Rocket weekend in Qld?

[4wd26]

http://thunda.com.au/faqs/get-your-butt-to-thunda/gybtt-issue-14/
a bit of an itinerary

lucky for us the V2 launch is scheduled in for the Sat, we plan to meet up with the rumpig group first thing Sat morning

getting close now 

[Apples69]

Just wondering who survived the weeken intact with a massive wind and dust storm hitting the camping area on Friday night. Has anyone got photos of the destruction with the main marquee destroyed. No protection as the property is very open.
I was camping on a nearby property however next to a dam and down under the banks so somewhat protected however saw some damage when arriving at the rocket range

[4wd26]

Well the family hit the road again this past weekend
We had to head out west and pick up the new family addition, and as it is with these things, I started to look around the region for what  else is around to do.


Well as it turned out there was http://thunda.com.au/

and it was only a little out of our way......

so a early getaway from Brisbane got us to Dalby for the night.
lovely place and the gas boom has really renewed the place.  Nice cabin http://www.dalbytouristpark.com.au/ and best bit was the wife was impressed.

So the sale of the van has not proved limiting, just need to explore other ways of getting away, certainly makes it easier for me if the wife is happy.  turn up pay the $$$ and your set up ready for the first beer and walk along the river.

Anyway up early the next day for a morning at the rockets, 2 hour drive from Dalby to Westmar, then a bit North

They didn't disappoint





















We watched the highest recorded flight by a Amateur rocket to 73,000 feet





This V2 replica was the largest rocket again by amateurs in the southern Hemisphere

only got a few hundred feet off the ground but it was amazing to see the size

They go fast, lots of noise and seriously impressive- well the bigger/ faster ones anyway.

There were plenty of launches by smaller rockets that the kids could build/ buy, and as they all had parachutes etc can be reused, so not as expensive as you might imagine, but like most things I could imagine tinkering/ upgrades could be expensive....sort of like the triton.....

we had to leave just after lunch and a further couple of hours on the road got us near Miles
Here we picked up our latest addition to the family

Black and Silver Schnauzer puppy


back on the road for the trip home.
Didn't think about it in advance, but the whole day ended up around 800kms  :shock:
and that had to include time for the rockets and puppy pickup......


lucky the roads out this way are 110 zones, although reading the speedo with the new gearing would see me in trouble....

Home today and everyone settling in.

new pup with our older schnauzer Ebony


yep everyone looks happy.

today is not doing much at all[/quote]

[Rumpig]

Just wondering who survived the weeken intact with a massive wind and dust storm hitting the camping area on Friday night. Has anyone got photos of the destruction with the main marquee destroyed. No protection as the property is very open.
I was camping on a nearby property however next to a dam and down under the banks so somewhat protected however saw some damage when arriving at the rocket range

that was a pretty wild night..... i have a pic of the marquee on Saturday morning, but they'd already removed it from the roof of the building it was on next to it by then.

[Rumpig]

few pics from the weekend.......

[Rumpig]

[Apples69]

The three going together would have been good to see. Only stayed for a few hours on Saturday after I heard the V2 wasn't going to be launched until later Saturday

[4wd26]

westmar rocket march 2015 a

westmar march 2015 aust altitude record 73,000 feet

westmar 2015 dual stage




and stolen from another site
Full scale amateur V2 rocket flight - Worlds largest amateur rocket - O25000


edited the links try that

[oldmate]

Great pics mal 

[oldmate]

and stolen from another site

Links don't work mate

[Bird]

I'd love to get there.  Have been fascinated by amateur rocketeer in ever since reading about Goddard when I was a kid.

the movie October Sky got me...

[Rumpig]

The three going together would have been good to see. Only stayed for a few hours on Saturday after I heard the V2 wasn't going to be launched until later Saturday

there was 5 went up in that race...first one went a bit earlier then the 3 pictured, then the 5th went up after those. All not far apart in timing of lift off really, was hard to keep an eye out for them all coming back to earth though...lol

Great pics mal 

cheers mate

[Rumpig]

Links don't work mate

they do in your quote though if you click there

[4wd26]

edited

different forums like different formats

put the url around them and they now show as preview vids.

I'll get the hang of this stuff one day

[Rumpig]

edited

different forums like different formats

put the url around them and they now show as preview vids.

I'll get the hang of this stuff one day

that altitude record video...was amazing now long it took for the sound of it to reach us, the rocket was pretty much out of sight before we heard a thing. The video looks like the sound is all wrong with the footage, but that's exactly how it happened on the day.

[oldmate]

they do in your quote though if you click there

Mmm so they did.. Weird

[MrEMan]

So sorry we didn't meet up. The camp sites... well it was a good idea before the weekend but it didn't really work out. A little hard to find anyone considering we left home a week early and didn't have mobile or internet access.

My entire family had a fantastic time. It was a credit to the organisers.

[Footy Shorts Shane]

My young bloke was given a rocket for Christmas from his Grandfather. He was about as impressed as I was when he got it, and it sat in the box kicked under his bed for months.

We let it rip a few weeks ago, and surprisingly, it's actually pretty darn cool  Unfortunately we ran out of rockets/motors/engines/cracker things or what ever they are called, real quick Apparently his Grandfather bought it from a local hobby shop? Can find out more details of wher if anyone is interested.

Shane.

[Sawed-Off]

It's a shame we didn't get to meet up.

If you saw these rockets on the table, you saw me. I was in front of the telescope guys.



And this was our camp.



The sunsets and sunrises were spectacular.



I launched those rockets.

A redneck, in a Star Trek red shirt that incidentally looks like his rocket, standing in a paddock, wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat, with a rocket that has the biggest motor it can fit and is about to launch. What could possibly go wrong?



http://youtu.be/xsRP0H6QmqU

Apart from spending an hour searching through the sorghum to find it, nothing.

My buddy is standing at one end of it, and the photo is taken from the parachute end.



I also launched my minimum diameter project (the black and white one).

Sorry, my wife managed to put her finger over the microphone just before launch. The launch controller is saying it is going to go to Mach 2 and 24,000 feet. It did.

http://youtu.be/iRX2pGZ09mw

Unfortunately, the main parachute came out at that height and it drifted away almost 16kms with the wind. Fortunately, we use GPS trackers.



After 50+kms of driving and 20 odd gates, a helpful farmer gave a us a rough idea of how to get to it (Google Earth is a wonderful thing). We found it in a paddock, but the main airframe had broken away and is lost. We got the nosecone (which has the electronics in it) and the parachute back.

Believe it or not, it's in this photo.





The organisers put out one last newsletter wrapping things up. Thunda Down Under will be back in 2018.

We had a great time. Four days went too fast. The next three years will be too long. 

http://thunda.com.au/faqs/get-your-butt-to-thunda/after-the-storm-artdu-2015-report/

[Rumpig]

I look forward to the 2018 meet then...next time I'll write down what people are driving so I remember what to look for to spot them...lol

[Sawed-Off]

My young bloke was given a rocket for Christmas from his Grandfather. He was about as impressed as I was when he got it, and it sat in the box kicked under his bed for months.

We let it rip a few weeks ago, and surprisingly, it's actually pretty darn cool  Unfortunately we ran out of rockets/motors/engines/cracker things or what ever they are called, real quick Apparently his Grandfather bought it from a local hobby shop? Can find out more details of wher if anyone is interested.

Shane.

Shane, you might like going to an organised launch. These guys launch every month at Jimboomba. http://qldrocketry.com/
Also, Blake from Australian Rocketry is usually there, and you can buy more motors from him. http://ausrocketry.com.au/