Canon EOS 5D Mark II
ƒ/8
100 mm
1/3,200
1250

Everything worked perfectly going up – the J1999 popped the rocket off the pad with a percussion wave we could feel. The K1100 upper stage lit like a charm and disappeared into the blue sky. The booster parachuted back unharmed nearby, but the sustainer got caught in some high winds aloft and was carried over the hills and far away.

I managed to catch the moment of separation as the upper stage air-started under computer control, 0.5 seconds after booster stage burnout.

22 responses to “Erik’s Two-Stage Beauty”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    no drag separation this time:
    Erik's Airstart 1 Erik's Airstart 2

    Reply
  2. Victor1 Avatar
    Victor1

    Sweet Shot Steve! wow. The 400 I guess?

    Reply
  3. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Yes, a common sight with Erik and I at Snow Ranch…
    Focus

    but dialed back to 100mmm to get the swoosh of the river running through it (shooting from the bluff top). And I did not have time to zoom in mid-air for staging as I would have lost focus at a key moment. So the airborne actions is also 100mm, but heavily cropped (saved by megapixels =)

    Reply
  4. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    As predicted….(loss of second stage that is…)
    "computer control"…
    Can you explain this…?
    You did not have a transmitter/ignition system on the second stage surely..?
    Sounds interesting….
    I used to just hope the propellant from stage 1 was going to ignite stage 2…(and sometimes 3)
    Caveman rocketry I guess..

    Reply
  5. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    PS any estimates on Vmax,or altitude ??

    Reply
  6. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    If we find the sustainer, we’ll know everything from the flight computer which logs speed, acceleration and altitude with 500 samples/second.

    From RockSim, it looks Vmax was supersonic at 862 MPH, and she pulled 43 G’s.

    And yes, the upper stage computer ignites its motor at a pre-programmed time delay from booster-stage burnout.

    Both sections have G-Wiz flight computers to deploy their parachutes precisely at apogee.

    Erik used a horizontal toothpick on top of the top grain of the upper stage motor to loop the igniter over so that it would not fall away during the g-load of the booster’s pop (The J1999 sounded like a CATO to some in the audience =)

    Reply
  7. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    Thanks…
    great set of photo’s/video…!
    I used to plan to build a a mercury tilt switch…never got that far…

    Reply
  8. DixonTJ Avatar
    DixonTJ

    Steve (or Erik), was this a scratch build? Or a kit? (Looks like one of the larger RDS two-stagers.) Diameter? Launch weight?

    Reply
  9. Erik Charlton Avatar
    Erik Charlton

    @Dixon

    It was the Wildman Dual Deploy with their 2nd stage kit added. All fiberglass kit…I flew an G-Wiz LCX in the Booster and an HCX in the Sustainer. She was just over 20lbs on the pad (including the J199 and K1100) and 3" diameter.

    Reply
  10. DixonTJ Avatar
    DixonTJ

    Sounds sweet! Funny a couple weeks ago I was at a launch with Tim "The Wildman" Lehr and Crazy Jim (out of Savannah, GA) and hanging out in the "back of the trailer" I swear I saw a two-stage Wildman build.

    BTW, just received a new HCX last week from Robert Briody myself. Can’t wait to get it in the air!

    Reply
  11. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Oooh… looking at some of the airborne shots, I see some chunks that spewed out… busted grain? Or Nozzle? Erik: can you inspect the nozzle…..

    Erik's Chuff

    Wonder if the folks who thought they heard a CATO were almost right???

    Reply
  12. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    more please..!

    Reply
  13. DixonTJ Avatar
    DixonTJ

    Erik (or Steve), another question… Sustainer was lost with the upper level winds, but wasn’t the sustainer dual deploy? Or did the main deploy at apogee (by mistake–altimeter or otherwise)?

    Reply
  14. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    He had it set up for single deployment at apogee…. Dual deployment would have been better…

    Dave: a plaintive request, a la Oliver Twist… Here is the booster under chute:

    Erik Chute

    and blackbirds flying by before launch…

    Blackbirds

    Reply
  15. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    My boosters had one wayonly tickets…

    The sophistication and reuse of stuff is so much more than I was doing..
    May look into what sort of engines one can buy in Canada these days…
    (Or start making them again…Scientific American,Amateur Scientist..? 1974 powdered zinc and sulfur…)
    My specialty was gunpowder…..but then I was working with a 14-16 yr old’s budget and resources…

    You have piqued my interest.!

    Reply
  16. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    And guess what? Some of the best motors are made in Canada!

    That’s what my son’s "Epic" flew on (J360 Skidmark), and my Thug (G185 Vmax)

    Reply
  17. Rocketman8911 Avatar
    Rocketman8911

    The best rocket motors are made here in America by AeroTech Consumer Aerospace.

    http://www.aerotech-rocketry.com

    About that stuff getting spat out the nozzle of the J1999N is probably casting tubes. It isn’t chunks of propellant or wise it would be burning.

    Thanks Erik for choosing AeroTech the best way to fly and sorry about the loss of your sustainer.

    About the motors Erik flew in his Two Stage WildMan rocket. The J1999N is a Warp-9 motor with a burnt time of .65 seconds and is a full ‘J’ motor with 1280N’s of total impluse. The K1100 is a Blue Tunder motor with a 1.5 second burn time and is a 66% ‘K’ Class motor with a toal impluse of 1700N’s.

    Reply
  18. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    @A Stanley;
    what’s the law on shipping/buying…?

    Reply
  19. Rocketman8911 Avatar
    Rocketman8911

    Well at L0 or no high power certification you can buy and fly A through G motors.

    With a L1 certification with NAR or TRA or both you can then buy and fly H and I motors. With L2 you can buy and fly J through L and with an L3 you can M through O motors and fly them. Also at L3 you can fly the big RX motors like P and Q.

    As far as shipping goes if the a single propellat grain in the package has over a certain mass around 32 grams I believe it has to be shipped with a hazmat fee.

    But you most join NAR or TRA before you can fly high power rocket motors. Always make copies of your certification paper work so you can send a fax of it to the vendor you are buying from you show you are certified at that level.

    Reply
  20. Astrocatou Avatar
    Astrocatou

    Hmmmm..
    Sounds involved and fiddly…
    I still remember using a forged note on behalf of my schoolmates….
    (Winnipeg,1968)

    "please allow my son Dave to buy 65 packages of firecrackers…"
    The good old days !

    Reply
  21. DixonTJ Avatar
    DixonTJ

    Steve (or Erik), sorry one more question… I’m assuming you were using an HCX… did you use the HCX to ignite the sustainer, or did you have separate timer control for staging?

    BTW, folks over on Rocketry Planet have a thread going on this type build/upgrade and wondered if there were any videos of the flight (although Steve’s pictures are very good).

    Reply
  22. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Yes, the HCX in the sustainer ignited the sustainer motor (so it should work fine with drag separation). It was programmed to fire 0.5 seconds after boost-stage burnout.

    Reply

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