LarryBAR99

After a bit of down time I decided it's time to start building some of the old kits I've got stockpiled in my basement.  After reading some reviews on RocketReviews.com I decided to hack an Estes Bull Pup 12D. My kit is a boxed “Explorer Series”, EST 7000 on the box, labeled “Skill Level 2, with altitude of 245 meters (800 ft) on C6-5.  I paid $8.96 at WalMart.  My kit has the contents in a sealed plastic sleeve, with water slide decals and a 12” parachute that needs assembly.  The instructions are for an “Estes Explorer Series Bullpup 12D Flying Model Rocket Kit EST 1972”.  My box contains an Estes/Cox mini catalog with coupons that expired 12/31/98.  The current EST 7000 kit sells for $32.99 retail ($15.32 on Amazon as of 7/26/22). I decided to upscale it from 18 mm engines (B's & C's) to fly on D/E engines per https://www.rocketreviews.com/estes-bull-pup-12d-frank-ross.html  I'll PROBABLY just fly it with B’s & C’s unless I'm launching at ...

It was a beautiful clear Sunday afternoon so I decided to launch some rockets. My wife (and dogs) agreed to come watch me launch for an hour.  First to launch was my Astrocam on a C6–5 engine.  I carefully packed the wadding, folded the chute and turned on the video camera that I left charging for four hours this morning. I angled the rocket slightly into the wind, which was blowing at about 6 to 10 miles an hour from east to west.  The launch was great, but I lost sight of it (below). OpenRocket estimated it would go approximately 900 feet high on a C6-5, and I lost track of it (even with tracking powder in the chute).  We finally spotted it floating on the parachute and then it drifted west of my position and over the Junior High, never to be seen again.  ;-(   I walked around for 20 minutes then drove around for another half hour but without any luck.  I had written my phone number on the nose cone but, unless a neighbor finds it and calls I’ll neve...