Kestrel Ex

[John A. WilkeParticipant]

I’m the first to admit stealing / borrowing from those who came before me…. I have indeed borrowed a thing or two from Tony!

[Jeffrey Joe HintonModerator]

There’s no shame in sharing – why re-invent the wheel for every new bird?
Good ideas blossom and grow. Bad ones usually don’t stick around long enough to catch on but I’d go ahead and do that if I were you.

[Bruce R. Schaefer]

And, just because no one else has been able to something doesn’t mean YOU (the you being anyone) can’t. That’s the heart of invention. Drag is the enemy and Tony has shown ways around it. Textbook. This is a really a great thread! Without sharing no one moves forward. Thanks to all for the info.

[Jeffrey Joe HintonModerator]

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

[Bruce R. Schaefer]

Hee, hee… among rocketry brothers, there is no theft, just mutual advancement. 😉

[Anonymous]

I’m very close to being done with my KestreL. I got it down to 49.25″ long. That’s 6″ less then stock. It’s weighing in at 38.25 oz..which is a bit over for optimal mass for the K300. It’s only dinging me a 125′ or so for being over. I’m not going to paint it. I don’t want the extra weight, or body tube diameter. Nor do I want the paint to boil and scrub off altitude either. My margins of stability are all good too with the motors I plan on flying it on. It will be dual deployment with all the motors except for the long 54mm EX motor that I have. I’m planning on three flights in May on some Ex motors.

Tony

[Anonymous]

I’ve been able to fly my Kestrel a few times now. Twice on Ex loads in the At 54/2800 case (Spent K250 cases) It flew 21K on them. I then did an Ex load in the CTI 54/6GXL case. The boat tail on this case was enough to make the rocket un-stable. The motor worked but I destroyed most of the rocket. I was able to get some parts from John and rebuilt it. I flew it again this past weekend at XPRS. I flew it on the CTI k300 out of a tower for second place in the Extreme altitude contest. It went 29,456’baro and 29,045 accl. What are things coming to when 29K gets you second place these days?

Tony

[John A. WilkeParticipant]

you got 2nd place with a 29K blast???? that ain’t fair!

Tony – what won that event? What was the diameter and altitude?

Greetings from Southwestern Australia – 200 Km or so south of Perth. It is a long, long, long, long, long way back to the grasslands!

[Author]

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