Jim Bassham's Page
Location: Yuba City, CA
Certification Level: L2 NAR
Club Memberships: NAR LUNAR
Favorite Rockets: Bomarc, Iris
RocketReviews.com Pages:
2011-05-01
The Blue Camero - 2010 Design This Spaceship Contest Entry
. Build
This is my entry for the 2010 design this spaceship competition. It is a plane-like rocket with a 24mm motor mount and utilizes rear-ejection for parachute deployment.
In looking over last year’s “Design this Spaceship” pictures I was really at a loss for what could ... [More]
The Blue Camero - 2010 Design This Spaceship Contest Entry - Overall Impression
Build Entry
This rocket needs a good, nylon or cloth chute to take the force of the rear-deployment. In order to fit that, there needs to be more space between the motor mount and the body tube. I believe this could be built with a BT-60 instead of a BT-55 and there would be enough room ... [More]
The Blue Camero - 2010 Design This Spaceship Contest Entry - Flight
Build Entry
My flights can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GervJfLPd4g
All my flights were made at Tripoli Central California's "October Skies" event on 10/16/10.
Per the contest requirements, this rocket uses rear-ejection and a 24mm motor mount. In ... [More]
The Blue Camero - 2010 Design This Spaceship Contest Entry - Painting and Finishing
Build Entry
The rocket was first primered and then wet-sanded to 400 grit.The first color I painted was gray for the canopy outline.
I then painted the white for the gun stripes and the red wingtips.
I masked the gray lines for the canopy and the white stripes for the guns, then ... [More]
The Blue Camero - 2010 Design This Spaceship Contest Entry - Materials and Assembly
Build Entry
This rocket uses:
BT-50 Tube 5" Long
BT-55 Tube 5" long
BT-50 to BT-55 centering Ring (2)
BT-50 to BT-60 Centering Ring
BT-50 Thrust Ring
"E" motor Clip
Two BT-5 nosecones (BNC5E and BNC5AX from Balsa Machining)
1/4", 1/8" and 3/16" sheet Balsa
5/16" birch ... [More]
2010-11-21
13 mm Streamer
Flight
Perfect piston flight. Flew out of sight and came back fully deployed. 21 seconds. - 1/2A3-4 [More]
2010-11-06
B-Badmitton Rocket.
Flight
First attempt at a Badmitton rocket. Worked, but not spectacular at 8 seconds. - B6-2 [More]
13 mm Streamer
Flight
Piston worked, but head came off. Rocket flew out of sight. Motor ejected instead of streamer and it pranged. 18 seconds. - A3-4 [More]
13 mm Streamer
Flight
Piston launch attempt. Piston did not slide. Stop wtch jammed. About 20 seconds. - 1/2A3-4 [More]
Edmonds Aerospace Micro Ivee
Flight
NARTREK Advanced Contest level Flight. Got 107 seconds to make the qualification flight. awesome little rocket. - 1/2A3-4 [More]
Estes Der Red Max
Flight
Used Der Red Max to try a Badmitton loft for an upcoming contest. Got an 11 second badmitton toss, better than the rocket I designed to do it. Will build a BT-60 based rocket from this test. - B6-4 [More]
2010-10-16
Estes Firecat
Flight
Broke shock cord and body tumbled and broke a fin. Kelvar alone doesn't work. Needs some shock-absorber. - C6-5 - TCC [More]
LOC October Skies Rocket 2004
Flight
Flew Mark's old October Skies rocket on my favorite motor, an I200. Spectacular flight to over 4000'. Long walk to retrieve it and there was a slight tube crimp, but a great flight. - I200-L - TCC [More]
Sunward Aerospace Desert Fox
Flight
First flight. Flew well, but turned into the wind. Deployed ok, if late and landed without damage. - D12-5 - TCC [More]
Quest Commander
Flight
Drag race with my 2X upscale Quest Commander for the EMRR challenge. Perfect flight. Video of the project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NlFTE-TL-U - A6-4 - TCC [More]
2010-08-24
Modification Der Max Squared (Modification)
Review
This is my twin-engine modification of Estes' Der Red Max kit for the EMRR "Twice the Thrust" Challenge
Modifications: Construction started with the two motor tubes. I cut a slit 1/4" from one end of the tubes for the hook, held it in place with masking tape and glued the engine block in place ... [More]
2010-05-12
Modification Patriot to Little John (Modification)
Review
This is a modification of the Estes Patriot kit into a semi-scale model of the Little John tactical nuclear missile
The motor mount was built and installed in the shortened body tube as per the instructions (LJ01). The yellow tube was modified into a payload section by use of a balsa nose ... [More]
2010-05-11
Estes U.S. Army Patriot M-104 (#2056) (Kit)
Review
Brief: A semi-scale model of the US Army anti-missile missile.
A friend of mine said no Estes rocket built stock can survive more than twelve flights. I decided to prove him
wrong with this kit.
Construction:
Two White Body Tubes
One Yellow Body Tube
Blue Motor Tube ... [More]
2009-11-01
Scratch VTHL (Scratch)
Review
Brief:
For the 2009 Design This Spaceship contest, I chose the Rockedyne VTHL concept. I could find very little information on this spacecraft except that it is a Vertical Take-off, Horizontal Landing Single-Stage-To-Orbit proposal that Rockedyne designed as a ramjet powered vehicle. I ... [More]
2009-05-23
Scratch SR-72 (Scratch)
Review
The SR-72 is a parachute recovery mothership with a parasite glider.
Box o' Parts Contest Entry: Constructing the SR-72. The idea of the Box O' Parts contest is to construct a rocket from a random collection of parts that fit into a Priority Mail tube. The only other items you ... [More]
2009-03-28
Modification Yellow Jacket (Kit)
Review
The Yellow Jacket is a two-stage rocket constructed solely from the parts of two Estes 1:10 scale Patriot kits. The rocket uses direct coupling of the motors with an engine block above and below the motors to aid in pulling the lower stage off cleanly as described in "The Handbook of Model ... [More]
2009-03-08
FlisKits Cut-Away Motor Rocket Motor (Kit)
Review
( Contributed - by Jim Bassham - 03/08/09) Brief:
This is FlisKits' new model of a cut-away rocket motor. It is designed to be used as a classroom or science-fair
demonstration model.
Construction:
The kit consists of a laser-cut sheet of fiberboard parts, two body tubes, a coupler ... [More]
2009-03-07
Semroc Hawk (Kit)
Review
Brief:
This is Semroc's Retro-Repro kit of the 1965 AMROCS Hawk. It is a swept-wing boost-glider that uses motor ejection to
change CG at apogee.
Construction:
The kit consists of a balsa nose cone, an 18mm motor tube, a launch lug, a waterslide decal, and two sheets of
laser-cut ... [More]
2009-02-24
Quest Navaho AGM (Kit)
Review
Brief:
Two-stage scale rocket.
Construction:
Paper tubes, die-cut balsa fins, plastic nose cone, Kevlar ® /elastic
shock cord. Motor retaining clips.
This was a really straightforward kit that went together easily. The instructions were well written and clear. The
... [More]
