The Launch Pad - ASRAAM (K003)

Manufacturer: The Launch Pad
Diameter: 2.6 inches
Skill Level: 3
Style: Scale

Construction Rating:
Flight Rating:
Overall Rating:

Contributed by Joe Cacciatore

Asraam Brief:
Dual "D" engine scale model of the UK/Germany Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM).

Construction:
This Launch Pad rocket is exactly like all the other TLP kits.
The Kit contains:

Plastic nose cone
Cardboard body tubes (2)
Balsa fins
Shock cord attachment & engine mounting the same as the older Estes rockets.
Parachute is purple mylar.

The quality of the parts is OK with the nosecone of better quality than I have seen in other kits.

Instructions are illustrated and are pretty basic and simple to follow. Assembly starts with the dual engine mount and then the body tube. This rocket has clean lines and is a very basic 4 finned and a nose cone rocket.

Templates are supplied for the fins and shock cord anchor. For some reason the TLP never includes any information on launch lugs so one has to figure out where to put them. I put mine between the fins and half way up the body.

Finishing:
Although no decals are included, there is alot of information on marking and painting the rocket.

Construction Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight:
I have flown mine 2 times. Once with D12-3 and once with D12-5. Both seem to work fine. Of course you have to use enough wadding to protect the chute. Looking at the rocket you may be concerned with how well it would fly with the small fins it has and it being a dual engine rocket with a lot of weight at the rear. But surprisingly it flew great both times. Nice, straight and ejection at the proper time.

Asraam Recovery:
Unfortuanately mine suffers from 2 problems. First, because the engines are recessed a bit, the inside of the body tube gets a little burnt! See picture. Secondly, with dual engines it is aft heavy when coming down. That compounded with a chute not fully open caused some minor damage to the bottom of the rocket. See picture.

If I were to build again, I would put a reinforcement ring inside the bottom of the rocket to strengthen and help protect it from the flames.

Asraam Flight Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary:
Pros:

Nice, clean lines
High quality nosecone
Easy to assemble
Dual engines
Stable flyer, more stable than my other TLP kits with larger fins, weighs only 6 ozs so you can get some good height on dual engines, you could probably also fly it on dual C11-3s.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2003-04-20	Joe Cacciatore's The Launch Pad ASRAAM	2xD12-5	-	Very stable and straight first flight.
2003-04-20	Joe Cacciatore's The Launch Pad ASRAAM	2xD12-3	-	Second flight of rocket and chute not fully opened. Landed a liitle bit hard on its aft end...
2004-06-20	Joe Cacciatore's The Launch Pad ASRAAM	2xD12-5	-	Goes off course and lands on 3th base line of active softball game. Losing team did not like that.
2005-07-31	Joe Cacciatore's The Launch Pad ASRAAM	2xD12-5	-	Great boost on dual D12s, went pretty high. But the upper winds just took it and it drifted on top...

Comments:
L.B. (May 5, 2003)
I agree with everything Joe has said. TLP ASRAAM is a great kit for a non-beginner, and a fine flying cluster model. See my MODS review of a sport version elsewhere in this site. The one change that I would really recommend to a pure scale version is to move the motor mounts aft so its flush with the end of the body tube or nearly -- more thrust and more durable that way. I don't know what TLP is trying to accomplish by recessing the motor mounts so much -- of course it incinerates the tail of the rocket!! Of course the tail crushes when it lands!! Plus all the books tell you that the void "expansion" space created by recessing motors this much robs the model of thrust. I happily fly my modified version on D12-7's vs. the D12-3's recommended by the manufacturer. C'mon TLP, change this and make a good rocket a great rocket.
C.J.B. (July 2, 2005)
As with any other of our kits with the recessed engine mounts, I have stated before that the rear end scorching will NOT take place if the launcher uses a blast DEFLECTOR, not a flat blast plate. These rockets, being larger and heavier than small model rockets, linger on the pad a bit longer before they build up momentum. The scorching is caused by exhaust being REFLECTED up onto the rear of the rocket instead of being shunted away. An angled deflector or a curved scoop will prevent this scorching. Our test models have been flown many times without this damage.
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