Red Glare is becoming a tradition every fall and spring; it’s really convenient, as away launches go, and it’s a well run event with lots of cool rockets and, more importantly, lots of cool people. I managed to ship two rockets back to Todd before the launch, and put up both on Todd’s propellant. Ryan also got into the action this time with his Infinity. And we had Darren in such good spirits that he almost flew a rocket, too. (Almost being the key word here.) Once again, special thanks to the Wrights for their great hospitality, and to Todd for picking me up from the airport (even if he was just a hair over 2 hours late) and taking me back (and shipping my stuff back!).

Gallery below, after the jump. Read on »

Chris LaPanse (cjl) was kind enough to pass along this sequence of photos taken by his dad, Ray, from the Talon P flight. I’ve never seen this motor in person in anything other than a minimum diameter rocket, so it’s great to have such awesome photo coverage of one of its more “dramatic” flights. Thanks Ray & Chris!

[Show as slideshow]

Several friends e-mailed me links a few months ago to the American Pyro Supply website, where they were having a sale on 200 micron AP for propellant making. Intrigued, I ordered a sample to check out the quality. At $4/lb, I couldn’t afford not to. When it arrived, I noticed that it seemed much finer than the 200 mic I’m used to dealing with from industrial sources. And that led to a bit of poking around with the microscope:

On the left is a small sample of 200 micron AP from ATK; on the right is a small sample of “200 micron” AP from AmPyro. These are representative pictures; as I pushed the slide around under the scope, it became clear that the AmPyro AP is indeed slightly smaller than the virgin industrial stock. How much smaller, I have yet to quantify (and may or may not). I made a few batches of Blue v2 with the AmPyro stuff and fired them at conservative pressures, and it does seem faster than that which I made last year with industrial stock. Other anecdotal reports of near-overpressurizations in well-characterized motors due to the smaller particle size are also making the rounds. Check and adjust accordingly!

Joe, Chris, and Charlie were back again at LDRS this year with the Talon 12, this time on a P motor. (Their novel of a build thread is here on TRF. It’s required reading.) The basic design of the motor is the same one that I worked up for our two stager at USC, and flown again (with different propellant) in the Turbo Encabulator and Del Grande. For effect, we switched back to the purple flame propellant in the Talon, and it looked great under power, as seen in this photo by Ray LaPanse:

Unfortunately, though motor operation was nominal, the rocket shredded just at the end of the burn (as has happened once before with this motor, in another rocket). Full details on the propellant and configuration (and a flight video) are below. Read on »

This weekend, I ran a 480 load of the new blue at a lower pressure (400 psi instead of ~600 like last time). The result:

Aerotech I357

TDK I300

OH YEAH. The one drawback was that this motor was not nearly as loud and generally “nasty” sounding as the higher pressure one. This was down at a Kn of 180, and operation was completely smooth, coming up to pressure and shutting down cleanly. I like this a lot. I have a 54/1050 and two 38/640s of this stuff ready to go next…