LexxJet Flying customizations

[The Red Darren]

My LexxJett flew for the first time yesterday. First two flights were on E12-4's.

The flights went well even on a windy day in Georgia with a tight landing window. However, landing on the tailfins first wasn't kind.

A club buddy recommended a parachute mount at the CG with fishing line (running into the nosecone) to make the rocket come down flat.

I rigged this up today and test dropped off my deck. It seems to work very well. I may shrink the parachute for bigger motors going forward as the flat rocket also slows decent.

Has anyone else tried this? Any advise if so?

I'll post some pics later.

 

[OverTheTop]

I have heard of the method you list but haven't used it myself.

I do have a story about my Lexxjet and a recovery failure. Beautiful flight up, ejection charge blew the NC off and snapped the recovery harness. NC floated down on the attached chute, and the body glided back to earth in a nice circular path. Landed about 100' from the pad .

 

[kuririn]

If you mount it at the cg then the cg will change if you use other motors.
Why not use a Y harness?
Worked perfectly for me recently on the launch of my Magnum D SR-71 clone.


Instructions are here:
https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/cen5349.htm
I used kevlar thread instead of the cotton shroud line in the instructions.
Take precautions against zippering.
Good luck.

 

[mjennings]

I did very similar to @kuririn for my Odd'l F-104 and F/A-18. Works great.

 

[The Red Darren]

Cool idea for the Y harness. The link I saw was for the SR-71 instructions. Did I miss the Y-harness?

Here's a shot of the my LexxJet just about to clear the treeline:

 

[The Red Darren]

Oh nevermind on the Y-harness. I just missed them.

My CG system is rigged up. If it doesn't work I will swap to the Y.

 

[The Red Darren]

I flew the LexxJett with my CG chute and it did work well. Of four flights, three were excellent and once the shock chord tangled in the fishing line so the rocket came down tail first again.

Working on ways to keep them separate but if its inverted on ejection its probably going to tangle.