A virtual NARAM - sort of...

The National Association of Rocketry (NAR) is adapting as best it can to the pandemic. This year, the national contest - NARAM 62 - will not be held in Geneseo, New York as planned. Instead, NAR is offering those interested in contest flying a chance to participate in a "virtual" NARAM. Here are the details from the NAR website:

With the postponement of NARAM-62, we won’t be able to get together in person this summer. We can, however, “virtually” get together via a postal contest. We are hosting this unofficial event to provide a fun opportunity to practice our competition skills on the events that will be held at NARAM next year.

We are also planning to hold an online Manufacturers’ Forum. With the NAR already planning to host a Town Hall meeting, together we will be covering, in some fashion, a number of NARAM activities.

The postal contest will be an easy going, completely unofficial activity featuring all six NRC events plus 1/2A Flexwing Duration, Sport Scale and C SuperRoc Altitude (downgraded from NARAM’s D SRA to accommodate smaller fields). We plan to give participants about 6 weeks to fly events, starting in July.

We’ve tweaked the rules for the purpose of this Virtual NARAM:

You can time your own models and process your own altimeter readings.
The return rule on duration events is waived (like NRC)
Time the whole flight (unlike NRC, so no max’s, this eliminates the multiple ties for 1st we could get with the NRC process).
No need to register the launch as an NRC launch. Although, if you fly at a formal NRC event, the flights can count for both. You can fly as often as they like.

Complete details here: https://www.nar.org/site/virtual-naram/

These days, many clubs can’t hold organized launches, but individuals, households, or small groups can go out and do this, if you have a field you can use.

Don Carson and Chris Flanigan will be the contest directors for this postal contest. Contact them at fulldec2001@yahoo.com and ccflanigan@alum.mit.edu regarding questions or suggestions about this contest.

We hope this helps our community enjoy some of the fun of a NARAM, and perhaps we will reach some who have never participated in our Annual Meet.

The events flown at this virtual NARAM will include this year's National Rocket Competition (NRC) events plus 3 that are NARAM specific:

• 1/2A Boost Glider Duration (NRC)
• 1/2A Helicopter Duration (NRC)
• 1/2A Parachute Duration (NRC)
• 1/2A Streamer Duration (NRC)
• 1/2A Altitude (altimeter) (NRC)
• B Payload Altitude (altimeter) (NRC)
• 1/2A Flexwing Duration 
• C SuperRoc Altitude (altimeter) 
• Sport Scale

Basically, you make your flights and email in the results - the complete details are at the link above. In addition to the glory, 1st place winners of each event will get $50, with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th taking smaller cash prizes. Obviously the glory is the main thing - this ain't the TARC finals.

I'm probably going to put my name in for a couple of the altitude events - Pegasus field isn't big enough for the duration contests.

Now all I have to do is to somehow persuade the city to mow Pegasus - the weeds are up to my shoulders...

Another display tip...

Last Friday, I passed on an obvious tip about how to display rockets that use the Estes screw-on motor retainers. However, these rockets are still in the minority, with most rockets using traditional motor hooks. You can also use the Estes display stands with them, but the motor hook is pushed out of the way and over time it can be permanently deformed so that it no longer closes over the motor. This is not a good thing, so what do you do?

As before, the answer is simple - cut a slot that the motor hook can fit into, which prevents it from bending the "wrong way" and has the additional advantage of locking the model onto the display stand.

CAUTION: Be careful when using hobby knives and other sharp objects! (personal experience here)

What you do is take the stand (before you attach the legs) and use a hobby knife to cut a horizontal slit big enough to accommodate the motor hook. For the "old style" motor hooks that don't have the fancy end that makes it easier on the thumbs, you can use a small flat blade screw driver to widen the slit enough to permit the hook to drop in. Dealing with the newer hooks is a bit more work - you have to use your hobby knife to cut a rectangular hole big enough to fit the "v shaped" end of the motor hook. Usually your first guess will be too small, requiring increasing the size of the hole.

The pictures below illustrate the end result. It's pretty easy to do, but please be careful with the pointy, sharp things!

Slot for old style motor hook
(Click to enlarge).

New style motor hook fitting inside rectangular hole
(Click to enlarge).

My "Junk" rocket...

Over a decade ago, Essence's Model Rocket Reviews (EMRR) hosted many rocket contests - you can see a list here. I loved participating in these events, especially one particular contest called the "Box O' Parts." Each contestant was sent a box filled with rocket parts - and some junk - which you had to craft into a flying model. It was a bit of a challenge, and I found it quite fun! As you might expect, my entry was a 4 motor cluster, which I called the Salvage-90. I placed 9th, which was good enough to earn a prize - the SpaceCAD rocket design software.

Salvage-90
(Click to enlarge).

Salvage-90 on the pad
(Click to enlarge).

One had to create a fairly detailed write-up for this contest; you could almost say we had to craft a set of instructions. Here's the document I submitted:

Salvage-90 how-to

(You can also see the web version of this here)

Salvage-90 still resides among the rockets in my fleet. She hasn't flown since March of 2010, so I think I will make a note to fly her at my next launch (whenever that will be). Even if she is composed of some pieces of junk, she is a proud bird.

March 27, 2010 flight of Salvage-90 (single D12)

Yet another use for old motor casings.

The new Estes kits are featuring the screw on motor retainers in lieu of the old style engine hooks. These have the advantage of better motor retention, but make it problematic in displaying models like the Starship Octavius, which have funky shaped fins that do not permit them to rest in a vertical orientation (I like to show my rockets with the pointy end up). The nifty Estes rocket display stand for standard motors is too wide to slide into the retainer opening, so if you use it, you have to remove the retainer, which will almost certainly guarantee that it will disappear into the Twilight Zone. You could use the mini-motor (13 mm) rocket display stand, but the fit is too loose and the rocket easily falls off the stand.

Enter the used motor casing...

What you do is slide the used casing into the engine mount, with the nozzle pointing towards the front of the rocket. Screw on the retainer, and then push the 13 mm display stand up into the motor casing - this will give a very snug fit and hold the rocket upright nicely.

Et Voila! Rockets like the Illusion can now stand tall on the shelf.

(Click to enlarge)