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Vulcanite
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I built the Vulcanite for
a science project in sixth grade. It turned out to be one of the
best rockets that I have today. The Vulcanite is a
LOC/Precision kit. It is 54mm in diameter x 5 ft. tall, with a
38mm motor mount. I have flown it on H123s, H242s, I154s, I211s,
and I130s. Read on to see how this rocket is a winner. |
How long ago did we take that
picture?! I'm as tall as the rocket!
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| Flight
Log |
Flight
Details |
Construction
and Modifications |
RockSim
File |
Flight Log
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Flight #
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Motor
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Electronics
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Performance
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Comments
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| 1 |
H242-LT |
ALTS2 |
3954 ft |
1st flight- fast and straight. No damage. |
| 2 |
H123-LW |
ALTS2 |
3874 ft. |
Long walk. No damage. |
| 3 |
H242-LT |
ALTS2 |
3814 ft. |
Screamer flight. No damage. |
| 4 |
H123-LW |
ALTS2 |
3894 ft. |
Good boost, stripped chute (delay short), no damage |
| 5 |
H242-LT |
ALTS2 |
3909 ft. |
Good flight. No damage. |
| 6 |
H123-LW |
ALTS2 |
3994 ft. |
Relatively short walk. No damage. |
| 7 |
I211-LW |
ALTS2 |
6061 ft. |
Fast and straight. No damage. |
| 8 |
I154-MJ |
ALTS2 |
5250 ft. |
Good flight on Blackjack power. No damage. |
| 9 |
(see above) |
N/A |
N/A |
(see above) |
| 10 |
I130-CSS |
ALTACC |
7254 ft. |
Very high flight. Kosdon motor. No damage. |
| 11 |
I211-LW |
ALTACC |
N/A |
Filmed by Earl Cagle. Good flight. No
damage. Data lost on ALTACC. |
| 12 |
H242-LT |
N/A |
N/A |
Fast, straight. Lost in cloud layer.
Recovered; no damage. |
Flights #1-6
These were the science project flights- 6 H motors in one day was bound to be
fun. We started out by picking up the loads from Ken Finwall as well as an
extra 38/240 case to facilitate quicker reloading of the rocket. A simple
ADEPT ALTS2 altimeter was used to record altitude only. The altimeter was armed
as the rocket was placed on the pad, with no external wires or anything.
Simple and reliable. All flights went according to plan, except for flight
4 on the H123, which ejected too early and shredded the parachute off.
However, after a 4,000 foot free fall, the rocket was undamaged and ready for
re-flight. We successfully completed the goal, and I got an A+ on my
project.
Flight 7, ROCStock 9
We decided to try it on
an I211 because RockSim said it should work. We flew this at
ROCStock 9 in June of 1999. It went 6100 feet really really fast. It
also flew really straight with just a little wobble. The walk was
relatively short, and the altimeter said 6061 feet. Success.
Flight 10, ROCStock 12
 This was to be on our first Kosdon motor, an I130 C-slot.
(*cough*WIMP*cough* :))
We had Hulan Matthies (veteran Kosdon guy) help us load up the motor, it being
our first of the type. After a few snap-ring troubles, we loaded the
rocket and put it on the pad. The waiver was called in, a 5 count ensued,
and... nothing. The igniter blew off the pyrogen. Hmmm... what to
do, we've got 1 minute left in the waiver, ok, let's reload the ignitor and get
it off before the waiver closes. A little thermolite and another daveyfire
later, we were back in business. 5...4...3...2...1...launch and the rocket
huffed, puffed, and took off. It was a beautiful up flight, and the
trademark Kosdon delay formulation did its job and made the rocket easy to
track. The chute came out at apogee and it came home intact. That
was great.
Flight 12, ROC January 2002
Yet another great flight. This one I got video of. Check it out
in the Media
section.
Design and Construction
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Construction
I built this kit almost
completely stock, with only one modification for motor retention.
Rather than spend the big bucks for a fancy AeroPack motor retention
system, we fashioned our own. It turned out slick. The aft
centering ring was notched in 2 places before assembly. Then we
drilled 2 holes near the base of the rocket. A strip of brass was
bent to conform to the shape of the thrust rings on the motors we were
using. Then the brass was fitted into the slots and matching holes
drilled through it. The strips are held in place with two tiny
screws, providing effective and cheap motor retention. It looks
cool too! Painting
was accomplished with Krylon spray cans, and this was the first rocket
that we used our "high-performance" paint scheme on. The
orange-yellow blend was used because a. it is high visibility, b. it is
easy to paint (no masking), and c. we had that paint on the shelf.
Made sense.
Conclusion
This is about my only
rocket that I have left completely stock, with no modifications planned
for the future either. I think this is a kit worthy of some sort
of trophy. You should run out and get one as fast as you possibly
can.
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