[Announce:] reminder: LUNAR contest april 3rd

[Ryan G. Coleman]

Hi, All,

Just a reminder that the club will hold a contest at the next Snow
Ranch launch (currently scheduled for April 3rd).

 If you're interested, read on for the events and what to expect. If you have no
idea what all this is, read on and hopefully you'll understand. The
NAR website (http://nar.org/) is a great resource and I'll give you
some links to some more resources and if you have any questions you
can contact me at contest at lunar.org

Flying a rocket in a contest is a lot like a normal rocket flight,
except for a few differences. In most events, you're trying to
accomplish a certain goal. Also, most events (but not all) have motor
restrictions. All the events have requirements about what constitutes
a qualified flight, mostly that the motor must remain in the model and
everything has to stay together, though certain events allow
separations of some parts. When flying, you have to check in the motor
(a formality really) before you load it in the model, and you fill out
a flight card. When it is flown, usually there will be timers to see
how long it stays in the air (you'll also be asked to help time some
other flights). After the flight, certain events require that you
'return' the model, bring it back before removing the motor, etc. For
our first contest this won't be an issue since we'll be flying smaller
events this time around. To really get the most out of the competition
experience, you need to be a NAR member, but this first time that
isn't too important, we'll keep score for everyone but only the NAR
members will actually enter the event and have their results sent to
the NAR. Also, there are age divisions so A division (7-13) B Division
(13-18) and C Division (19-up) and T Division (for teams of 2 or more
competitors).

Anyway, let's talk about the events. They are

Open Spot Landing
Random Duration
1/2A Streamer Duration
1/2A Boost Glider Duration
A Helicopter Duration

To compete, you don't have to fly all these events, and you can fly at
least the first 3 with rockets you probably already have. All of them
can be flown with standard kits (there will be links if you keep
reading). Most of all, these events are relatively simple to build and
fly (there are a lot of other events which we might hold at our next
contest, things like egglofting (much like TARC), or craftmanship
events (where you build a model of a Saturn V or something crazy from
Jack Hagerty's books).

Open Spot Landing.

This is a simple but fun event that is all about getting your model to
land near a marked spot on the ground. It is the same spot for
everybody and to make things fair, you fly this event first. You only
get one flight, but you can fly almost any model. The requirements are
that it use a contest certified motor (MicroMaxx - G)
http://www.nar.org/SandT/NARenglist.shtml , and that it descends in
one piece and that it descends safely.  An Estes Alpha III is a great
way to fly this event, or any other simple kit. There are so many
options for this event I won't even try to link to some kits.

Random Duration.

This event is a lot like Spot Landing, but is about how long the
flight is in the air, not where it lands. The rules are similar, you
only get one flight, the flight has to come down in one piece, and it
has to be safe (as always). How long does it have to stay up? Well you
won't know until you get to the field! Once several competitors show
up, we'll randomly pick a duration between 30 seconds and 120 seconds
in multiplies of 5 seconds. Say it is 55 seconds, you then want to fly
a rocket that stays up for 55 seconds. It will be timed and a score is
calculated and the closest flight wins. Again, you can use any contest
certified motor.

1/2A Streamer Duration

This is a pretty standard event that can be flown with any rocket that
takes a 1/2A motor (1/2A6-2 in an Alpha III or a 1/2A3-4T in a Gnome).
You make two flights, you have to return 1 (with a small motor and a
nice field like the Snow Ranch this shouldn't be a problem), and the
winner has the best combined score from the 2 flights. Getting a
return is easy, you just bring the model back how you found it before
taking the motor out, etc. There are lots of advanced tips on this
event, for instance see the following webpage (for 'B' not 1/2A but
still relevant http://homepage.mac.com/georgegassaway/GRP/AOL/GCGassaway/contest/streamer.htm
) At the bottom of that page are some links to plans like
http://nar.org/competition/plans/pdf/astrepdsd.pdf or kits like
http://www.apogeerockets.com/Blue_Streak_rocket.asp
http://www.asp-rocketry.com/store/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=532&Category=176
http://cybertravelog.com/qcr/rockets.html

1/2A Boost Glider Duration

This event requires that you fly a rocket that goes up like a rocket
and comes down like a plane, i.e. gliding back to earth. Since this is
'Boost Glider' and not 'Rocket Glider' you can separate the rocket
into multiple pieces, only one of which has to glide back and will be
timed. Like Streamer Duration, you have to return 1 of your 2 flights,
and the sum of both flights determines the winner. Again, George
Gassaway has a tips page for a similar event (A BG)
http://homepage.mac.com/georgegassaway/GRP/AOL/GCGassaway/contest/boost_glide.htm
You can try your hand at a plan like
http://nar.org/competition/plans/pdf/turnup.pdf . The easiest and
possibly best way to fly this event is to buy the Deltie Kit
http://www.asp-rocketry.com/store/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=643&Category=190

A Helicopter Duration

Rockets in this last (and most complicated event for this meet) go up
like a rocket and come down liek a helicopter. Like Streamer Duration
and Boost Glider you get 2 flights, 1 of which must be returned and
the sum of the flight times determines the winner. The standard plan
is the rotaroc http://members.aol.com/GCGassaway/contest/Rotaroc_A.pdf
though the simplest plan is the Tasmanian Devil
http://nar.org/competition/plans/pdf/Taz.pdf Kits like the Rose-A-Roc
http://www.fliskits.com/products/01prod_fs.htm or from QCR
http://cybertravelog.com/qcr/helos.html are a great way to fly this
event.

Official rules for all these events at http://nar.org/pinkbook but
don't be intimidated. If you have any questions and are thinking of
coming, please email so we get a head count. We'd like to get at least
5 competitors for this meet.

Depending on how many people show up, we may run the contest in with
the sport range or we may set up a small range just for contest
models. If you're interested, please get in touch with me at
contest at lunar.org so we have some idea of who's coming.