2016 WORLD SPACE MODELING CHAMPIONSHIPS · 2016 WORLD SPACE MODELING CHAMPIONSHIPS ... by Allan Williams ... Space Shuttle, assorted Star Wars and Star Trek ships,

JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2017

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2016 WORLD SPACE MODELING CHAMPIONSHIPS

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 VOLUME 59, NUMBER 1

Feature Articles

Mike Nowak launches his Little Joe II in the S7 Scale event at the 21st World Space Modeling Championships in Lviv, Ukraine. Photo by John Langford.

On The Cover

4 Editor’s Spaceby Tom Beach

6 2016 World Space Modeling Championship Coverageby John Langford

28 Custom Shop 14: Flames and Shadowsby Ed Miller

36 A Semi Empirical Approach to Range Safety Operationby Allan Williams

39 Certified Rocket Motor List

45 Manufacts

46 Section Listing

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EDITO

R’S

4 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT ROCKETRY

SPORT ROCKETRY

(ISSN 08-83-0991, USPS 961-660) is published bi-monthly by the National Association of Rocketry, 2275 Geode Street, Marion, Iowa 52302, 1-800-262-4872; a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth of hobby rocketry.

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Metal RocketryI recently built what was, for me, a new

kind of spacemodel: A Fascinations Metal Earth Apollo Lunar Module. The Lunar Module kit came as two sheets of 0.008" thin steel approximately 4.3" by 4.3" with about 55 laser-cut pieces in them (plus ex-tra copies of a few pieces). I also purchased their tool kit that includes a fine cutter to easily snip the parts from the sheets, and two pliers for bending the parts (you can never have too many tools). The model is assembled without glue by inserting little tabs through slots in other parts, and then bending or twisting the tabs to lock the parts together. It took me several hours to complete the Lunar Module, which stands about 2.25" tall.

Metal Earth makes many different sim-ilar metal kits, some of which are space-models (Mars Rover, HST, Lunar Rover, Space Shuttle, assorted Star Wars and Star

Trek ships, etc.). I bought the Lunar Mod-ule kit on Amazon for $11.00 (and $15.00 for the tools...but it's possible you could get by with needle nose pliers you already have). The build was fun and challenging, and the shiny little Lunar Module is quite striking on my shelf.

Trek ships, etc.). I bought the Lunar Mod-


Lane 13, the U.S. Junior Team pad, was a beehive of activity throughout the week. Here Stoil Avrimov, Ashley van Milligan, Allison van Milligan,

and Rachael Nowak prep S1 Altitude Models. The team won a Silver Medal in this event, and Ashley won an individual Silver.

Photo by John Langford


by John Langford and the 2016 U.S. Team

M

SPORT ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 7


by John Langford and the 2016 U.S. Team

AUGUST 22-30, 2016 • LVIV, UKRAINE

The biannual World Championships for Space Model-ing was held August 22-30, 2016, in Lviv, Ukraine. The NAR sent a delegation of 38 people including 6 Junior competitors, 16 senior competitors, two team managers, two assistant team managers, one timer, one FAI Judge, and ten supporters.

The VenueThe contest was staged out of Lviv, the third largest city in

Ukraine. The contest had originally been scheduled for Dnipro (in central Ukraine) but was moved west to Lviv to be further from the conflict zone.

The U.S. team was housed in the Hotel Dnister, located on a hill near downtown Lviv and one of two hotels used to house contes-tants. The Dnister is a modern hotel that has hosted international events including the 1999 Summit of Central European countries.

The field was an open pasture north of the city. It was sur-rounded by three villages located on low parallel ridges running east and west.

The contest was sponsored by Noosphere, a Ukrainian IT company. Noosphere proved extensive media coverage of the event including live TV coverage through multiple ground- and drone-based cameras, with feeds onto large screens onsite and live streaming onto the Internet.

Wednesday, August 24, was Ukrainian Independence Day. Thanks to advertising by Noosphere and free shuttle bus service from downtown, there were large spectator crowds at the field.


The Venue


The U.S. team had its best competitive performance since 1980, bringing home a total of eleven medals: four Gold, four Silver, and three Bronze.

Individual medals:GOLD – Emma Kristal – Class S2 Precision AltitudeGOLD – Matt Steele – Class S5C Scale AltitudeGOLD – Robert Kreutz – Class S1B Altitude (world record)SILVER – Allison Van Milligan – Class S2P JuniorSILVER – Ashley Van Milligan – Class S1A JuniorBRONZE – Ashley Van Milligan – Class S2P Junior

Team medals:GOLD – Class S2 Precision AltitudeSILVER – Class S1A Altitude, JuniorSILVER – Class S1B AltitudeBRONZE – Class S2P Precision Altitude, JuniorBRONZE – Class S8D RC Rocket Glide, Junior

The contest coincided with Ukrainian Independence Day. In one of the celebrations, all the contestants launched

blue and yellow hot air balloons at dusk.Photo by John Langford.

In addition to watching from large bleachers set up for the occasion, there were collateral activities including rocket building for kids, hot air balloon assembly and launching, body painting, and lots of food from onsite vendors.

The Senior leadership from the FAI was out in force. The President of the FAI, John Grubbstrom, attended the event, as did the President of the CIAM, Antonis Papadapoulos.

The CompetitionThe World Spacemodelling Championships opened on Tues-

day, August 23, with a ceremony and entertainment in the Lviv central square.

The competition days were Wednesday through Sunday. Each was a long day, beginning with breakfast at 6:00 AM, transporta-tion to the field at 7:00, flying all day, awards ceremony in the eve-ning, and transportation back to the hotel around 9:00 PM. Lunch was served in a mobile cafeteria set up on the field, while breakfast and dinner were both in the hotel Dnister dining room.

The weather was excellent throughout the competition, with clear skies, light winds, and temperatures in the 70s and low 80s. A planned reserve day was not needed for flying, so the team members were able to take walking or bus tours to local sites and venues.

Full results may be downloaded from the contest website: http://worldrocket2016.frms.ua/en/

SPORT ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 9SPORT ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 9

“Dr. Bob” Kreutz won Gold and set a new World Record in the S1B Altitude event, with an astounding 753.6 meter flight.

Photo by John Langford.

Emma Kristal (right) won Gold in the S2 Precision Altitude event, while Steve Kristal (left) shared a

team Silver in S1B Altitude.Photo by John Langford.

Matt Steele displays his Black Brant IV Scale Altitude model, which won the Gold

Medal in S5.Photo by John Langford.

The U.S. TeamTeam Manager for the U.S. Team was

John Langford. It was John’s twelfth Word Championships, having flown as a com-petitor on the ’74, ’78, and ’80 teams, led the Junior team efforts in 2000, ’02, ’04, and ’06, and managed the U.S. Senior Team in 1980, 2006, ’08, ’10, ’12, and ’14. The Deputy Team Manager was Grigoriy Vislobokov, who served a similar role in 2006. Grigoriy grew up in Ukraine before emigrating to the U.S. in 1996 and is fluent in English, Russian, and Ukrainian. Terrill Willard had run the team selection flyoffs in 2015. Most of the pre-contest organiz-ing of the team had been done by Trip Bar-ber. The Senior Team was comprised of:

Matthew Berk (Starkville, Miss.)James Duffy (Georgetown, Texas)Jim Filler (Glen Burnie, Md.)Chris Flanigan (San Diego, Calif.)George Gassaway (Plymouth, Minn.)Steve Humphrey (Warren, N.J.)Kevin Johnson (Laurel, Md.)Chris Kidwell (Clearwater, Fla.)Robert Kreutz (Brick, N.J.)Steve Kristal (Royal Oak, Mich.)Kevin Kuczek (Conifer, Colo.)Jay Marsh (High Point, N.C.)Michael Nowak (Cleveland Heights,

Ohio)David O’Bryan (Brookeville, Md.)Randy Ringer (River Vale, N.J.)Matt Steele (Sandy, Utah)

The Junior team was headed by a new generation of NAR leadership. Katherine Humphrey was 11 years old when she flew at Baikonur, and she has competed


in every championship since. This year she stepped into the Team Manager role and did an outstanding job. She was ably assisted by Emma Kristal, who had also come up through the Junior ranks and, in addition to winning the Gold medal in S2P Senior, was herself paying forward by serv-ing as the Assistant Team Manager. Both Katherine and Emma are college students. The Junior team consisted of:

Stoil Avramov, 15, Elkridge, Md.Rachel Nowak, 17, Cleveland, OhioAlyssa Stenberg, 17, Minneapolis, Minn.

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Zackary Stenberg, 13, Minneapolis, Minn.

Allison Van Milligan, 16, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ashley Van Milligan, 12, Colorado Springs, Colo.Team supporters included Dimitre

Avramov; Trish, Michael, and Jamen Berk; Barbara Langford; Tim and Cindy Van Milligan; Jon Stenberg; Rita Ringner; and Christine Nowak.

The U.S. Timer was Ellis Langford. Ed Pearson served as the U.S. representative on the FAI Jury.

On duration event days, as many as 20 models filled the sky at once. Here Junior Team Manager Katharine Humphrey (right) points out a

US parachute duration model to Steve and Emma Kristal.Photo by John Langford.

Size 54 x 31 x 10 mm (2.1 x 1.2 x 0.4 in)Weight 17.5 grams (0.6 ounces)Requirements For motor-eject rockets 38mm and larger

that fly at least 200 feet high.Batteries Built-in USB-rechargableConstruction Polycarbonate housing with Teflon-coated

aircraft aluminum mechanicals

S1 AltitudeThe FAI altitude events have

gone entirely over to altimeters, which in a World Championships are issued and controlled by the contest organizers. The Juniors fly S1A (2.5 N-s of impulse), while the Seniors fly the more powerful S1B (5 N-s).

The U.S. Junior team for S1A was Rachel Nowak, Allison Van Milligan, and Ashley Van Milli-gan. In the first round, Ashley and Allison both posted strong flights, but Rachel’s was disqualified. The second round was the best as Ash-ley Van Milligan posted the high-est U.S. S1A score of the meet – 394 meters. In the third round, the overriding goal was to get a qualified flight for Rachel – which she did, posting 309 meters.

Despite all the social media of the meet, the scores were being posted the same old way (manu-

12 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT ROCKETRY12 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT

S1 Altitude

gone entirely over to altimeters, which in a World Championships are issued and controlled by the are issued and controlled by the contest organizers. The Juniors fly S1A (2.5 N-s of impulse), while the Seniors fly the more powerful S1B (5 N-s).

was Rachel Nowak, Allison Van Milligan, and Ashley Van Milligan. In the first round, Ashley and Allison both posted strong flights, but Rachel’s was disqualified. The second round was the best as Ashley Van Milligan posted the highest U.S. S1A score of the meet – 394 meters. In the third round, the overriding goal was to get a qualified flight for Rachel – which she did, posting 309 meters.

the meet, the scores were being posted the same old way (manu

U.S. Junior Ashley van Milligan on the medal stand to receive her Silver Medal in S1A Altitude.


The U.S. Junior S1A Altitude team checks in their models: Allison van Milligan, Ashley van Milligan,

and Rachel Nowak. The team finished second overall, and Ashley won the individual Silver.

Photo by Tim Van Milligan.

SPORT ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 13SPORT ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 13

An Unforgettable Experienceby Allison Van Milligan

Ukraine was an unforgettable experience. I have learned so much pertaining to rockets and life. This year I learned that the higher the stress, the bigger the reward could be. I was in S1, which is a two-stage altitude rocket event. These rockets can have so many ways to malfunction, as we learned in Bulgaria in 2014. Back then, we didn’t have any qualified flights. Preparing these small rockets takes forever because there are so many steps, and if you forget one tiny one, you could end up in last place.

My sister and I had really good first flights. We were in first and second for a while, but ended up in 2nd and 4th overall. But to get a team medal, we had to get our teammate Rachel Nowak a qualified flight. The three of us were working super hard during the third round to get that flight off, and sure enough we did. And together as a team we placed second! When I was in Bulgaria, I didn’t even come close to making the podium. And mak-ing it with my sister and one of my closest friends was amazing.

Even better, I made the podium two more times on top of that. I got 3rd place for individual S2P. The S2P contest is like a TARC event. You have to fly the same rocket three different times without cracking the same egg, reaching 300m and keep-ing the rocket in the air for a minute. You aren’t allowed to open the egg until after all three flights, so if the egg is cracked at the end, you are disquali-fied from the whole event. And then the person with the best score on the three flights wins. As a team we got second place in this event! I also had two more events along with these two. They were parachute and streamer. I did okay with qualified flights in these, but did not place or anything.

Along with rockets, I learned so many things about life that will help me out later in life. One of the most significant things is, no other country is like America. Other countries citizens have to work a lot harder and get paid a lot less. Their life is very different. But the people from other coun-tries are generally very much like most of the peo-

ple in America. The other most important thing I learned was, talk to new people. You never know when you are going to need someone, and the more people you know, the better. If I ever needed to do like a school pen pal project, I know people from all over Europe I could write to. And learning how to talk to more people is a skill I am acquir-ing from going to the world competitions. I talked to more new people in Ukraine than I did in Bulgaria. I think having people skills are the most valuable thing that I learned. Because no matter what I do in life, I will have to communicate with people.

I had to miss two weeks over my junior year of high school to go on this trip. I am still trying to catch up on all the work I missed. But, I learned more world history in two weeks than I did in a whole year in school. We were in Ukraine when they celebrated their 25th Independence Day. The lantern launch at night was breathtaking. They did that instead of fireworks out of respect for their military members that were still fight-ing a war in the eastern side of their country. You can learn so much more being in a country where major historic events happened (and are happening) than reading from a textbook.

Ukraine was an amazing experience, and I am so glad I went, even though I had two weeks worth of makeup work when I got back. I would definitely recommend anyone to try out to be part of the team. It is an experience like no other. I learned so much and actually want to learn more about the history of all the places that I have gone now. If all works out with college and everything, I hope I can be apart of the 2018 and travel to Poland!

were in first and second for a while, but ended up in 2nd and 4th overall. But to get a team medal, we had to get our teammate Rachel Nowak a qualified flight. The three of us were working super hard during the third round to get that flight off, and sure enough we did. And together as a team we placed second! When I was in Bulgaria, I didn’t even come close to making the podium. And making it with my sister and one of my closest friends was amazing.

times on top of that. I got 3rd place for individual S2P. The S2P contest is like a TARC event. You have to fly the same rocket three different times without cracking the same egg, reaching 300m and keeping the rocket in the air for a minute. You aren’t allowed to open the egg until after all three flights, so if the egg is cracked at the end, you are disqualified from the whole event. And then the person with the best score on the three flights wins. As a team we got second place in this event! I also had two more events along with these two. They were parachute and streamer. I did okay with qualified flights in these, but did not place or anything.

about life that will help me out later in life. One of the most significant things is, no other country is like America. Other countries citizens have to work a lot harder and get paid a lot less. Their life is very different. But the people from other countries are generally very much like most of the peo

ple in America. The other most important thing I learned was, talk to new people. You

ally printed on a results board), with a long delay. As we watched the results, it became clear that the U.S. Juniors had a strong shot at a team Silver medal. Ashley’s flight was bumped down to 3rd place with her flight of 394 meters being topped by a Slovakian at 430 meters and a Serbian at 526 meters.

The Serbian score was immediately questioned as being suspiciously high with an A engine – sort of like running the 100 meter dash is under 7 seconds while ev-erybody else was coming in at 10 seconds. The first alarm came from the altimeter con-trol. They alerted the judges, who ap-parently spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out what to do. The Ser-bian had recorded his score on the first round and had not flown again. The two other Serbian team members had recorded three DQs each. So they had one qualified flight, with an astounding score. With senior FAI officials on site and the FAI Presi-dent arriving later in the day, the last thing the organizers wanted was a big controversy. When we left the field on the bus that evening, the results board showed Ashley in 3rd place. But by the time we got to the hotel, the on-line results had been updated to show her moving up to second place. So the U.S. posted a Silver medal for Ashley and a team Silver medal, with the Gold going to Slovakia.

The Senior teams fly S1B (5 N-s). Dr. Bob Kreutz, Dr. Steve Kristal, and Matt Steele represented the U.S. Dr. Bob settled the event in the first U.S. flight of the first round, posting a new world record of 753 meters that no one else was able to touch for the rest of the day. He also had a made a second flight of 726 meters that showed repeatability. Matt Steele flew 592 meters (11th place), and Steve Kristal posted 555 meters for 15th place. With three solid scores, the U.S. took the Silver medal in the team standings, 68 points behind Ukraine.

Allison Van Milligan displays her signed and numbered egg she used to win Bronze in the

S2P Precision Altitude event. S2P is the international version of the TARC event.



F20-7W but that motor wasn’t available.The juniors had excellent flights

throughout each round. Ashley had an im-pressive round with a time of 72 seconds and 297.9 meters. Her other two flights (65 seconds, 288.7 meters and 60 seconds, 200 meters) sent her home with a Silver

medal win! Following close behind Allison finished with the Bronze medal, and Stoil and Rachel finished in 6th and 8th place respectively. Overall, with an impressive team effort, the S2/P Junior team won the Silver medal.

The U.S. Senior team included Emma Kristal, Chris Flanigan, and Matt Steele. Chris flew a short BT-80 model using E20 motors, while Emma and Matt flew larger models (derived from Estes Partizon kits) using F40 motors. Competitors from oth-er countries used large motors or clusters. For example, the UK team used clusters of three D12 motors with great success.

The objective of S2/P is to achieve a precise altitude (300 m) and duration (60 seconds) without breaking a fragile pay-load (a broken egg results in a DQ). In the


Practice, Practice, Practice!by Ashley Van Milligan

My experience overseas was amazing. I learned that the more you practice and the more designs you have, the better your rocket turns out so you can better your chances of winning. So the reason I got 2nd place for individuals in S1A (A-engine altitude) was because we practiced and practiced and probably had over 15 rockets built before we succeeded.

I also learned I do better under pressure, which is kind of weird. But also more important, raise your hand to tell the timers to tell the judges you are ready or you get DQ’d...which happened to me because I was so excited. I had the first flight of the en-tire contest. I was so eager to fly my S2P (egg lofting) rocket that I didn’t wait for the RSO to give me permission to launch. So I got disqualified. But my next two flights were great, and I still ended up on the podium at the end of the day.

Also, just going over there and talking and meeting new people is exciting, even though I probably won’t be back in Ukraine any time soon. I found that you pick up some of the words in all the languages spoken at the contest. I was over there not only for the rockets, but to have lots of fun.

S2/P Precision Altitude & Duration

S2/P is a relatively new FAI event. It’s “TARC for FAI” and pro-vides a way to introduce larger models and motors into FAI competi-tion. At the 2016 WSMC, S2/P was flown as an Open International Contest and was sponsored with awards and cash prizes by Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation and Noosphere.

The U.S. Junior S2/P team included Rachel Nowak, Ashley Van Milligan, Allison Van Milligan, and Stool Avramov. All of the junior competitors used F20-7 motors. Rachel flew a model modified from an Estes Partizon kit with a shorter padded payload section contain-ing the egg. Ashley and Allison flew an Apogee EggStorminator kit. Stoil used his 2016 TARC rocket model that he designed and calcu-lated. It flew on an Economax F44-8W. He had planned to fly on an

To help promote the new S2P event to the international community, Aurora and Noosphere offered cash prizes to the winners. Here the U.S. senior

team of Chris Flanigan, Matt Steele, and Emma Kristal display their models.Photo by John Langford.

To help promote the new S2P event to the international community, Aurora

Emma’s Gold Medal S2P flight lifts off. S2P requires three consecutive flights, with unbroken eggs. Both duration and altitude are measured; low score wins.


first round, Emma had the best U.S. flight with a near-perfect duration of 61 seconds and an altitude of 284 meters. Her second flight was nearly as good (65 seconds, 286 meters). Her final flight had another excel-lent duration (61 seconds, 228 meters).


With three excellent flights, Emma won Gold! Matt Steele and Chris Flanigan also did well, finishing 4th and 5th. With nine good qualified flights, the S2/P Senior team took the team Gold medal.

YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR MISSION!

The U.S. Junior team had a new leader this year: Katharine Humphrey. Here Katharine escorts Ashley and Allison Van Milligan to

check in their S2P models.Photos by Tim Van Milligan.


S3 Parachute Duration

Both age divisions fly the 2.5 N-s ver-sion of this event, which requires three flights with a maximum score of 300 sec-onds per flight.

Stoil Avramov, Rachel Nowak, and Allison Van Milligan flew for the U.S. Ju-nior team. Stoil and Allison each had two maxes and one DQ apiece, earning them 9th and 11th. Rachel had two DQs and a qualified flight for 35th. Two competitors had perfect scores (three maxes), leading to a flyoff. The Gold went to Bowen Gao of China. The U.S. Team finished 10th, with the Czech Republic in first, China in sec-ond, and Slovakia in third.

16 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT

Internationals at Lviv, Ukraineby Zack Stenberg

This was the best Internationals I have ever been to. The opening cere-mony of the competition was held in the city of Lviv and it was such a big deal. It was very cool.

My sister Alyssa, my dad and I had multiple opportunities to walk around the city and I have never seen a city that was so beautiful. The buildings were old and full of history, the people were nice, the flowers were amazing, and the food was great! The overall culture of Lviv was captivating.

When the competition started, it was very intense. Everyone was rush-ing around trying to do one thing or another. I was of course stressed about the competition but it was also nice to see some of the competitors from pre-vious Internationals whom I’ve become friends with. I also had the opportuni-ty to make new friends. I flew in three event: S4A, S9A, and S8D. I didn’t do very well in S4A and S9A, but my team managed to earn a team Bronze in S8D.

One of the highlights of the week was the releasing of lanterns into the sky to mark the Ukrainian Indepen-dence Day on August 24th. The lan-terns were blue and yellow, the col-ors of their national flag. The evening sky lit up with these lanterns. It was a beautiful sight.

The U.S. Senior S3 Parachute Duration team was comprised of James Duffy,

Steve Humphrey, and Jim Filler.Photo by John Langford.

The U.S. S4 team of Dave O’Bryan, Randy Ringner, and Chris Flanigan.


James Duffy, Jim Filler, and Steve Humphrey represented the U.S. Seniors. James had two maxes and a DQ for 36th place; Jim had one max for a finish of 44th, and Steve finished 48th with only one qualified flight. In Lane 19, the U.S. was right next to the “Defending World Champion” lane #20. For S3, the defending champ was Antonio Mazzaracchio of Italy. Antonio is the entire Italian team, so he must do everything him-self: prepping models, pick-ing good air, and chasing the model to recover it. On his second flight, Antonio fell 10 seconds shy of a max, which meant he did not make the flyoffs and finished in 15th place. Twelve contestants achieved triple maxes, or 900 seconds. Two rounds of flyoffs were required before Miodrag Cipcic of Serbia was crowned as the new world champion. No team achieved a perfect score; the closest was the Lithuanians with 2591 seconds out of a pos-sible 2700 seconds. Show-ing the critical importance of reliability, the U.S. finished 15th – just ahead of Italy.

S4 Boost GlideAgain, both age divisions fly the same 2.5 N-s version of

this event.The Junior team consisted of Stoil Avramov, Alyssa Sten-

berg, and Zack Stenberg. The team turned in a solid nine qual-ified flights. Stoil had the best performance with two maxes and a sixth-place finish. Zack and Alyssa had one max each, finishing 14th and 16th respectively. The U.S. team narrowly


It’s All About the Teamby Stoil Avramov

This year at the 2016 World Championships in Lviv, Ukraine, the number of junior contestants for the U.S. national team was very small so it was busy for all of us. For a team to do well, it requires teamwork inside

and outside of the launching box. Even though there are not many junior contestants, we still needed to be supporting each other. The team did great, we were all focused on our tasks in order to do well, and in the end all of us were on the podium at least one time this year.

The class that I was mostly focused on was S4A. The weath-er conditions were mild. I was with an improved version of my 2014 full composite glider. All the other U.S. S4A juniors on the team used a sophisticated scissor flip type model. The first round it did not go well for me. I had multiple misfires and I was finally able to launch in the last ten minutes where I had no choice but to launch. This resulted in 122 seconds of flight time, reducing my chances of having a shot at the top three. The next two rounds were maxes, which was able to get me to sixth posi-tion in the rankings. The U.S. S4A team did well with all nine qualified flights and four maxes. We were only 34 points from earning a team bronze.

S3A was “Classic”: After the max on my first flight, I lost my model and had to use a model with a dethermalizer. That did not go very well—the rocket got smashed in the middle of the boost due to change of pressure and flight was disqualified. Somehow I was able to reassemble the rocket and launch my third flight, which was another max.

S8D was a challenging competition. I made some practice flights in the morning. I was comfortable with the planes and

weather. Everything was going very well until the afternoon when it was time for our starts. The weather had changed dramatically with higher wind gusting and some serious sink. This affected on my performance. We all were able to complete our flights and managed to get a team Bronze.

I am thankful for the chance to be in U.S. team juniors for the 2016 World Championships. It was busy time but I enjoyed it very much. It was a pleasure to meet and compete with modelers from other countries, and build new relationships.

and outside of the launching box. Even though there are not many junior contestants, we still needed to be supporting each other. The team did great, we were all focused on our tasks in order to do well, and in the end all of us were on the podium at least one time this year.

er conditions were mild. I was with an improved version of my 2014 full composite glider. All the other U.S. S4A juniors on the team used a sophisticated scissor flip type model. The first round it did not go well for me. I had multiple misfires and I was finally able to launch in the last ten minutes where I had no choice but to launch. This resulted in 122 seconds of flight time, reducing my chances of having a shot at the top three. The next two rounds were maxes, which was able to get me to sixth position in the rankings. The U.S. S4A team did well with all nine qualified flights and four maxes. We were only 34 points from earning a team bronze.

my model and had to use a model with a dethermalizer. That did not go very well—the rocket got smashed in the middle of the boost due to change of pressure and flight was disqualified. Stoil Avramov and Rachel Nowak pre-

pare Rachel’s S1A model for launch.Photo by John Langford.


How sweet it is! Matt Steele celebrates Gold in the S5 Scale Altitude event.



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Transitioning from competitor to team managerby Katherine Humphrey

I’ll always remember sitting in the middle of a desert in Kazakhstan, prepping rock-ets in the midst of the dry heat. Despite being a young 11 years old, this will always be my memory of my first international rocketry competition. Since then, I have com-peted as a junior in three additional competitions (Spain, Serbia, and Slovakia), and as a senior in a fifth competition (Bulgaria). After competing in five world space modeling championships over almost ten years of my life, I thought I was a professional. How-ever, coming back this year as the U.S. Junior Team Manager, I quickly realized there is a big difference between competing and managing, and there is always more to learn.

As a competitor I only had to focus on my own events. As long as I knew what needed to be done in my particular events, I was set. On the other side of the rope though, I had to be aware of what all of the junior competitors needed at all times, whether that be assistance talking to the timekeepers, an extra pair of hands to jump into the lane, or even just some peace and quiet to focus. I realized that with any issue we encountered, the best route of action always started with staying calm and assessing how much time we had to resolve what needed to be situated.

Although the week started out a bit stressful, I quickly got used to this demand and found managing the junior team to be quite rewarding and impressive. I am extremely proud of how well these juniors worked both individually and as a team (every junior took home a medal this year!). Not only are they incredibly knowledgeable in the field of rocketry, but they are also emerging into respectable and independent adults. I feel like I was just in their shoes back at my first competition in 2006, but the transfor-mation from competitor to manager has pushed me to grow even farther than I ever thought I would.

ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 19

A Perfect Finale to a Junior’s Careerby Alyssa Stenberg

Going to Ukraine for my last In-ternational competition as a Junior, I thought I knew what to expect. I thought it would be similar to the pre-vious ones I’ve been to. I was com-pletely wrong! The whole week in Ukraine was amazing, and it made me that much more happy to be able to go there. From the huge LCD screen in the middle of the field, constantly show-ing interviews and real-time clips, to the shuttles of people coming in from Lviv, eager to watch rockets and talk with us, there were so many aspects to this competition that just made it so great. Seeing kids building paper rockets and fly-ing them was really fun to watch, it re-minded me so much of when I was first starting out in the hobby!

Even flying S8, all dressed up in my uniform and nervously waiting to launch, I could feel the difference in the atmosphere. Spectators looked on and I could tell everyone was having a good time. When I wasn’t compet-ing, I was with my friends, all Juniors from the U.S. team. We made the most of our time, meeting and talking with new people from all around the world, looking at the stalls where people were displaying their gadgets (including a robot, one I’ve been interested in for years!) and selling drinks, or simply sitting at the food tent, chatting.

Some of my favorite times were when we were with friends from oth-er countries, because we only ever see them in these competitions. We had so much fun catching up, watching rockets, and just hanging out! Anoth-er amazing time during the week was the opening ceremony, which was held in a plaza in the middle of Lviv. Lots of people gathered to watch as it went on, and at the end balloons represent-ing our countries were released into the sky, and a band played.

All in all, the WSMC this year in Ukraine was something I’ll never forget. Even though it was my last time flying as a junior, the unbelievable amount of fun I had with everyone there made it ex-traordinary, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more perfect.

missed a Bronze medal, coming in 4th be-hind the Poles, Slovakians, and Chinese respectively.

The Senior team was Chris Flanigan, Dave O’Bryan, and Randy Ringner. Chris and Randy both flew slide-wings, while Dave flew a scissors-flop wing. Dave posted two maxes for the best U.S. score and fin-ished in 10th place. Chris had one max and finished 16th. Randy had a max and a DQ and finished 38th. The U.S. finished 6th overall, as Poland took home the team Gold.

S5 Scale AltitudeThe rules for this event had changed

since the last world championships. New di-ameter and length requirements were defined with the goal of increasing diversity of mod-els. This succeeded and had the intended ef-fect, with a wide array of prototypes entered ranging from simple meteorological sounding rockets to a Saturn V and even a couple of Athena H models. The big competition was between single-stage and two-stage models.

Although Alyssa Stenberg won a Gold medal in this event in 2014, there were no entries this time from U.S. Junior team. Mi-chael Zitman of Slovakia took the Gold, flying a two-stage TT500A sounding rocket. The highest flight was 361 meters, posted by a single-stage Arcas from Poland.

The U.S. Seniors entered a single-stage Black Brant III (by Jim Filler), a single-stage Black Brant IV (by Matt Steele), and a two-stage Nike Nike Smoke (by Bob Kreutz). Dr. Bob was in first place after the static judging, and hopes were high that he might replicate his S1 performance and claim a second Gold medal. Unfortunately, the booster engines he had ordered had not been delivered, and

the only Class B booster motor available (a B2-0) lacked the thrust needed for a straight boost. Dr. Bob’s model performed a slow gravity turn, and staging occurred when the model was horizontal, sending the upper stage on a cross-country trajec-tory towards a nearby village. Despite the U.S. putting almost 30 people in the field running search lines, we were unable to find the upper stage. Since S5 only al-lows one model, Dr. Bob’s day ended in a sheep pasture.

Fortunately, Matt and Jim were using new 15 mm composite motors special-ly made by AeroTech especially for this event, and the performance of these mo-

tors drove Matt to first place with a score of 862 points. Matt’s first flight was made on an Estes C6 and went 281 meters, while his flight on the composite C4 was 460 meters – a powerful demon-stration of the critical importance of full-impulse motors. Second place in the event was a single-stage Arcas from Poland (which actually had the highest altitude of the event, 497 meters). Third place went a single-stage Ukrainian MMR-06M. Jim Filler finished 7th with an altitude of 384 meters.

S6 Streamer DurationAs in S3 Parachute Duration, both Seniors and Juniors fly the

same event, using A-class motors of 2.5 N-s.The U.S. Junior team was Rachel Nowak, and Allison and Ash-

20 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT ROCKETRY20 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT ROCKETRY

Jim Filler displays his beautiful Black Brant III Scale Altitude model.


The U.S. Senior S6 team: Jay Marsh, Dave O’Bryan, and Kevin Kuczek. Note Kevin’s laminar flow model design.


The Czech Junior team flew D-Region Tomahawks

in Scale Altitude, including this one that placed third.Photo by John Langford.

the only Class B booster motor available (a B2-0) lacked the thrust needed for a straight boost. Dr. Bob’s model performed a slow gravity turn, and staging occurred when the model was horizontal, sending the upper stage on a cross-country trajectory towards a nearby village. Despite the U.S. putting almost 30 people in the field running search lines, we were unable to find the upper stage. Since S5 only allows one model, Dr. Bob’s day ended in a sheep pasture.

new 15 mm composite motors specially made by AeroTech especially for this event, and the performance of these moA Ukrainian Nike-Black

Brant at staging.Photo by John Langford.

ley Van Milligan. They posted eight out of possible nine qualified flights, but no maxes. The U.S. placed 27th, 31st, and 35th in this highly competitive event, and the U.S. finished 11th. Slovakia, Chi-na, and Poland took top honors.

The U.S. Senior team included Kevin Kuczek, Jay Marsh, and Dave O’Bryan. The U.S. struggled in this event. Although we achieved nine qualified flights, we had no maxes. Our best performance was by Jay Marsh, who finished 30th. Kevin (flying inno-vative laminar flow bod-ies) finished 41st, and Dave finished 42nd. The U.S. finished 14th. No team had three maxes, so there was no flyoff. Spain won the Gold, with the Czech team taking Sil-ver, and Lithuania taking Bronze.

S7 ScaleThere were no U.S.

Junior entries this year in Scale, and the Russians were absent. The event was dominated by the Polish, Ukrainian, and Czech teams.

The U.S. Seniors en-tered a Saturn IB from Chris Flanigan, a Mercury Little Joe I from James Duffy, and an Apollo Little Joe II from Mike Nowak. Chris’s Saturn was the best static score at 481 points, and Chris made a gorgeous flight. Chris used the actual final countdown for the SA-207 Apollo 7 flight, lit a pad-mounted motor to simulate the engine start, and successfully lit an 8-engine cluster for the first stage. The second stage ignited successfully, as did the third stage (the Com-mand/Service model). It looked like a perfect flight until we saw the SLA transition shroud fluttering down, with a parachute attached but not deployed. The shroud landed at the RSO’s feet, and the flight was disqualified. Duffy was the top U.S. finisher at 16th, while Mike came in 18th. The Gold medal went to a Saturn V build by Jan Sebesta of the Czech Republic. A Ukrainian Zenit 3 Sea Launch took second, and an Ariane L01 from Slova-kia took third. The U.S. team finished 7th, with 1184 total points. The Czech team was first with 2212, Slovakia was second with 2195, and Poland was third with 2176.

S8 RC Boost GlideThe radio-controlled rocket glider event

James Duffy entered this immaculate Little Joe I model in S7.


Chris Flanigan flew a three-stage, 8-engine cluster Saturn 1B from the Apollo 7 flight.


Chris Flanigan, a Mercury Little Joe I from

Ignition of Chris Flanigan’s Saturn 1B.




The Scale turn-in room features the world’s best lineup of scale model rockets. U.S. entries by Duffy

and Flanigan are at left.Photo by John Langford.

Prepping James Duffy’s Mercury Little Joe in the U.S. team tent.


Top Right: The contest field featured live video feeds, including from overhead drones. The Ukrainian company Noosphere sponsored an extensive social media outreach.

Center: At the closing awards, the U.S. Senior Team was awarded third place overall. Team Manager

John Langford accept the trophy.Photos by Tim Van Milligan.

Chris Kidwell flew S9 and led the US team’s

thermal-picking efforts.Photo by Tim Van Milligan.

SPORT ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 23ROCKETRY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 23

Left: Matej Hagara of the Ukrainian Junior team walks out

to the pad with his Zenit Sea Launch Scale Model. Sadly, this model

disqualified twice.Photo by Tim Van Milligan.

A Romanian Ariane 44Lp sheds its

strap-ons shortly after launch.


A Polish Saturn 1B entry stages on its way to a fourth-place

finish.Photo by John Langford.

Mike Nowak preps his amazing Little

Joe II for scale.Mike will serve as the Contest

Director for the 2017 team

selection flyoffs.Photo by Tim Van Milligan.

The Saturn Ib was the most popular prototype is Scale, with 10 entries

in Senior category alone. Here, a Ukraine entry lifts off.


has been a U.S. stronghold since Guppy Youngren flew the first RC Boost Glider at the 1978 World Champion-ships. Our special AeroTech motors made it safely from the U.S. and tested perfectly, so hopes were high as the event started.

The U.S. Junior team were all veterans of previ-ous World Championships: Alyssa and Zack Stenberg and Stoil Avramov. The max time for this event is 360 seconds, plus an additional 60 bonus points for land-ing within a designated landing zone. Although the top six finishers all had two perfect flights, no contes-tant hit all three, so no flyoffs were needed. The U.S. team qualified on all nine flights. Alyssa just missed a Bronze medal by 8 seconds, with two perfect scores and a strong third flight. Zack finished 7th with two maxes and two good landings. Stoil came in 17th. To-gether, the performance was strong enough to win a team Bronze medal. China took Gold, and the Slova-kian team won Silver.

The U.S. senior team was also full of returning veterans: Matthew Berk, George Gassaway, and Kevin Johnson. Matthew had the most interesting flight when his landing in the first round was interrupted by a cam-era drone flying directly into his line of sight with his model. The U.S. objected, and Matthew was grant-ed a re-flight. Kevin Johnson had the best U.S. score 14th (2533 points), Matt was 17th (2370 points), and George was 18th (2370 points). The event was won


has been a U.S. stronghold since Guppy Youngren flew


Thermal Pickingby Chris Kidwell

A big decision in any contest is when to launch. For the duration events, that usually means looking for thermals to launch into, so that the rising air will keep the models aloft longer. In FAI competition, this becomes more complicated because teams need to launch three times within each 90-min-ute round, so the competitors have a limited window of opportunity to find the best air. There are also 15 other teams trying to achieve the same result, so it becomes quite a challenge to make the launch decision before others jump into the launch queue ahead of you.

To help with that process, the U.S. team used a mix of technology and old-fashioned “gut feelings” to determine when to launch. Jay Marsh took up the task of sitting about 200 meters upwind of the launch site, and relayed his weather reports to me at the pad via FRS radio. I digested his reports, and combined them with my own observations to make the final recommenda-tion to launch. We both used Kestrel digital sensors to look for changes in temperature, as well as observations of wind shifts. With Jay positioned up-wind, that gave us 1-2 minutes of lead-time for the air mass to move from his position to the launch area. The mid-day thermals were usually easy to spot, sometimes going up by 5 degrees Celsius or more. In the early morning and late afternoon, we were keying off of changes as small as 0.2 degrees.

Overall, the process worked very well. As an outside observer, I was able to provide a definitive launch decision, free of the second-guessing that often hinders competitors. This also allowed the competitors to focus on getting their models ready instead of worrying about when to launch.

Matt Berk’s S8 RC Boost Glider launches from its tower.


26 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT ROCKETRY26 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 SPORT

FAI Championship: Ukraineby Rachel Nowak

After attending the FAI World Championship twice, I was excited to go again to see my teammates who I hadn’t seen in about a year to two years. This year, the competi-tion was held in Lviv, Ukraine, a beautiful city where you would never guess that there was a war going on across the country. This year, I competed in four events including; S2P, S3, S6, and S1. Though S2P was a demonstration event and not technically a part of the ac-tual competition, I still found it to be one of the highlights of the week. My team comprised of myself, Allison, and Ashley Van Mil-ligan ended up receiving a team Silver medal, which was extremely exciting. Although we did not win any medals in S3 or S6, we did bring home the team Silver medal in S1.

S1 proved to be as stressful as ev-eryone always said it was. After being DQ’d the first two rounds, I knew I had to have a good flight in the third round in order for us to place as a team. It took a moment for me to step back and evalu-ate the situation. With the help of some of my teammates, I was able to put up a good flight and our team won second place. It was a rewarding experience to be a part of an all-girl team and show that young girls can win hard events like S1 as well. In general, it was really ex-citing to see many girls do well in this year’s competition. I think it is so cool to see women of all ages participating and proving to the world that the world of science is not dominated by men.

I saw so many people excited to learn more about a rocketry this year than I ever have at one of these compe-titions. Everyone was so motivated and just happy to be there. I think that this year’s competition would have to be my favorite due to how involved the com-munity of Lviv was. I loved that locals came and watched and how kids got to fly their own rockets. It was a truly in-credible experience and I would highly recommend this competition to anyone who is able to attend.

S9 Helicopter Duration

Seniors and Juniors both fly 2.5 N-s motors for this event.

The U.S. Junior team consisted of Alys-sa and Zack Stenberg and Ashley Van Milli-gan. The team had models that performed well, but was plagued by a series of dis-qualifications tied to a rules interpretation that differed from the U.S. The rules for Parachute and Streamer events allow the use of an expendable protector (wadding or ejection piston) for the recovery device. However, the rules in Helicopter Duration merely specify that the entry cannot sepa-rate into two or more pieces. Apparently in Europe, this is interpreted to mean that recovery wadding cannot be used in this event. Since the rule was enforced uni-formly, the U.S. had no basis for a protest, but it was a disappointment. Ashley was the top U.S. finisher in 9th place, with Zack in 18th and Alyssa 23rd. The U.S. team finished 7th, with Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Serbia taking the top team slots.

George Gassaway, Chris Kidwell, Steve

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by Maris Brakovskis of Latvia. A Ukrainian was second, and a Chinese was third. Bul-garia took the team Gold, while Ukraine was Silver, and Latvia took Bronze. The U.S. team finished 6th, behind China and Poland.

American girls rule! The U.S. Junior Team on the medal stand for S1A.

Team Manager Katherine Humphrey with Ashley Van Milligan, Allison Van Milligan, and Rachel Nowak.


Humphrey were the U.S. Senior team for S9A. Steve had one max and finished 6th, Chris and George each had one max but also one DQ to finish 38th and 40th. Four fliers achieved triple maxes, so the event went into a flyoff before it was won by Ste-fan Stefanov of Bulgaria. The U.S. finished 11th, with Ukraine, Slovenia, and Belarus taking the top slots.

SummaryWhile every contest has its share of

frustrations, the 2016 U.S. Team had a very successful outing. We finished with six individual and five team medals, in-cluding four gold medals. It was wonderful

to hear the Star Spangled Banner at some of the award ceremonies! In total scores and medals, the U.S. Senior Team finished 3rd – our best performance in many years. The Junior team did exceptionally well, with every member of the Junior team tak-ing home at least one medal. The contest, transportation, food, and lodging were all very good, and we thank our Ukrainian hosts for a job well done.

Planning for 2018The next World Championships is

scheduled for August 25-September 2 near Krakow, Poland. Krakow is a beautiful city, and the meet promises to be well run.

The NAR will select the U.S. team through a flyoffs to be held the weekend before NARAM. The Contest Director for the flyoffs will be Mike Nowak. All NAR members are strongly encouraged to come out and try their hand at FAI flying.

We especially encourage Juniors to apply for the team. The NAR and Aurora Flight Sciences provide scholarship assis-tance to the Junior team that covers the costs of participation in the meet (entry fees, food and lodging, uniforms, motors, and local transportation while at the meet) and also helps to defray transportation costs. For information on the U.S. Junior team, please contact [email protected].


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Humphrey were the U.S. Senior team for to hear the Star Spangled Banner at some The NAR will select the U.S. team

A collection of U.S. medal winners: Matt Steele, Katherine Humphrey, Allison Van Milligan, Rachel Nowak, Emma Kristal, Zack Stenberg, Ashley Van Milligan, Alyssa Stenberg, Steve Kristal, and “Dr. Bob” Kreutz. We need you in this picture

next time: tryouts for the 2018 team will be held in conjuction with NARAM in July 2017. Photo by John Langford.


FLAMES & SHADOWSCustom Shop: Custom Shop: Custom Shop:

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by Ed Miller, NAR 45776, TRA 637 Flame paint jobs are always in style. Street rods and motorcycles always look good with flames—so do rockets.

This article will explain how to do flames with shadows. Photo 1 shows the primered Mega Streak with a black guide coat applied. The guide coat was one light coat of black lacuer that was applied with a spray can. The guide coat was left to dry overnight, then the entire rocket was sand-ed with 400 grit wet sandpaper. A sanding block was used on the fins to make them flat, and the fin fillets were carefully con-toured. Any low spots or pinholes in the primer remained black and showed where more filling and priming was needed. Af-ter I was satisfied with the priming and filling, the rocket was dried with a towel and wiped down with a tack cloth.

WARNING: Automotive paints are hazardous to your health. Take all pre-cautions to protect yourself. Refer to my

previous Custom Shop article in the July/August 2009 issue of Sport Rocketry for tips on safety equipment. Refer to and follow the manufacturers’ instructions and safety warnings.

The next step was to apply a sealer coat. Photo 2 shows the products used: House of Kolor KS10 White Primer Sealer, KU150 Catalyst, and RU-310 Fast Reduc-er. Two coats were sprayed on 15 minutes apart, as shown in photo 3. The sealer must be allowed to dry for one hour. Photo 4 shows the products used for the base color: House of Kolor PBC-64 Ultra Orange Pearl Universal Basecoat, RU-310 Fast Reducer, and SG100 Intercoat Clear. Four coats of the PBC-64 Ultra Orange Pearl were ap-plied 15 minutes apart, as shown in photo 5. Then two coats of SG100 clear were ap-plied 15 minutes apart. Photo 6 shows the finished base color coat.

The flames were laid out with 3M Fine

Photo 26. Finished Mega Streak with flames emphasized with shadow effect.

Documents

2016 WORLD SPACE MODELING CHAMPIONSHIPS · 2016 WORLD SPACE MODELING CHAMPIONSHIPS ... by Allan Williams ... Space Shuttle, assorted Star Wars and Star Trek ships,