New to forum

Hello all. Being that I am new to this site, I figured I should briefly introduce myself.

My name is Mark and I live in Richmond, VA. I was heavily involved in low and mid power rocketry when I was younger. I stopped when I was 15 when cars came into the picture. Now that I am 30 and have a five year old son who is fascinated with space and rockets, I have reignited my passion for rocketry. I purchased a simple kit for my son from Red River Rocketry that we are currently constructing. I plan to expand my fleet with additional mid power rockets and then work my way into high power certification. I have been reading through the forum over the past couple of weeks and I look forward to learning from and contributing to this amazing site.

Welcome

Glad to hear you are passing rocketry onto the next generation. This is how I reconnected as well - with my kids.

Since you have been reading the forum, you know we all love pictures - so post some of your rockets, launches, etc

Have fun and enjoy

Welcome to Rocket world.
Mr. Bob
Countyline Hobbies
Grovertown, IN.
574-540-1123
[email protected]
www.countylinehobbies.com

Welcome to the forum!

Rocketry is a great fun activity for kids and families. I have great memories of building and flying rockets with my dad as a kid. And about 40 years later, just a couple of weeks ago, I helped my dad repair and rebuild his fleet so we could take my nephew (his grandson) out to fly them.

I guess Virginia is getting a lot of real space program launches these days at Wallops. That would be fun to see!

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Welcome to the forum!

Rocketry is a great fun activity for kids and families. I have great memories of building and flying rockets with my dad as a kid. And about 40 years later, just a couple of weeks ago, I helped my dad repair and rebuild his fleet so we could take my nephew (his grandson) out to fly them.

I guess Virginia is getting a lot of real space program launches these days at Wallops. That would be fun to see!

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I would love to visit Wallops. I have some photos from the 60's of Astrobee D launches. I got a CD of information from Aerojet when I was scratch building an Astrobee.

qquake2k said:

I would love to visit Wallops. I have some photos from the 60's of Astrobee D launches. I got a CD of information from Aerojet when I was scratch building an Astrobee.

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Very cool! I have an aunt and uncle in Virginia, and it would be great to get out there for a visit and squeeze in a launch too.

Welcome!

Welcome back. Fond memories of Richmond, having spent a few years there in the mid-80's (actually far west Henrico county). Which Red River model did you get ? I fly regularly with the owner and can say there is not a bigger supporter of the hobby so let us know how the build and launch go. My best advice - get to a NAR or Tripoli club launch if you can. Good fun and good people.

Welcome aboard to the insane asylum!

ThirstyBarbarian said:

I guess Virginia is getting a lot of real space program launches these days at Wallops. That would be fun to see!

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We haven't had a chance to see the launches up close at Wallops. For the night launches, we are able to see them by heading outside and looking east. My son and I watch the live video feed on the NASA Wallops Island website and once it clears the tower, we look up to the sky. He locks on to the glow and doesn't say a word until it disappears.

samb said:

Welcome back. Fond memories of Richmond, having spent a few years there in the mid-80's (actually far west Henrico county). Which Red River model did you get ? I fly regularly with the owner and can say there is not a bigger supporter of the hobby so let us know how the build and launch go. My best advice - get to a NAR or Tripoli club launch if you can. Good fun and good people.

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You'd be surprised how much the West End/ Short Pump areas have developed. I try to avoid it due to traffic. I bought my son the Diamond Ring kit since it stated it is simple to build and flies straight in winds due to the tubular fins. So far, so good. It is staight forward which is good for a 5 year old.

Welcome to the forum!!

Construct_VA said:

You'd be surprised how much the West End/ Short Pump areas have developed. I try to avoid it due to traffic.

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I worked downtown and Short Pump was my exit when I took 64. We were the proverbial "yankees with a u-haul" and really enjoyed the peace and quiet compared to Philadelphia. Our friends there told us once they put 295 through the peace and quiet left.

Construct_VA said:

I bought my son the Diamond Ring kit since it stated it is simple to build and flies straight in winds due to the tubular fins. So far, so good. It is staight forward which is good for a 5 year old.

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I've got one too ! It is a very good flier (loves C motors ). One challenge is to work your glue fillets down into the angles created by the tubes; I used toothpicks. Getting good paint coverate inside the tubes is tricky as well, I tried spray cans and got a few runs along the outside surfaces. I let that dry and sanded them off then brush painted the insides. I used thin CA (super glue) to strengthen and seal the inner surface before painting.

Welcome to you and your son!

Don't hesitate to ask questions. As you've been told already, there's a lot of people here with a lot of info that are just itching to share it.

Pointy Side Up!
Jim

samb said:

I've got one too ! It is a very good flier (loves C motors ). One challenge is to work your glue fillets down into the angles created by the tubes; I used toothpicks. Getting good paint coverate inside the tubes is tricky as well, I tried spray cans and got a few runs along the outside surfaces. I let that dry and sanded them off then brush painted the insides. I used thin CA (super glue) to strengthen and seal the inner surface before painting.

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Thank you for the tip/heads up. I was wondering what the best method would be to glue the fillets on the tubular fins.

Construct_VA, there are 2 active clubs in VA, Battlepark and Blacksburg. We also fly low power in ButnerNC, and the Charlotte and Orangeburg,SC clubs have monthly launches. There is a New Years Day launch at the Charlotte(Midlands) field, Performance Hobbies will be there. Come on down and fly with us!! Looks like it might be about 4.5 hrs for you.

https://maps.google.com/maps?es_sm=...TGnYP4DA&ved=0CCQQ-A8wAA&output=classic&dg=oo

Welcome to the forum. Got into rocketry when my daughter took an interest in the Young Astronauts club at her school. Im still going strong, but she has developed other interests. The way it goes, I guess.

Welcome. I know it's a little bit of a ride but take a trip up to Culpeper when you get a chance. Great group of folks at Battlepark. They'll be launching the weekend of the January 10/11th.

https://www.battlepark.org/

Chilli said:

Welcome. I know it's a little bit of a ride but take a trip up to Culpeper when you get a chance. Great group of folks at Battlepark. They'll be launching the weekend of the January 10/11th.

https://www.battlepark.org/

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Great to know! Thank you. I hope we are able to make the trip. I have been looking at the different clubs around the area and definately want to attend some events.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome back! I too enjoyed my time in Virginia, back in the early 90's. I was stationed at Ft. Belvoir, near Springfield, did training at Ft. AP Hill, Fort Pickett, and even got a visit to the hospital at Ft. Lee once (a little too realistic riot control training exercise and I was opfor). I got back into rocketry for similar reasons, my 5 year old daughter is excited enough that she spent over an hour in 40 degree weather last weekend to launch her stretched Snipe Hunter before the rain arrived, and my 3 year old son is excited about the thought but to young for me to keep an eye on and prep rockets for my daughter and myself, its still a blast.

welcome back to the hobby:
If your in the Richmond area You might want to look up the local NAR Section-203, Viking Rocket Society.
I believe you can still contact them a [email protected] A fun group

Micromeister said:

welcome back to the hobby:
If your in the Richmond area You might want to look up the local NAR Section-203, Viking Rocket Society.
I believe you can still contact them a [email protected] A fun group

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Thank you. I visited their site and noticed that they hold events about 20 minutes away from where I live. I'm going to try to attend one of their next gatherings.

Hello,
My name is xan Schniederjans from Lincoln, Nebraska. I have been doing model rocketry since June 2014. I am 32 years old. I have been doing a lot of Estes rockets and my first rocket was the Galaxy Gold which I nicknamed "Goldie". I have also built the Estes Alpha, Yankee, and Air Commander rockets. This past Christmas, I received the Estes Alpha 3, Big Bertha, Bull Pup 12D, Dark Energy, and Astron Sprinter XL rockets which I plan to build soon. I launch them at the field behind Hyde Observatory in Holmes Park. I look forward to participating in this forum.

Howdy! Remember to ENJOY!!

Welcome Xan!

Hey all,

I'm Mike. I'm in southern TX- that means on the border, as far south as you can go and not be in Mexico, Texas. I bought an estes alpha III starter kit for my 8 yo son. The build was a little more complicated than he was used to so I ended up putting it together. We launched it on a field next to my church. I enjoyed it so much I went and bough an estes hi flier for myself. Now I'm looking to buy a larger, more complicated rocket to take my time with.

I'm looking forward to reading more on this site.

Mike