Whalen, Brian wrote:
> John,
>
> I've tried to develop a speed flap release for my 4' FTC rocket with chute
> recovery, which is very similar to what most use on the larger 2L rockets.
> The problem I've had is the 18" round trash bag chute, when folded and
> inserted into the 6" deep area of the FTC, above the top bulkhead, gets
> stuck and will not fall out on it's own at apogee.
>
> As a solution I've put a minimally inflated party balloon in bottom of this
> chute area, then stuffed the chute in on top of it, then added the nose
> cone, and speed flap strap. This has worked successfully to "pop" the chute
> out after the speed flap opens and recover under a canopy, but only once.
> The other two times resulted in the nose separating properly at apogee, but
> no chute deployment (chute stuck in top of FTC again). If I inflate the
> balloon more, the nose cone is hard to keep on with the strap and speed flap
> without deployment very early in the flight.
>
> I don't see any mechanism to push your chute out on the latest bright yellow
> rocket, so I assume it is supposed to be pulled out as the nose cone falls
> off? Also, are you using a garden nozzle for your FTC's, or open mouth for
> launches?

The trick is to wrap the parachute up tightly with the shroud lines.
I have a fairly large and bulky 18" nylon parachute I made before I
knew any better. I pull it into a point from the center, fold it into
a 2" length starting with the center/tip and progressing to the end
using a zig-zag folding process. Finally I wrap the shroud lines very
tightly around the outside. This drops in and out of FTC. I use a
TT deployment mechanism with a very light spring and it pops right
out.

You can also add some baby powder to make the chute slide in/out
easier, although I have not been doing this lately.

Now that I have a couple successful deployments on it, I am going to
have to post some pictures of my third generation VDTT. I have
shrunken it *substantially* compared to the first generation.

Steve Jahr