ? Will your eyes boost gliders. The edge usually has a 1/8” ruler, so you are never in need of meet Plato, Copernicus, or a Rabbit? a ruler when cutting tubes and fins. Lastly, the thick plastic will protect your Or is it still too cold to go outside work surface when cutting material. They are a little pricey but they last and commune with the Moon? You practically forever and are worth the money. may opt to stay inside and spend John McCoy informs me that he uses the cardboard backs from 8 ½” X 11” some time at these websites: pads as “portable” disposable cutting boards. This cardboard stock is also • The American Lunar Society- useful in cutting centering rings.! www.otterdad.dynip.com/als • Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO)- www.lpl.arizona.edu/alpo • Chuck Taylor’s lunar Observing Group on Yahoo-groups.yahoo.com/ group/lunar-observing • Consolidated Lunar Atlas- www.lpi.usra.edu/research/cla • Digital Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon- www.lpi.usra.edu/research/lunar- orbiter • The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI)- www.lpi.usra.edu
ZOG-43 FEBRuARy 2005 Page 8 Stardust Up Close Soon, the Stardust team will get by Patrick L. Barry their hands on some of that material. and Dr. Tony Phillips In January 2006, a capsule from Like discarded lumber and broken Stardust will parachute down to Earth bricks around a construction site, carrying samples of comet dust comets scattered at the edge of our captured during the flyby. Once solar system are left-over bits from scientists get these tiny grains under the “construction” of our solar their microscopes, they’ll get their system. first glimpse at the primordial Studying comets, then, can help makings of the solar system. scientists understand how our solar It’s heading our way: ancient, hard- system formed, and how it gave rise won, possibly surprising and to a life-bearing planet like Earth. definitely precious dust from the But comets have long been construction zone. frustratingly out of reach — until Find out more about the Stardust recently. In January 2004 NASA’s mission at stardust.jpl.nasa.gov. Stardust probe made a fly-by of the Kids can read about comets, play the comet Wild 2 (pronounced “vilt”). “Tails of Wonder” game about comets, and hear a rhyming story This fly-by captured some of the best The Stardust spacecraft used a grid about aerogel at http:// images and data on comets yet ... and holding aerogel to capture dust the most surprising. particles from comet Wild 2. In this spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/ Scientists had thought that comets test, high velocity dust particles are stardust/. ! were basically “rubble piles” of ice stopped unharmed at the end of cone and dust — leftover “construction shaped tracks in a sample of aerogel materials” held together by the University of Washington, principal comet’s feeble gravity. But that’s not investigator for Stardust. what Stardust found. Photos of Wild Scientists are currently assembling 2 reveal a bizarre landscape of odd- a 3-D computer model of this surface shaped craters, tall cliffs, and from the photos that Stardust took. overhangs. The comet looks like an Those photos show the sunlit side of alien world in miniature, not the comet from many angles, so its construction debris. To support these 3-dimensional shape can be inferred shapes against the pull of gravity, the by analyzing the images. The result comet must have a different will be a “virtual comet” that consistency than scientists thought: scientists can examine from any “Now we think the comet’s surface angle. They can even perform a might have a texture like freeze-dried virtual fly-by. Using this 3-D model This article was provided by the Jet ice cream, so-called ‘astronaut ice to study the comet’s shape in detail, Propulsion Laboratory, California cream’: It’s solid and can assume the scientists will learn a lot about Institute of Technology, under a odd, gravity-defying shapes, but it’s the material from which the comet contract with the National basically soft and crumbles easily,” is made: how strong or dense or Aeronautics and Space says Donald Brownlee of the brittle it is, for example. Administration. FEBRuARy 2005 Page 9 ZOG-43 Entry Level Hybrid is suitable for any hybrid motor. Complete descriptions and System Available documentation of the Minitanker and Pratt Hobbies isproud to announce RTLS systems are available on the a new product in their line of ground Pratt Hobbies web site. support equipment for rocket The Minitanker Combo is available modelers: the Minitanker Combo. for immediate shipment from the The Minitanker Combo is a Pratt package designed to help modelers Hobbies catalog web site, start using smaller hybrid rocket www.pratthobbies.com. Mastercard motors (in the G and H range) as and Visa are accepted on the secure economically as possible. The shopping cart. package includes a 5-pound tank for commercially-available hobby rocket Pratt Hobbies is a small liquid N2O, a custom-manufactured motors, solid or hybrid.” manufacturer of kits and accessories solenoid valve, and fittings to attach “However, as hybrid motor for rocket hobbyists. Now in its tenth to all commercially-available technology has matured, smaller year, Pratt Hobbies is known for floating-injector hybrid rocket motors have come on the market. I being motors. The Minitanker Combo is am very excited about the new 29mm the first to offer braided Kevlar® priced at $195.00. G and H motors coming soon from shock cords, Nomex® heat shields, Floating-injector hybrid motors use Sky Ripper Systems, and the RATT and other unique and innovative a nylon hose to fill the motor with Works H70 remains our best selling products. Doug Pratt is the author of N2O, and a small pyrotechnic igniter hybrid motor. That inspired me to nine hobby books, including “Basics to preheat the combustion chamber think about a ‘minimalist’ ground of Model Rocketry,” and is currently and release the N2O by cutting the support system, something that would writing a new book tentatively hose. Popular motors of this type make it easier and cheaper for folks titled, “Hybrid Rocket Motor are made by RATT Works, Sky to start flying these small hybrids,” Operations Manual.” He plans to Ripper Systems, Propulsion said Pratt. publish it along with revised editions Polymers and West Coast Hybrids. If your club has a multi-pad 12 volt of some of his earlier books through The Minitanker Combo is easily launch system, or you have two a new publishing company, Robin connected to any typical club launch standard launch systems of your own, Hill Press. system that provides at least two the Minitanker Combo is all you need For more information, see the web circuits of 12 volts for ignition of to start flying G and H hybrids. The 5 site at www.pratthobbies.com, or conventional motors. One of the pound supply tank is adequate for 6- send email inquiries to circuits controls the Minitanker 8 flights of an H motor, depending on [email protected].! solenoid valve, allowing the motor conditions. The solenoid valve is to be filled. The other circuit attaches custom manufactured to Pratt to the motor’s igniter and functions Hobbies specifications and is exactly as it would with a guaranteed for life. Fittings are conventional solid fuel motor. included to connect to all floating- “Hybrid motors have grown in injector hybrids in the G-H range Pratt Hobbies is proud to an- popularity over the last few years,” currently on the market. nounce that we are now a QUEST said Doug Pratt, owner of Pratt The Minitanker is not suitable for dealer! Contact us for all your
Hobbies. “Our Modular RTLS Quest and MicroMaxx products.
○○○○○○○○○○○ motors that are larger than H, because ○○○○○○○○○○○ (Remote Tanking and Launching there is no “dump” valve to vent the ASP MicroMaxx kits now in System) ground support system has tank in the event of a misfire. When stock! sold very well. The RTLS you decide to upgrade to bigger NARHAMS members get special incorporates its own battery and
motors, you can trade in the brother-in-law discounts!! ○○○○○○○○○○○ electrical control system, and is an Minitanker valve assembly toward the ○○○○○○○○○○○ outstanding value because it is the cost of an RTLS-M2 system, which www.pratthobbies.com only system that will fill and fire all ZOG-43 FEBRuARy 2005 Page 10 4xA cluster Altitude: 13mmods P - 18mm co Design-a: Partsull F Size - model view 1”=3” scale 01-05-05
Note:
1/4” vent hole PNC-18a x 2.25” .736” NOT required if flying A10-PT
Scale 1” = 3”
FEBRuARy 2005 Page 11 ZOG-43
Y Y ONL ONL Y ONL NAR Section Newsletter Published Monthly! Published Newsletter Section NAR The ZOG-43, Y Y ONL ONL
deadline is FEBRUARY 28! FEBRUARY is deadline
Next Issue’s submission Issue’s Next
March 6th March
Visitor’s Center Visitor’s
Goddard Space Flight Center Flight Space Goddard
PUBLIC LAUNCH PUBLIC
Feb 12th Feb
10:00AM-4:00PM
Middletown Park Middletown
Red Rocket Theme Rocket Red
SPORT LAUNCH SPORT
Feb 6th Feb
Visitor’s Center Visitor’s
Goddard Space Flight Center Flight Space Goddard
PUBLIC LAUNCH PUBLIC
Launch Schedule Launch
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND 21044 MARYLAND COLUMBIA,
5269 Rivendell Lane, Apt 5 Apt Lane, Rivendell 5269 ZOG - FORTY THREE FORTY - ZOG
ZOG-43 FEBRuARy 2005 Page 12