In the words of Phil Mickelson - I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!

[Ben Awes]

What are your "I'm such an idiot" stories?

This morning I went to put the final coat of clear sealer on my 2nd build of my 3X Mars Lander (first one had recovery failure - total loss). This has taken me since early December to build and this was THE VERY LAST STEP in the finishing phase of the rocket. The thing has multiple custom decals, hand colored areas, etc. I grabbed the can of clear sealer for the very last coat, started spraying and after a second wondered why after spraying over a decal that it looked hazey?, a sprayed for another split second and realized that I JUST SPRAYED WHITE PAINT OVER MY DECALS!!!! I'm such an idiot! I grabbed the wrong can. The only silver lining is that it was white, not another color. My rocket is white, so only the decals and hand colored areas were effected - not everything that got hit by white paint. Still, a huge hassle when i was ....so.....close.......to.......the.........finish.........line..........

What are your idiot moments?

Ben
Colossus Rockets

 

[cwbullet]

Ouch - done that before and my son heard a few choice words....

 

[boomtube]

How about gluing the fins onto the wrong end of the body tube. You know; the end that DOESN’T HAVE THE MOTOR MOUNT.
I think this might transcend simply being an idiot and reaches a fully fledged Rebecca Howe “I’m too stupid to live” incident.

 

[JPVegh]

I think that the worst that I have done is show up at a contest launch without my pistons. After spending months building, testing and preparing for the contest I simply forgot to pack the pistons before driving 90 miles to the launch. I had to glue on launch lugs at the last minute, needless to say my performance wasn't what it was in the test launches with the pistons. To add insult to injury my car shreaded a belt on the way home from the launch. I had to do repairs in a parking lot on the hottest day of the year. There was some cussing that day.

 

[cwbullet]

I have also forgot my rockets at home. Oops.

 

[Mushtang]

I've sprayed paint onto decals instead of sealer, forcing me to repaint them.
I brought a rocket to the launch pad for it's first flight, only to realize I never installed the launch lugs.
I brought a rocket to the launch pad at a club launch, set it up, walked away, and as the launch master was counting down I remembered I hadn't put in any dog barf and yelled for him not to launch.
I tried to launch a rocket with an A motor that really needed a B and probably a C, and broke it.
... I'm sure there were others.

 

[Ben Awes]

I've also launched a rocket that did not have the parachute attached to the rocket. I just never connected it. Launched it and at nosecone separation, it just kept on separating, and separating. The nosecone came down nice and slow. The airframe, not so much. I said it ripped apart upon ejection, but it was obvious it was never attached! I'm such and idiot!

 

[TALON]

What are your "I'm such an idiot" stories?

This morning I went to put the final coat of clear sealer on my 2nd build of my 3X Mars Lander (first one had recovery failure - total loss). This has taken me since early December to build and this was THE VERY LAST STEP in the finishing phase of the rocket. The thing has multiple custom decals, hand colored areas, etc. I grabbed the can of clear sealer for the very last coat, started spraying and after a second wondered why after spraying over a decal that it looked
hazey?, a sprayed for another split second and realized that I JUST SPRAYED WHITE PAINT OVER MY DECALS!!!! I'm such an idiot! I grabbed the wrong can. The only silver lining is that it was white, not another color. My rocket is white, so only the decals and hand colored areas were effected - not everything that got hit by white paint. Still, a huge hassle when i was ....so.....close.......to.......the.........finish.........line..........

What are your idiot moments?

Ben
Colossus Rockets

Yeh, only I grabbed 3M Adhisive instead of clear coat

 

[Gary Byrum]

I got so sick and tired of forgetting my launch lugs that now it's one of my must do procedures. I never forget one now. The only other real screw up (fortunately only a few......6-7 times maybe) gluing the motor mount wrong side in. It was easy to do that using regular engine blocks.

 

[Zonie]

I left my launch pad at the range once, Luckily, somebody who sorta lives on my side of town picked it up and I got it back! Duhhhhh...

 

[chadrog]

I left for the February launch with the club launch system still in my garage. All was not lost, Sather's MacGyver skills saved the day!

 

[Rex R]

well his solution did include a removable 'interlock' .
rex

 

[Nathan]

When applying one of those adhesive decals, I accidentally let it stick to the rocket before I got it aligned. And those things have REALLY good adhesive. My choice was to have a crooked decal or pull the paint off with the decal. I pulled off the decal and then had to sand down the rocket and repaint it. Now I know to soak them in soapy water first so that I can slide them around a little before they stick permanently.

 

[Rokitman88]

Drove 4 hours to a launch and discovered I left the motors at home. Brain fart.......... Nowadays the motors are in the rockets before I leave home.
Another time I was in such a hurry to pack up, I forgot to recover my favorite rocket. Was 100 miles away when I thought about it. Alziemers?

 

[fyrwrxz]

I was so stressed about losing a launch window due to winds aloft. I had guys fly some of my others so I could track them and figure out where to look that when I finally racked up my prize bird on a 29/360 case-the motor fell out! Forgot the cap on the assembly bench-RSO missed it too! D'oh!

 

[MG13]

I have also forgot my rockets at home. Oops.

I hear you. I'm constantly forgetting my launch rod, and my inability to stop doing that is baffling.

 

[soxfan121]

i haven't had any bad memory lapses in rocketry so far....think the worst so far was forgetting wadding but i just threw some nice green grass and leaves in it and it worked just fine...my first ever time going paintballing (it's my other favorite hobby) i forgot to bring my mask...and that was back when my mask was my only equipment haha didn't even have a gun or anything

 

[caveduck]

Glued fins on the forward end of the tube away from the motor mount...been there, done that. A couple of times. At least it taught me how to remove fins from tubes. Launched with no wadding? Yep... Launched dead center in a thermal with competition streamer in the model but not tied on...check. Two stage model with motors exchanged? Uh-huh. Airbrushed model with epoxy paint without part B? Yeah... Stepped on freshly completed glider? Eggloft capsule not taped together? Accidentally launched F100 model practically out of my friend's hands? Can't begin to remember all the stupid stuff I've done in 40 years!

 

[jd2cylman]

I think it was Midwest Power 8. Put my LOC 4-29 on the pad loaded with 4 G75 Metalstorms. I was so nervous making sure the ignitor wires were all tied together properly that I forgot to turn on the altimeter. DOH! Only one motor lit and the rocket made a sharp left turn and headed south like there was no tomorrow. The farmer found it next spring. After it went under the disc. Not even the shock cords were salvageable
I looked at it as an opportunity to get new altimeters :eyeroll:

Adrian

 

[Joel Svoboda]

I had completed my build of an Always Ready Rocketry Blue Phenix, and took it to the launch site. I launched the Blue Phenix for my NAR Level 1 Certificate with a 29mm Cesaroni 3 grain motor utilizing a Aeropack 29/38 motor adapter and an H410 VMax motor reload; and it worked beautifully. Also I should mention that I had installed an Aeropack tail cone motor retainer for retaining the motor. For my Level 2 certificate I decided to use a 38mm Cesaroni 6 grain motor (much longer) with a J357 which required a motor casing spacer since it was a 5 grain motor reload. When I got to the field and went to insert the motor It would not fully seat. I removed the motor and parachute and got out my flashlight only to discover that I had a blob of epoxy in the motor tube which prevented the motor from being fully seated. I had a ton of various rocketry supplies on hand but no sand paper or stiff rigid dowel. I thought I had been careful with all my epoxy applications but evidently not. The stupid thing was that I had assembled and epoxied the fin can and motor mount outside the body tube and never looked down the motor mount to discover this epoxy before instaling this assembly in the body tube. I passed my written test for Level 2 Certification but I could not launch the rocket. When I got home, it took 15 minutes with some 60 grit sandpaper wrapped around a 24" long by 1" diameter wood dowel to grind down the epoxy so the 6 grain motor casing would fit. I launched the rocket the next month and achieved my Level 2 Certificate. Hopefully, lesson learned.

The following link is taken from my Blue Phenix on a subsequent launch: the video is taken from the rocket's point of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_sP0JQqwig&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Joel Svoboda
NAR # 93101