Estes Saturn V Launch

I plan to Launch my Estes Saturn V (Skylab Version) this weekend.  I do not plan to stand at the pad fumbling around with trying to attach the clips to igniter wires way up inside the rocket.  Whenever I have a rocket with the engine and igniter way up inside the body tube, like on The Launch Pad kits,  I attach a length of wire to each igniter lead.  This makes it very easy to attach the clips to the other side of the wire when it comes time to attach.  I usually tape up the igniter lead / wire connection just so it will not short out.  Scotch tape or masking tape can even be used for this.

The other thing that will be different about this launch is that it will be going off the 10/10 rail, not a rod.  I've add two 1/4 inch standoffs and I've put rail buttons on those.  The standoffs are to get me over the vacu-form and other stuff.  I like the rail not so much due to rod whip, but due to rod length vs rail length.  I think a lot of rockets, especially The Launch Pad kits with D12 engines, are coming off the rod at slow speeds and are not fully stable when they leave the rod.  What happens when this occurs is that the rocket will choose some random angle (or increase the angle you gave it) as soon as it leaves the rod and it takes off in that direction.  The slower / less stable it is, the greater from vertical that angle can be.  The added footage of the rail means the rocket is traveling much faster when it leaves the control of the rod, making it much more stable.  Now if we had rods as long as our rails, this advantage would be nullified, but out rods are not that long.

Hi Tim,

I like your solution to the short leads in a forward motor position. I also added launch lugs to my scratch Saturn V, and as long as all 3 motors light (I launch mine on a cluster of 3 x 18mm motors), it flies arrow straight. Fully loaded mine weighs 380ish grams (13.4oz). My personal 1010 rail is a foot shorter than the one at CMASS launches too, which still makes it 1 to 2 feet longer than a typical launch rod.

I am now thinking if I were to add the lead extensions to my cluster igniters, I suppose I could tie them together to eliminate the need for a whip on the pad, not sure if you or anyone else have experience doing that. At some point I want to either convert this to a single 24mm motor or retire and build new, which would resolve the issue completely.

Can't wait to see yours take off this weekend!

 
 
 

On clusters, I use the same basic approach and I make the jumper wires much longer.  If I'm launching with 3 engines, I would have six wires coming back to the two clips, and each wire is about 2 to 3 feet long.  Now each engine has it's own path back to the clips and I make the wires very long figuring the rocket can travel up the rod/rail a ways and still allow an "unfired" engine as much time as possible to fire before things start getting "yanked out".  I've launched my Titan 34C three times this way (9 Engines) and I'm still at a 100% firing rate (all Quest engines, too).

I will be launching my 3 engine cluster Nike Ajax (The Launch Pad kit) using this method with three C11-3's, Saturday.