We had picked up an un-boxed, un-labeled, 29mm kit from the club’s annual Holiday Auction that would be Christopher’s first rocket capable of flying on a G.  It was a bit old, with yellowing cardboard tubes and slightly warped fins, but for ten bucks it was a good way for him to get his feet wet building a larger rocket.

He had flown it once before, unpainted of course, and lost a fin on landing.  This time though, as he repaired it, he decided he wanted to paint it.  And not just a quick coat, but with a multi-color scheme that would required some though and preparation.  He spend a couple of days priming and sanding the surface. He then adding base coats of silver and read to the fin can, nose cone, and payload area.  Once dry he masked them and over-sprayed the rocket with black for a striking effect.  While it had a few rough spots it looked quite a bit better than his previous efforts and he was clearly proud of it.

When we got to the range, there was a small crowd and it looked as if some weather was moving in so Christopher started prepping his rocket immediately.  If the launch was going to be cut short he defiantly wanted to get in a flight of his newly finished rocket.  As we looked through the motor box he pulled out several G motors saying “I want to fly it on this” but I was afraid that with the wind on this smaller field it might drift to fart so I suggested an F instead.  Most of the F class motor we had were low energy motors but we had an old F25-9 that we had also picked up at the auction that had a reasonable average impulse for his rather light rocket and although the delay was long, I had successfully flow a much heavier Aerotech Strong Arm on the same motor the previous month.

At checkin the LSO was surprised to see a 10 year old with such a large rocket and quizzed in on all aspects.  “What motor is in it and how much does it weight?”  “An F25 and about 2 pounds” he said.  Putting it on the scale showed it to be exactly 2 pounds.  “Does this motor have a trust ring he said?”  “Yea replied Christopher.  “There’s a tape thrust ring and Gorilla tape wrapped around the motor mount tube for retention.”  The LSO nodded with impressed approval and gave him the OK to launch.  “How how high do you think it will go?” he asked as we left the table.  “Probably around 1500 feet” Christopher replied.  Thats about right I thought.

Once racked, the countdown was given but the motor was very slow to light.  It oozed black smoke for several seconds before it finally kicked in and lifted off the pad.  I has shooting with the camera on motor drive and by the clock in my camera it was a full seven seconds from the time it started to smoke and the time it left the pad.  I continued to shoot as the rocket climbed up with a rather serpentine wobble in it’s flight.  As it arched over we started to anticipate the ejection event but as in gained speed downward it didn’t come.  Just as the rocket hit the ground the charge went off as if it were a warhead detonating on impact.

“You said that motor would work” CJ yelled at me in a joking but obviously disappointed tone.  Indeed, I had.  Of all the times to make a critical mistake, the one time he had spent a lot of energy putting a finish on a rocket only to see it come crashing down on it’s outing  I did think that motor would work.  Maybe it was the combination of wind and less that straight trajectory, or maybe the older motor had lost some of it’s “Umf”.   Whatever the cause, I had steered him wrong and I felt bad. “Sorry about that... I know the feeling” was about all I could say.

Once recovered and the damage accessed the upper half of the air frame was destroyed, but he nose cone, while damaged, was still intact.  “I think we can get this flying again... today, If you want to try.” I said.  “Sure” he replied and we se out to cut down the body tube, sand and re-attach the nose cone and check the remaining components.  Once it was again prepped for flight, we took it back out to the pad, this time with a much shorter delay motor.  When the announcer came to his rocket, now called the “Moxie 1.5” I made sure he announced that this was the same rocket the came in ballistic earlier in the day now flying again, only a few feet shorter!

I know Christopher was really disappointed after all the work he had put into the rocket, but I was quite proud that he had gotten over his disappointment enough to rebuild the rocket on the field and get it flying again.  As tragic as it may have been for him, I think it was also a good lesson in how, now matter how much effort you put into a task, be prepared if all doesn’t go as planned, to pick up the pieces and make it work again.

See more photos of the flight here.