All around, a very impressive model rocket, probably still my favorite. It's sheer size gets attention. My orange/yellow/orange paint scheme gets attention. And when that second stage lights, it really gets attention... if it lights, that is.

Construction was, as I recall, simple and straightforward, despite being only my second rocket. Sure, it's big and it's a two-stager, but there's no construction magic in that. With the fins being one-piece plastic fin units with built-in launch lugs, about all you have to do is build the motor mounts and shock cord mounts, and then assemble the all the pieces you see. Very easy and very straightforward.

Being only the second rocket I ever built, I was extremely excited to launch it that first day. I was a bit nervous about that 48" crepe paper streamer giving a slow enough descent, so I bought an Estes plastic 18" hexagonal parasheet.  Sent it up a couple times single-stage on the 18" parachute. Sent it up 2-stage, and WOW! It was simply awesome. A great flight, but it drifted quite a bit on the 18" chute, so I attached the streamer for the next two-stage flight. Up it goes, but the booster engine fails to ignite the upper stage, which, of course means no attempt was made to eject the streamer, so the rocket streamlined down. . . PRANG! I'd like to say it was a lawn dart, but it hit pavement! Damn, the nose cone pushed back, shredding the top 12" of body tube, and the weight of the engines and fins etc. (the booster stage never separated) cause the body to crumple about 8" forward of the upper stage fin unit.

This staging failure was caused by the booster motor ejecting from the booster before it could ignite the upper stage engine. I recall that my wife (who had the job of watching the booster) was worried that I'd be upset because all she could find was the booster motor, and not the booster. (In retrospect, I can't believe that she was able to find the engine casing. . . )The booster was still attached to the upper stage (a. k. a. sustainer). I didn't know much about staging at this point, but it was obvious even then that I didn't want the booster engine to eject backwards out of the booster, I wanted the booster to separate from the sustainer. If you haven't built the rocket yet, the obvious fix is to simply add a normal motor hook to the booster. Having already built mine, however, I required a different solution. I ended up making this bizarre contraption of bent-up paper clips to retain the booster motor. It starts with a ring around the booster body, just above the fins. Attached to this are two U-shaped pieces. The tops of the U's are hooked to the ring, and the bottom of the U's fit snugly under the motor casing when it's installed in the booster. To help hold the U's in place, there are two cross members down near the engine, though I'm not sure how necessary they are. There's enough play so that the U's can just be slid sideways to allow insertion or removal of the engine. It's dirt cheap, and it works beautifully (never had a booster motor eject since), but it isn't much to look at. I've never made another one for any other rocket because it would probably maul a balsa wood fin pretty badly, and it might not line up right with three fins instead of four. I'll try to put a picture of it here soon.

Well, despite the major destruction, I managed to rebuild it (albeit 14" shorter). Made sure it was still stable and went out to try again, this time at a club launch. Worked just fine single stage. Time to try it 2-stage again. Up it goes, the booster burns through and separates. . . but again, no upper stage ignition. LAWN DART! Sunk the nose cone about 3" into the ground, and ripped up a lot more body tube. Only difference this time is that I got some good advice from the nice folks in the GSSS club. Get yourself a newer edition (the 6th edition is the newest as of Feb 1998) of G. Harry Stine's Handbook of Model Rocketry. This book has a whole chapter devoted to staging. Consider a short stuffer tube to direct the flaming bits of propellant more directly at the upper stage engine. In retrospect, the stuffer tube is probably not necessary, since the distance between the two engines is rather small. But without question, DRILL SOME VENT HOLES!

Well, now it was just too short. Had to buy some BT-56 body tubes and couplers to add 18" of new tube. I made a stuffer tube out of a piece of an expended D motor, and drilled two 3/16" vent holes, one on each side of the booster, up near where the bottom of the upper stage engine would be when its all put together. It has since been flown no less than 6 times in 2-stage configuration, and the upper stage has lit every single time!

One side note, though. . . on that second prang, the upper stage engine was completely blackened by the burn-through of the booster. It really should have ignited. Knowing more now, I'm convinced that that engine was faulty, in that the clay of the nozzle completely covered the propellant, which is why it didn't ignite. I've seen this situation in one other engine (which was so bad it wouldn't even ignite directly from an igniter), and others on rec. models. rockets have seen it, too. So, a word to the wise: always scrape the nozzle of your upper stage engines to expose fresh propellant. I use a small eyeglasses-type screwdriver for this purpose.

There are a few other hints that I can think of regarding this rocket. Although I haven't experienced this problem myself, others have complained that this rocket has a tendency to crimp or buckle the body tube just above the top of the plastic fin unit on the upper stage (a. k. a. sustainer). There are a couple of ways to improve your chances of not having this problem. Perhaps the easiest is to buy a BT-56 tube coupler, and glue that in so that it reinforces this area. Just make sure that it won't interfere with your engine mount. Of course, this is really only practical if you decide to do it before you start construction. The other way to help avoid buckling the body tube is to soak that part of the rocket in thin CA (cyanoacrylate) glue.

Another tip related to longevity, is to coat the inside of the top of the booster with glue. When staging occurs, the booster engine blows a bunch of burning propellant forward into this area, and then the upper stage ignites and blows hot exhaust backwards into this area. This can cause the paper tube coupler to char pretty badly, especially after many stagings. I coated all the inside surface of the top of my booster with a thin coat of the regular yellow wood glue. A thin coat of epoxy would probably protect it better, and not be as susceptible to the heat, but I didn't have epoxy then. And besides, mine has stood up remarkably well, so I can still recommend yellow glue for this application.

About the only other complaint that I've heard from other people who've flown this rocket, is that the supplied recovery device, a 48" long crepe paper streamer, is insufficient. Some people have even broken fins on landing on grass, which is surprising, given that it's a reasonably sturdy, one-piece plastic fin unit. Regardless, I would agree that it comes down rather fast on the streamer. One possible alternative is to simply add another streamer, or make a significantly larger streamer (or both). However, I've settled on using a standard Estes 12" plastic parachute with the spill hole (a. k. a. peak vent hole) cut out. See that blue dotted line that forms about a 2" hole in the middle? Cut that out. With this chute, the Long Shot comes down soft enough to avoid significant landing damage, but doesn't drift into the next area code on two-stage flights (as an 18" parachute would do).

Despite my problems getting the second stage to ignite (or perhaps because of them), I have become fascinated with staging. As you may have noticed, several of my rockets are staged. I really like this rocket. I feel so proud every time that upper stage lights. . .

Update on 1997 Oct 12. . . I lost the upper stage of this rocket. :-( The booster portion went fine, with a slight arc. The upper stage ignited successfully, and continued that arc. The sustainer was painted yellow and orange, and it was heading right into the sunset, so we lost sight of it. I heard the ejection charge pop, but neither my wife nor I ever saw the upper stage again.

Update on 1997 Oct 19. . . I have essentially re-built the upper stage. It's all from scratch, with balsa fins and and Estes parts (body tubes, motor mount, and nose cone). Other than using balsa for the fins, there's really not much that I changed in the construction, I really liked it the way it was. About the only other thing that I changed was that instead of the orange and yellow paint on the old one, the new one is a pretty cool-looking blue and yellow.