I like the Comanche 3. I like it's high altitude for a Black Powder rocket. I like that it does go fast, and that little woosh-*pop*woosh that goes along with staging Estes motors. I was looking for a couple of 'test' designs to see if I could go higher and faster on Estes motors. This design was as small a rocket as I thought I could conceivably make. The nose needed some nose weight, and according to RockSim's 'Optimal Mass' calculations, it was within 3 grams of optimal mass when it was completed. Really, it was just a body tube sleeve around a motor with fins glued to it.

RockSim operates in an absolutely perfect world. Wind is steady, with no gusts, or directional changes at elevation. So, the estimate of 3,800' was a best-case scenario, but that's pretty darn good for Black Powder. So I thought it would be cool to give it a shot.

Well, it went really far. Of course, due to my lack of patience to fly it on a less than windy day, it didn't go up so much, as it went away. It may be a bit difficult to see in the video, but it goes up, then left, and then woosh-*pop*-woosh-*pop*-woosh--------- *pop*. Myself, and several other people in our party searched for pieces for a couple of hours and found absolutely nothing. I was slightly disappointed, but it was kind of a 'throw-away' rocket, having no parts that I cared much about getting back, really. Oh well.