January 12th launch is on!

Brave the cold and come on out to the Michigan International Speedway on January 12th and heat up the sky!  We'll be at our usual spot at the Graves campground site from 10:00am to 5:00pm.

JMRC Holiday party is set for December 2nd

We will be having are annual business meeting/holiday party on Sunday, December 2 from noon until 5:00pm. We will once again be at the Grotto Club located at 102 East Washington Ave in Jackson. Cost is $5 per person if you bring a dish to pass or $10 per person if you don't bring any dishes. Kids are free! And if you can please bring an item to be raffled or auctioned off.

December 1st launch at MIS is on!

We will be launching at the Michigan International Speedway on December 1st. So don't be afraid of the cooler weather, put on a coat and come on out!

July 21st launch in Manchester is on

We are go for a launch at Manchester on Saturday July 21st at our Manchester field 10am - 5pm. We are going to be taking excessive precautions though since the area is still very dry.

No Sparky motors will be allowed, and no heads up flights either (Including Estes style rockets). Only proven rocket motor combinations that will not stretch the capability of the field. In addition to all of this we will need everyone being very perceptive of any potential fire situation and act accordingly to mitigate the risk.

We will need everyone there to perform informal RSO duties to help us prevent any flights that could pose a hazard.

Thanks for everyone's help and we will have a safe and fun event.

-JMRC BOD

JMRC 23 June 2012 Launch Report

By Buzz Nau

June launch was held at Horning Field near Manchester, MI. The

hay had been recently cut, though the dry condition we have been

suffering through has made the ground harder than usual. As expected,

the great weather brought out many flyers and their families. The

temps were in the low 80’s and there was a light breeze for most of

the day.

Let’s thank our onsite vendors, Jay Calvert from Impulse Buys and

Scott Miller from Miller Motor Works for supplying us with motors,

ignitors, and plenty of other assistance in getting our flights off.

They are a huge part of why our launches are so successful. Also a big

thanks to Pinky and Emma Sadowsky for running the JMRC Café. The food

is great as well as the service and atmosphere.

Ron Watkins was in attendance and flew many of his kits that are some

of the nicest looking rockets you will ever see. Ron does a great job

finishing his rockets which always look like they’re right out of a

catalog.

Jeff and JoAnn Drongowski and their daughter Katie came out with a new

puppy, Athena. Jeff had nice flights with a PML BullPup and PML Matrix

on H242’s. Jeff also flew a LOC Vulcanite on a F59-5 and an awesome

looking QModeling Mars Snooper II on a E18-5. Katie flew several

rockets including a couple of “love interests” with mixed results of

course.

It was great to see Carl and Steve Wagner. Andy and Suzanne Tomasch

from HUVARS showed up as well. Andy flew his LOC Starburst for a nice

flight. We also had some new members show up for the first time as

well as Roger & Ruth Coates, a long JMRC members who put in some nice

flights as well.

Dale Hodgson put in four flights that all went well. A 5.5” Fatboy on

a CTI H100 Imax, the Lil’ Screamer on a Loki H160 Blue Streak, a 5.5”

Mosquito on a Loki I430 Blue Streak, and his 4” Mad Dog on a Loki

J528. The after flight inspection found a belled motor casing at the

forward closure. Scott suspects a motor grain issue. Dale’s highlight

of the day was having his son, daughter, and son-in-law come out to

watch his flights.

Tom Kurecka put in six flights that were all entertaining. Tom

constantly pushes the edge with his flights and is one of the handful

of fliers you always watch when one of his flights is announced. First

was an Arcas on a long burn CTI G54 Red Line. There was no chute

deployment, but it landed in a low wet area and suffered no damage.

His Sea Wolf on a J270 Green drag separated at 340mph after motor

burnout which caused a couple of tube zippers. Flight three was an

Aerotech Astrobee D on a H399 White to 1,741’. Flight four, the Sun

Seeker on a H255 Blue was another good launch and recovery.  Next was

the “Stealth” on a J280 Smokey Sam to 1,548’. Last was a scale Nike

Smoke on a G131 Smokey Sam that damaged two fins when the chute failed

to deploy.

The “Man of Leisure” Tony Haga put in a few interesting flights. Tony

describes his highlight flight, “My rocket, called "Over the Rainbow"

because of an awesome multi-color paint job is really a PML Endeavour

kit modified for dual deployment. On board were two ARTS altimeters, a

Big Red Bee tracker (just to make sure I wouldn't need it) and a key

chain camera. The motor was a Cessaroni J285. The up part was great

and the parachute deployed right on queue at 400' but despite my best

efforts to ensure a straight flight, the rocket arched over to the

west and landed behind the trees in what looked to be a grassy field.

But once we worked our way through the trees we found out that the

grassy field was really an algae covered pond!  Good thing PML Quantum

tube floats. A quick trip over to Buzz's barn for a fishing pole and

some skillful casting by Scott and we were able to hook that whopper

and haul it back in. Although full of water and covered in algae,

"Over the Rainbow looked none the worse for wear. At home, the

altimeters, tracker and camera were all taken apart, scrubbed off with

a toothbrush and left to dry out. Amazingly all the electronics seem

to have recovered. Unfortunately, I neglected to clear the old files

on the camera's memory chip and it didn't have enough space left to

record the whole flight so no splash down, just the up part. So, after

a nice bath "Over the Rainbow" will be back to fly again.”

Tony also flew his fine looking Interceptor E on an E18-4 and 40 year

old original Interceptor on a C6-5.

Jim Fustini had several nice flights including his Orange Crush on a

CTI H140 and Alarm on an AT I218 Redline. The Alarm is one of my

favorite rockets of Jim’s. I’m always amazed he flies that on an I

motor to apogee deploy and gets it back every time.

Chris Palmer flew several rockets including his Spike on a F50-9 and

Nike Ajax on a H123, both were great flights. He flew his PML

Pterodactyl on a I218 Redline for one of the more interesting cato’s

that turned the rocket into a roman candle. Chris also wants to thank

Jeff and family for allowing him the puppy therapy. Nothing like a new

puppy licking your face. What a sweetie.

Chris would have had “cato of the day” honors had it not been for one

of my flights. My first flight was a Mad Cow Honest John on a CTI G150

Blue Streak. Great flight and fun model to fly. Next was my 4”

Marauder upscale on a Loki J528. I had flown this rocket motor combo

before, but this time the motor let go at around 500-600’. The entire

lower section of the rocket disintegrated in a flash. The on board

camera, MOL chute, and ARTS board survived, but the rest is a total

loss. The motor casing was sheered off at the forward closure snap

ring line. The aft end of the case was belled out as well. After that

I flew my U of M Mini Magg on a Loki H160 and Big Blue Bird Zero on a

Loki I110. The I110 deployed early, but the Blue Bird suffered just a

small zipper. I also got in a handful of low power flights.

After the launch many of us wandered over to our house for a cookout

and some relaxing. Roger and Grace Wilfong from HUVARS attended and it

was great getting caught with them. All of the food brought to pass

around was amazingly great. Thanks to everyone that brought something

to share. I also want to thank Melanie for making several dishes and

pressing out all the burgers. After chow it was time to start the fire

pit with camper’s secret weapon, the weed dragon. In less than 30

seconds we had a nice roaring fire.  Thanks again to everyone who

attended. Melanie and I really enjoy hosting these bbq’s and hope

everyone has as much fun as we do.

JMRC Meeting/Party

There is certainly something to be said for having a great membership. The past couple years have been rough for the club in a few different ways; the membership dropped, launch attendence went down, and weather and field access certainly didn't help matters.

This past year we tried to make a big effort to do what we have to do to pay off the loan on our trailer... not an easy task when low turn out launch days we lose money. However, there were a couple of plans that saw fruition including the Maker's Faire which brough in a few hundred dollars towards our (PTO) Pay the Trailer Off fund. The second plan was a 3" Carbon Fiber rocket kit donated by Terry Leright which we sold 40 tickets at $25 a piece for a nice donation of $1,000 to the PTO fund.

This afternoon we had all 40 tickets sold and held the official raffle with Bob Dickinson being the lucky winner. Bob is our treasurer and gets to see first hand what our income and expenses are... after some quick calculations he figured we were $400 short of paying off the trailer completely. Bob immediately made an announcement that he would sell the kit right now for $400 so we can start the next year debt free:

Chris Palmer stepped up to that role and covered the last of our debt. A huge thanks goes out to Terry for making the extremely generous donation and Bob Dickinson for turning it right around so the kit pulled in $1400!!!

Needless to say, our Party/Meeting probably had one of the lower turn outs that I can remember for many years, but thanks to countless donations and generous members that bought raffle tickets and even bought auctioned items (some above retail prices) it turned out to be a great close of the business year for our club.

Thanks to everyone that helped us get to where we are, and hopefully next year will bring some more pleasant surprises for everyone.

-Scott

JMRC MMAR Joint Launch Report - July, 9, 10 2011

On July 9th and 10th JMRC and MMAR co-hosted a launch at the MMAR
field near Muskegon, MI. The field is adjacent to a water treatment
center with a large "lake" south of the field. The wind was primarily
from the South-South West ensuring that we all were aware the
treatment lake was nearby. The main launch field is an area of old
spill over ponds with many hay fields nearby and a thin line of pines
directly north of the site. The weather for both days was hot with it
considerably more humid and windy on Sunday. Regardless, the skies
remained rain-free and a lot of rockets were flown. People traveled
from as far away as the Cleveland, OH area and Indiana. Chris Pearson
from Skybusters was in attendance. Chris was involved in the very
first LDRS's and was a founder of North Coast Rocketry. I haven't seen
Chris in a long time and it was great to chat with him again. We also
had vendor support from Red Arrow Hobbies and Miller Motor Works. MMAR
provided food and drink support.

Memorable flights;

Bob and Rob Dickinson were involved in two big projects. The first one
flown on Saturday was a 12" dia, 14' tall Red Crayon. It weighed 100
lbs and was flown on a central Loki M1882 and 2 CTI L640's that were
started at first motion. It was a perfect flight to 3,584' and
recovery was on the main field. Bob and Rob built the model while
Eldred Pickett did the electronics. Scott Miller performed the igniter
prep and switch for the L640's.

The second project was a giant 16.5" dia, 13' tall V-2 that weighed in
at 130lbs! The motor configuration was similar with a Loki M2550
central motor and 2 CTI L640's started again at first motion. The Loki
M2550 has a remarkable blue flame that was visible for a long time.
The V-2 made it to 2,516' and was recovered nearby. Unfortunately the
lower fin can section landed in the water treatment "lake". The
Dickinson's claim it's a loss despite recovering it intact.

Tom Kurecka flew many of his beautiful rockets including Purple Haze
and his scale Mercury Atlas. Tom shot a lot of video, on-board and
ground based. He creates outstanding DVD's of our launches which are
greatly appreciated by the members.

Tony Haga flew his Rapid Oxidation on a SRS J261 to 1761' on Saturday.
Sunday he flew Dixie on a CTI K445 and 2 air-started CTI H295 Smokey
Sams to 3,750'. Tony also flew his Little John to 2,274' on a Loki
I430.

Dale Hodgson flew his SS-1 on a Loki K250 moonburner to approx 5,000'.
Dale captured some great on-board footage with a key fob cam. He built
a camera holder out of a large Tic Tac box that is a really cool
design!

Chris Pearson from Skybusters flew a 54mm Kosden L1860 on Saturday.
Chris also helped out with ground prep on several projects.

Chris Palmer flew a small dia rocket on an Aerotech K1100 Blue Thunder
that screamed. Unfortunately it draped itself over two power lines and
then Chris started screaming. I can't blame him. He's had a bad
stretch of luck at this field.

Matt Johnson from MMAR flew a couple of interesting rockets. First was
a 1/13th scale Mercury Redstone that flew and recovered nicely. The
second was a tall launch vehicle looking design that used two 1/100
scale Saturn V's as strap-on boosters. There were 2 G69G motors for
the core and 5 D12's in each strap-on! The first flight on Saturday
suffered a cato when a forward closure failed at launch. The rocket
crashed a short distance away starting a small fire which was put out
quickly. Matt put it back together for Sunday and tried flying it late
in the day. Unfortunately another core motor cato'd with a near
identical flight profile.

I put up my 4' Marauder on a Loki J528 to 2,779' The flight absolutely
rocked and I got to use my new Tony Haga chute for recovery. The key
fob cam captured some really weird visual distortion during boost that
we're all scratching our heads over. It also captured the lower
section fall away when the apogee charge fired. My other flight on
Saturday was a failure that pretty much ruined my old NCR SA-14
Archer. It had a core Ellis G37 and outboard D11-Ps. Only the D11's
fired which was able to get it high enough to break several fins when
it fell. I also experimented with my Scissor Wing Transport and a key
fob cam. I captured some video, but it still needs a little work.
Sunday went much better with a great flight of my LOC Scout on a CTI
F240, and 4" dia Big Blue Bird Zero on a Loki I430 to approximately
2,500'.

Gerry Wellman flew his blue foam jet with a Smokey Sam motor for a
very nice flight. He also flew his 7 Toed Dog a couple of times trying
to light a 7 motor cluster of composites. I don't think he ever got
all 7 lit, but they were still great flights. Gerry was there with
Dave McVeigh of Red Arrow Hobbies showing off the Mercury capsules
that they have been working on. These are a work of art! Gerry is
working on an escape tower for them, though Dave said he has already
sold quite a few without the tower.

There were many more great rockets flown by folks I didn't know. There
was a nice Honest John, maxi Trident, and two Level 1 Cert Flights by
Brian Shepherd and Luther Miller



Photos
http://www.cv41.org/personal/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=14617

Videos
Maxi Marauder on a Loki J528
http://youtu.be/CBQutK0fe84

A slo-mo of the Marauder's ascent
http://youtu.be/ziGY_gMXUO4

Modified LOC Scout on a CTI F240-10
http://youtu.be/qBl7Es8goYc

Dale Hodgson's SS-1 on a Loki K250 Moonburner
http://youtu.be/h9f6ArS6rkc

Blue Bird Zero upscale on a Loki I430
http://youtu.be/RP-GPeDG4BE

June 11th, 2011 Horning Field launch

Write up by Dale Hodgson and Buzz Nau

The JMRC pulled off another great day of flying on June 11 at Horning’s Field in Manchester. Many thanks to Buzz for negotiating the use of the site and to Scott, Roger and whoever else contributed in getting the waiver paperwork submitted and approved. A very big thank you goes to the Horning family who were very gracious in allowing us to use their field. They are very nice folks and stayed at the field long enough to see what we are about. I think they were impressed with how we run a launch. I should also thank all those that flew; there were a lot of nice flights throughout the day and if memory serves all were recovered within the field. Certainly no small task but we were perfect for the day.

The field proved to be a very nice place to fly. Although a little hazy in the morning conditions continued to improve throughout the day. Appropriately, the first flight of the day belonged to (name?) Horning, the son of the landowner. He flew an Alpha on a B6-4 motor that flew straight and a bit higher than expected. The breeze caught the rocket and carried it straight down field. After a long walk the rocket was recovered. As soon as the young man returned he was looking for another motor. Seems to me we have another convert.

There were plenty of great flights during the day but the one that stands out to me the most really wasn’t a flight at all. Bob and Rob Dickinson performed some ground testing on their V2 project. Nothing about that rocket is small; I believe it is a 1/5 scale of the real deal. Several of us were able to fly some dual deploy projects; Buzz had a great flight, I believe Tony flew an I-800 for some noise and a perfect flight. I flew an I-405 in my Vertical Assault and a J-320 LR in my SS-1.; both dropped in close to the rails. It was great to see the variety of rocket types flown. Kathy flew one of her Fiddle-Faddles; Chris and Tony flew Dizzy-Izzy’s and Tony staged a Snitch…he must miss Emily. Actually, we all do. Buzz flew a glider which was …no surprise….perfect. Later in the day he flew an I-110 Moonburner in one of his projects; again perfect boost, perfect flight. Carl “King of the V-Max” Wagner flew a few of his projects and as usual they were awesome. Jim Fustini put on a clinic as he usually does; great looking projects and great looking flights. It’s good to see Jim on the flight line again. I think even Roger logged a flight; I think it was a Tomahawk. I know Tom flew some stuff but can’t for the life of me remember which projects. I do know that he was quite busy, as was Buzz and Eldred running around shooting videos and taking photos. For those that missed the launch check out the photos that Buzz posted.

There were a couple of crashes during the day but that’s to be expected. Even though some did not fly as predicted they came down safely within the range. Unfortunately the biggest crash of the day was towards the end and was mine. I flew a 5.5 Mosquito on an H-90 LR but because of the weight and drag (we were looking at a 4.5 or so thrust to weight ratio. The flight proved to be not enough motor and too much delay. But, the crash wasn’t all that bad. The fins popped out cleanly and there was slight damage to the cone but is easily fixed. All that was lost was the airframe; I will be able to make a complete repair in just a couple of hours.

On a personal note I wanted to let everyone know I am very happy to be back at it after missing a few launches due to some extensive traveling due to work. Seems I always have ridiculous amounts of fun at each and every launch I attend. Hopefully I can get my long lost brother out there again; it’s hard to do some debauchery when one is a debauch short….so get back out here when you can Fred….there is much to do. BBBBWWWAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

- Dale


Launch details 6-11-11

This was our first launch at the Horning Field near Manchester. It was also a demonstration to the Hornings of how JMRC operates a rocket range of the highest caliber. As usual the poor weather that was predicted never materialized. The morning started with a 200' ceiling which the sun quickly burned off by the time the range was open for business. It was fitting that the first flight of the day was Mason Horning's Alpha III on a B6-4. It was soon clearly evident that the winds aloft were much stronger than the surface winds. The Alpha sailed down the field about 500 yards before dropping out of the shear. Fortunately the wind was straight down the field and varied from light to 10+mph throughout the day.

All of the Horning's made at least one trip to the range expressing an interest in the hobby as well as some awe in the broad scope of our operation. It is our hope that they are comfortable with us using the field and will allow us to continue flying there in the future.

Andy Tomasch of HUVARS attended and was very impressed with the range operations. Andy turned in a nice flight on a BT-80 Mosquito from a past HUVARS upscale contest. In addition to enjoying the JMRC Cafe for a hamburger he was also pleasantly surprised of the wide range of rockets being flown. He wrote a great review of the launch to the HUVARS email list which will hopefully encourage more HUVARS members to join us in the future.

Two weeks ago I held a model rocket build-it, take-it session with my daughter Kelsea's 4th grade class. I was pleased to have several of Mrs Jolliffe's 4th grade students show up for the launch. I had told the class that I would help any who showed up to the field launched their Alpha III. Katie, Sarah, and Thomas had 5 successful flights between the three of them. I am pretty sure Katie and her Dad will be back.

Carl Wagner flew several new food container rockets. All flew great on the way up, but he suffered some deployment issues on a couple. Tom Kurecka put in some very nice flights as well. Noteably his Astrobee D on a I205 Imax to 2,332’. Tom also suffered on of the few prangs when his Nike Smoke core sampled.

Kathy Miller put in many flights including a scale Space-X Falcon 9, Birthday Card Rocket, Mega Sonic, Galactic Wave, Fiddle Faddle, and a Deuces Wild.

The Dickinson’s ground tested a mega sized quarter scale V-2 that is scheduled to fly next month in Muskegon. It is guaranteed to be entertaining! They also flew another V-2 on one of the few J flights of the day.

Dale Hodgson flew the other J flight in his SS-1 that landed incredibly close to the range. Who needs a large field when you can plant Hi-Alt flights near your pad? Dale also put in a great flight with his Vertical Assault on a Loki I405. He too suffered one of the few mishaps of the day when his mega-size Mosquito re-kitted itself on a somewhat underpowered and or excessive delay H90. It looked like everything broke off clean so he will just need to replace the tube.

Tony Haga put in some great flights as well as running a fine LCO shift in the morning spelling Roger Sadowsky of the duty so Roger could put in some flights. Chris Palmer was entertaining with a Barbie head rocket and a Dizzy Izzy.
I managed five flights, which is light for me. First off was a Centuri Apache 2 on a B6-0/A8-5 staged flight followed by a Sky Dart. I had successful flights with my 4" dia upscale Marauder and Blue Bird Zero. The Marauder was a dual deploy flight on a Loki I430 blue to 1,836'. The Blue Bird Zero flew on a Loki I110 for a flawless apogee deploy flight. Both flights carried a key fob cam and returned excellent video of the flights. My other flight was drag race with Tom Kurecka. We flew Madcow Rocketry Honest Johns on Ceseroni H131 Smokey Sams. Tom calls foul, but I think I was the legit winner. The G131 is a really nice motor I plan to use again in the future.

Overall it was an excellent day of flying and I hope we can secure the field for more launches in the future! Thanks to everyone who turned out and made the launch so successful.


-Buzz

June 11th Flying request

For the upcoming launch in Manchester, MI we are requesting that everyone adhere to the JMRC tradition of leaving our launch field cleaner then we find it... as everyone always does! I have personally witnessed this happen countless times in the past and want to encourage everyone to continue with this habit. Trash cans will be onsite for everyone to use.

We will also be utilizing a very strict RSO table, this is because we are new to this field and want to learn all of the hazards associated with this field. (i.e. surrounding crops in neighboring fields, parking location, etc.) Now we are still encouraging people to come and fly, so depending on wind/cloud conditions we are encouraging people to fly to 1,500' with apogee deployment and even higher if you are utilizing dual deployment. We will have full hybrid support and roughly 35lbs of N2O... all that Haga left me after the last MKG launch :-) 

Depending on how the day goes we will loosen up or tighten our requirements, so please keep in mind we are keeping the field and the land owner in mind before signing off on each flight. We hope to see everyone out on the field for yet another fun event... and perhaps a rocket or two will fly!

-Scott

JMRC & MMAR May 21/22

Thanks to the Muskegon group for inviting us out to play in their sandbox, and we certainly did a lot of playing. Terry Leright certainly gave us a show flying a CTI N10,000 in a 4" carbon bird.

63G, 1,300mph, and 14,000'

I think the one stat we are missing is how long that flame is!

Tony Haga had a couple of Hybrid flights, probably the most notable of the 2 flights was the combo of Hyper-TEK and Barbie riding the Wocket to save the world from armageddon... or something like that :-)

If you have not yet seen the onboard video from BoosterVision, or want to see it again...

I guess Tony couldn't let Chris Palmer hog the spotlight with his huge Stealth flown on a Ellis J148. Tom Kurecka gave us some great flights on Sunday with some CTI 54mm motors. I know I am missing a great deal of the awesome flights that happened over the weekend, so if anyone can fill in the gaps I will gladly update the site!

-Scott