New guy intro

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

EXPjawa

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
2,205
Reaction score
68
Location
Finger Lakes, NY
I'll put this here since I don't see a better place for it. A few people might have noticed the posts I've made of some of my recent builds in the last day or so, but I probably got a head of myself by not introducing myself first.

My name is Rick, I'm in western NY state (now very snowy), and I've got a rocket...issue. ;) I did a lot of rocket modeling in the late '80s-early'90s when I was a teenager. There was a LHS that was walking distance from the high school, so for a guy that rode his bike home, it was an easy stop. I used to fly in my parent's large side yard, the school grounds with a local club, etc. After I started college, though, I more or less got out of it. The last two rockets I built, as I recall were the Estes Pro Series Jayhawk & the Terrier-Sandhawk.

Fast forward a few years, I found myself occasionally buying a kit I found interesting only to ferret it away. But it wasn't until last year that a nephew (on the west coast) got interested in rocketry after I pointed my brother-in-law to their local club launches. Shortly afterward, that led to a niece that lives here also becoming interested. So we found our local club, went to a launch, she built a rocket, I repaired several old rockets, and we launched with the club. I started digging out the kit stockpile. And while working on those, my attention turned to upscales and scratch building, etc. Then I found RockSim. That was toward the end of last year, and more or less leads us to what you've seen in the past day or so, because it wasn't until this week that I decided it would be useful to sign up on this site. The crappy cell phone photos below show what I had ready to fly (if not quite finished) as of the first of the year, assuming you can make heads or tails of them:
WP_002897.jpgWP_002896.jpg
Unfortunatley, I don't get to see my west-coast family very often, so I'm not sure when or if I'll get to launch with my nephew. But I think I can share the hobby with him by occasionally putting together clone "kits" that I can send him of rockets that he probably wouldn't know about. Like the Advanced Target Drone, for example.

So, hello, my name is Rick & I'm a Born Again Rocketeer... :D
 
Hello Rick,

I see you have taken the "dark" side, that slippery slope down hill. It begins with rockets taking over your dining room table.
Looks like you got that part right.
I've entered Faze Four...it's taken over my dining room table, buffet,floor &wall.I can barely walk through the dining room.
Extra bathroom is a spray booth & rocket are beginning to sneak into the living room. Bedroom has already been infested.

Welcome brother!:dark:
 
Yeah, I think a few people noticed. Show-off ! :wink: Seriously, you have posted some outstanding models; were you snowed in for the last month or two ? Thanks for the intro and welcome.
 
Thanks. LOL, for the record, the rockets mostly reside in the workshop in the basement, which they have to share with my bicycle projects. They were only on the table for photo purposes. But there is usually one or two (or three or four) around upstairs at any given moment.

I wound't say snowed-in strictly speaking. There's only a couple inches on the ground at the moment with light flurries. In fact, we're in something of heat wave between cold fronts - it was upwards of 28 degrees on the drive to work this morning. Earlier in the week, we barely had single digit numbers. So, we could technically go out and launch, but no one really wants to stand outside more than necessary and chasing through snow drifts isn't much fun. FWIW, it wasn't my intention to be a show off, I just got excited and, as you can see, have a bit of catching up to do. Sorry if I gave impression otherwise...
 
Last edited:
Hey Rick - where in WNY are you? I'm in Niagara Falls, work in Williamsville. And I also have a rocket problem... :)

Chris
 
... FWIW, it wasn't my intention to be a show off, I just got excited and, as you can see, have a bit of catching up to do. Sorry if I gave impression otherwise...

Dude ! No apologies !! That's one of the best features of this forum, seeing other peoples work. Yours are terrific. Keep on showin-off ! :) I laughed, cried, and pulled some hair out watching your picture blitz yesterday; one after the other and each one was a beauty.
 
Last edited:
Welcome back Rick. Beware, the BAR bug bites hard!
 
Welcome! I think you mentioned your nephew flies with LUNAR at Moffett Field. That's the club I fly with too. There are a lot of TRF members who fly with LUNAR.

When I saw all the picture threads yesterday, I had visions of someone actualy trapped inside their home by giant snow drifts, with no way out until spring. Well, I've got 37 rocket kits and nothing else to do...

You've done a great job on your fleet! The finishing details are fantastic.
 
chrisudy said:
Hey Rick - where in WNY are you? I'm in Niagara Falls, work in Williamsville. And I also have a rocket problem... :)
I'm in the Rochester area, but it surprising how few know where that is compared to, say, Buffalo. A lot of folks seem to assume its in the NYC area. So I usually refer to the region. BTW - I never used the word "problem"... :D

Dude ! No apologies !! That's one of the best features of this forum, seeing other peoples work. Yours are terrific. Keep on showin-off ! :) I laughed, cried, and pulled some hair out watching your picture blitz yesterday; one after the other and each one was a beauty.
No worries, I knew you were kidding. But I have been in some places where that sort of thing was taken too seriously. :p

dpower said:
Welcome back Rick. Beware, the BAR bug bites hard!
Thanks. What's more is that I tend to be a little obsessive with this sort of thing. That's why I have a few dozen bikes as well... :eyepop::D
 
My name is Kenny and I am BAR also.

Thanks for sharing your story..I am trying to clone one of the Proseries Jayhawks myself...very cool rocket.

Kenny
 
Welcome! I think you mentioned your nephew flies with LUNAR at Moffett Field. That's the club I fly with too. There are a lot of TRF members who fly with LUNAR.
That's correct, they're in Fremont, so its just over the bridge to the launch site. I've been out there when we went to the Hiller Museum, but we didn't know about LUNAR at the time.

When I saw all the picture threads yesterday, I had visions of someone actualy trapped inside their home by giant snow drifts, with no way out until spring. Well, I've got 37 rocket kits and nothing else to do...

You've done a great job on your fleet! The finishing details are fantastic.
Thanks! Earlier this winter there were folks in the Buffalo area that actually had to deal with that (7' drifts and such), but its been relatively mild here. But I had 3 weeks off at Christmas time, which explains a lot. Mostly, while watching TV in the evenings I just tinker with stuff so as to not completely waste my time. Last night was inventorying nose cones. But that's how I manage to build most of this stuff... :)
 
Rockets all over the table? Don't see an issue here - only decor. Heck, I may put mine out on our table - the look similar to the candles we have on there now (except, unlike the candles, I actually light these up).
 
My name is Kenny and I am BAR also.

Thanks for sharing your story..I am trying to clone one of the Proseries Jayhawks myself...very cool rocket.

Kenny
That was one of my very favorite kits - nicely detailed, nice size, very scale. BUT - mine has needed repair after every flight. The tip fins are just damage prone, and breaking one also stresses the wings themselves. This last time, I repaired it with thick, heavy epoxy fillets. If that doesn't alleviate the problem, I may just retire it.
 
Did you join MARS yet? :) We fly at the Geneseo airfield not to far from I-390. Nice field with a 9,000 ft waiver.
 
Hey,,, nice to meet you Rick,,,
Welcome to the forum..
CJ's right,, it's a slippery slope,,,lol
I guess we'll all meet at LDRS this year...
You're fortunate,, you don't live too far..

Be safe Rick,,

Teddy
 
Actually, I didn't know anything about LDRS until I stumbled on the forum section for it here yesterday. But you're right, from my house, its probably only a half hour down to Potter. I'll have to make a point of going down there just spectate this year.
 
Oh man Rick,,,
A half hour ???
From a waiver that you really have to try hard to reach....
Most have to be very careful to stay under their waivers...
Good for you Rick... That really is rocketry fortunate,,,lol...
Don't miss LDRS,, you'll never forget it..
And bring a young person if you can,,
They'll never forget it either...

Teddy
 
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present our new member...

Welcome to TRF. Nice Fleet you've got there.
 
Nice fleet...have you considered L1 certification yet (said with a maniacal giggle)...

welcome to the darkside
 
SHOW OFF !! All kidding aside, welcome aboard ! In my best Darth Vader voice--" impressive, very impressive"
 
SHOW OFF !! All kidding aside, welcome aboard ! In my best Darth Vader voice--" impressive, very impressive"

LOL... If you're gonna quote Vader, at least do it right...

The quote actually is "Impressive... MOST impressive... Obi Wan has trained you well..."

@ Rick... Welcome to the forum... :)

Later! OL JR :)
 
Back
Top