On to Fairgrounds!
On to Mastricola
Having left the camera home during the first week, we find our kids during week 2 with their Triskelion kits complete with the exception for the recovery system.
Week 3 we're out to launch on a bright sunny day. I just love the variety of colors and building skills displayed.
|Proud rocket scientist display their handiwork
And we have LIFTOFF! This is what they were all waiting for and they all succeeded in reaching for the sky!
Another happy pair with their rockets ready for flight!
With his thumb still on the launch button, the Triskelion screams into the sky
I just love pictures with upturned faces as their model perform in the air
This boy is a handfull, but he worked as hard as the rest and is rewarded with a beautiful model...
...that flies as well as it looks. However, he is one of the boys who requested a B motor and lost his rocket to the rocket eating trees in the area...
Back in class, we're working on the Rhino kits now. One of the first things the kids have to do is to decide what shape fins they want and how many too.
Concentrating and reading the instructions are important parts. With this being their second rocket there is much less "hand holding" and the students are far more independant.
Successful completion of an engine mount
Getting fins ready for assembly.
The beauty of the Rhino and most FlisKits model rocket kits is the ability to make DESIGN decisions as you build
Letting fins dry is like watching paint dry, or watching grass grow, or painting grass and watching it dry as it grows... LOL
On to the parachute as we can't get all the fins on in this first session
Showing off our finished Rhino kits!
Whoops, missed this one! Here it is!
All different shapes and colors and even this one which was decorated with a decoupage technique
Looking good!
Eliptical fins will help speed this puppy up a bit
Reversed fins give this Rhino an interesting look. He also holds up another kit from his now growing fleet of model rockets
Two Rhino kits with dramatically different looks even though BOTH use all of the stock parts provided in the kit, without modification. THIS is what model rocketry is all about!
It was a windy day, yet all 5 of the flying students were determined to use C6-5 motors in their Rhino kits! Interestingly enough, we didn't loose a single Rhino, though we had a few go over the fence...
Liftoff! A C6-5 motor really kicks the Rhino into the air. Note the launch angle due to the winds.
Concentration is the key when hooking up those small igniter wires! Note the swept back elliptical fins, one of the options available with the Rhino kit (as is the use of 3 or 4 fins as can be seen in the two rockets here)
Posing with their Rhino kits, these kids can't WAIT to push the launch button!
And we have a liftoff! Note the nearly straight up launch. For our last launch (for all 3 classes) I decided to offer the prize of a model rocket kit to the student who got the longest timed flight. This was the winner mainly because he chose to not angle his rocket. A risky move in this wind, but it paid off as he did in fact get his Rhino back! His time: 35.17 seconds
The 5th and last student for today. We had 8 in the class, but 3 were unable to make it for this, the 2nd re-scheduling of the launch.
WHOOSH! the last flight of the launch, the last flight of this class, the last flight of this Fall series of classes. Truely a proud moment for me as well as my kids and their parents and siblings, all who joined us out in the field!