Firestorm |
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The Firestorm was our highest flying rocket
until we built Baddaboom. It is a 54mm fiberglass kit made by Giant Leap
Rocketry. It is very easy to build and can fly with some really big
motors. We
built ours with a Slimline motor retainer. We also have a Slimline
adapter so we can fly the Firestorm with 38mm motors. |
Dual deploy
AltAcc2C SN:5480
Download Rocksim File
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The Firestorm crashed
once when the chute got stuck in the body tube. It fell in a flat spin
from just over 10,000'. When it landed on the Playa, the only damage was
some scratched paint on one fin. We modified it after the crash for dual
deployment so we don't have to walk so far to get it after each
flight.
| Firestorm heading for
10,000'
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Firestorm Rocksim Dwg.  |
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Snow Ranch crash 4/2/05
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The Firestorm hit the ground again. The
ejection charge popped the motor out of the Slimline adapter and didn't
deploy the chute. It came in ballistic from 5,300' and was a
"shovel recovery" buried about half it's length. Note the 3
piece AltAcc under the fin. Some major damage but repairs are already
underway. Unfortunately, we lost the altitude data and I'm sure it was
within a few feet of the "mile high" goal. |
Rebuild complete 4/17/05. Added
a short, drogue chute compartment which increased the OA length to
70". Weight is now 69 oz. |
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May 7 2005 Snow Ranch Launch
The Firestorm was heading for 14,000' on a K700 when disaster struck.
The launch was perfect, but the forward airframe bent and broke 2.5 sec.
into the flight. The rocket was moving about 1250 ft/sec some 2,500' up.
The main chute blew out when the tube broke producing some beautiful,
high altitude confetti. Dave Flournoy caught the two pictures on the
right with his new camera. The pictures are pretty cool and the rebuild
is well underway.
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Airborne Confetti
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May 25 2005
It's back. The Firestorm has been rebuilt in time for Mudrock with a
new "find it anywhere" paint job. The new build includes a
fiberglass nosecone, shortened fins, dual launch lugs/guides and a motor
housing extended for the K700 motor.
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