So, BARs, what brought you back into rocketry?

I've flown off and on, with some really long breaks, since I was a kid. Most recently, about 2 years ago now, I got my nephew a starter set. We had a good time flying his Riptide at the park, so I pulled my old gear out of storage in the garage to see what else we could fly. I saw I had an old Silver Comet kit I had bought when the LHS went out of business more than 10 years ago. I hadn't built it yet and had a few questions, found this forum looking for answers, and that's when it really took off for me. I had always flown Estes LPR in the past, and I found out there was a whole world of rocketry I wasn't even aware of. Since then, my nephew has really lost interest (loves electronic games), but I'm deeper into the hobby now than I've ever been.

Like others have posted, I had rockets sitting around from when I was a teenager. My 5 year old son is fascinated with anything having to do with space. One day I dusted off my multi stage Comanche and flew it a couple of times. He loved it! As a result, the moth balled fleet was put back into service, new kits were purchased and here we are......

I started flying Estes rockets in the early 60's finished up on Centauri with the Big E and F BP motors. Departed home in '69 for the Navy until returning home in 1979.

Got back into LPR when my youngest was a Cub Scout in the 80's and continued with it until the late 90's. In '99 a friend and co-worker asked me if I could help him with his L2. I went him to my first High Power launch, helped him with his L2. I just provided moral support but I saw my first APCP (K) and Hybrid (J) motors. I told him I just have to do this!
Dragged my grandson with me for the rest of that year while I flew my first APCP motor and started building my L1 rocket.

I started launching in '88 and stopped around '91 when my friends who were into the hobby graduated and left. Although one came back soon after, we got busy with college and other things. I flirted with starting up again, but something always came up. Then in 2012 I came back home for Christmas and decided to get all of my rockets out of my old room, including a V-3 and Jupiter-C that had never been launched. All the good memories flooded back and my son was interested, so within a few months I got myself a new pad and controller, applied some paint and secured some fins and was back in the game. I could kick myself for not starting a year sooner, though - at the time our neighborhood was new and I could have walked a block to a wonderfully large tract of cleared land!

I drove to Snow Ranch in 2009, out of curiosity. Fell in love with the place and the people. I've never met a greater bunch of guys and gals. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

qquake2k said:

I drove to Snow Ranch in 2009, out of curiosity. Fell in love with the place and the people. I've never met a greater bunch of guys and gals. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

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Those are some great photos of the launch site, but whats that stuff covering the rocks in that last photo?

rbelknap said:

Those are some great photos of the launch site, but whats that stuff covering the rocks in that last photo?

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It looks like some kind of liquid. That's weird.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

It looks like some kind of liquid. That's weird.

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Also the grass is a funny color in some of those shots. If I didn't know better, I'd say it actually looked "green" (I think that's the color anyway - been so long since I've seen it.)

rbelknap said:

Also the grass is a funny color in some of those shots. If I didn't know better, I'd say it actually looked "green" (I think that's the color anyway - been so long since I've seen it.)

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I think it's Photoshopped.

Seeing my first shuttle launch (STS-129).

It sparked a feeling I haven't felt since flying rockets as a kid...and I fell back into the hobby with that!

I'm a repeat offender, having started the hobby in 1973, then picked it back up in 1987, 1996 and 2009. I think the thing that triggered the biggest comeback was the Ninfinger site and all those old catalogs. They were my wish and dream books during childhood and finally getting to build and launch the rockets I always wanted makes me feel like a kid again.

I did a ton of rockets, emphasizing what was in my mind at the time high power and experimental, as a kid but fell away in high school. I became a software engineer for the next decade, and then I thought it would be a good plan to learn some hardware basics. After making some microcontrollers blink LEDs and wave servo arms, I needed a real project. With some brainstorming, I thought, hey I bet I could do some cool tricks with those rockets I built as a kid.

So I start digging around and quickly discover that the birds I used to build were mid power at most, and fairly benign as experiments. I fumbled around with my first BAR mid power kit, found help here, and also discovered that I would need some more serious power to do the experiments and projects I wanted. Two months later I am flying L1 and L2 certification back to back and now have a dozen long burn J motors on order, which about brings us to today. Stay tuned!

A cousin who wanted to see some rockets fly when he came down in my basement. Three weeks later, launched for all my little nieces and nephews at the family reunion. Then discovered mid power....

we have you now, and your little dog too (send the in the flying monkees).
Rex

For me it was a niece and a nephew expressing an interest. It snowballed from there...

Funny, that...