The jig is up

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neil_w

OpenRocketeer
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Last night, as I was laboriously using a chopstick to apply what an uninformed observer could only assume was thin dijon mustard to a body tube (and simultaneously questioning my own sanity), I had an epiphany: this is part of an elaborate hazing ritual by old-timers here to sucker newbies into doing ridiculous things. Somewhere, there is a hidden forum where you guys all get together to laugh about this. I hope to gain access to this forum one day, to join in the merriment.

How about the "sniff test" on Rustoleum, given the very real possibility that it could be decades before the smell goes away. Yeah, I'll get that last color coat on in 2033. So obvious in hindsight.

Oh, and I have concluded that Nathan's rockets are all CGI renders. Four hours of wet-sanding, ha!

Well played, people. But I am onto your game.

Now excuse me while I figure out how to hang my rocket from the ceiling so I can apply floor polish to it.
 
I wonder how many people here would pass the sniff test?
 
I use https://frogtape.com to hang my rockets from the ceiling. And usually spray them with pledge. are you spraying or applying the floor polish with a lint free cloth?
 
Rats! The jig is up! Quick!-close the OU812.com website! There goes applying fillets with a fillet knife joke. Same with stuffing a $5.00 bill in your rocket as a retainer fee. I guess the old one about Dual Deploy is NOT the same as a 12 step recovery program is out, too. Any landing you can walk away from means you don't have a tracker. Good times, good times....
 
I think that's why, somewhere along the way, my motto became, "As long as it will fly...."
 
Rats. How did they find out about #noobrocketfail ??? The illuminati must now hatch a new disinformation campaign...
 
I've used both and like the results of both but what I have noticed with Future on really hot days is that is tends to soften up.
 
Last night, as I was laboriously using a chopstick to apply what an uninformed observer could only assume was thin dijon mustard to a body tube (and simultaneously questioning my own sanity), I had an epiphany: this is part of an elaborate hazing ritual by old-timers here to sucker newbies into doing ridiculous things. Somewhere, there is a hidden forum where you guys all get together to laugh about this. I hope to gain access to this forum one day, to join in the merriment.

How about the "sniff test" on Rustoleum, given the very real possibility that it could be decades before the smell goes away. Yeah, I'll get that last color coat on in 2033. So obvious in hindsight.

Oh, and I have concluded that Nathan's rockets are all CGI renders. Four hours of wet-sanding, ha!

Well played, people. But I am onto your game.

Now excuse me while I figure out how to hang my rocket from the ceiling so I can apply floor polish to it.
We're not hazing, that comes later! This is just the entry exam. The hazing starts with vacuum bagging and egg lofting followed by vacuum bagging an egg and lofting it with streamer recovery-must pass the two bounce test--. As far as the secret forum goes, it doesn't exist. We all get together at the Blue Gator Lounge in Baton Rouge once a year and dream this stuff up for you guys to do so we can be entertained. I'm glad the old sniff test thing still works--that's an old one. The floor wax on rockets gag is the best one we've had in years. We got some mileage out of that one !!! Your way off on Nathans rockets---they are all dipped in vegetable oil and then photographed nice and shiny. It's an old trick but makes him look good. By the way, 4lb test Trilene XL for hanging those rockets:facepalm:
 
Wait when do we tell them that you don't actually buy motors but the secret vendors just give em to you for free?
 
Last night, as I was laboriously using a chopstick to apply what an uninformed observer could only assume was thin dijon mustard to a body tube (and simultaneously questioning my own sanity), I had an epiphany: this is part of an elaborate hazing ritual by old-timers here to sucker newbies into doing ridiculous things. Somewhere, there is a hidden forum where you guys all get together to laugh about this. I hope to gain access to this forum one day, to join in the merriment.

How about the "sniff test" on Rustoleum, given the very real possibility that it could be decades before the smell goes away. Yeah, I'll get that last color coat on in 2033. So obvious in hindsight.

Oh, and I have concluded that Nathan's rockets are all CGI renders. Four hours of wet-sanding, ha!

Well played, people. But I am onto your game.

Now excuse me while I figure out how to hang my rocket from the ceiling so I can apply floor polish to it.

Ok newbie... I need 500 yards of flight line.
 
Oh.... don't get me started on flying/SAR stuff.... I'll tell you about it, but first....

I'll need 500 feet of flight line, 2 gallons of prop wash, 5 chem light batteries, and a box of grid squares.

Random off-topic information (found while googling something for this post) I found this:

With World War II raging in Europe, the Germans were fighting a losing battle. They needed to look more powerful than they actually were, so they came up with an ingenious solution: build a bunch of fake airfields out of wooden decoys. It's not as stupid as it sounds; a good fake can look just like the real thing from 30,000 feet.


But in fact, the Allies soon realized that all of those airfields, complete with runways, fake aircraft, and buildings, were nothing more than elaborate props that could be defeated by an army of termites. The only thing left was to figure out the best way to let the Germans know that they weren't fooling anyone (in the most sarcastic way possible).


So the Allies flew bombing raids over these fake wooden airfields, presumably sending the German fake (wooden?) ground crews scrambling for cover. After several intense minutes in which nothing happened, the Germans finally realized what the Allies were doing: They were dropping fake wooden bombs on them.



Just to make it absolutely clear to the Germans what was going on, many of these bombs had the phrase "Wood for Wood" painted on them. Yes, what the military calls "psychological warfare," the rest of us call "being a smart@ss."
 
was looking through a GSA catalog years ago and ran across a listing for a cleaning agent for aircraft propellers...AKA prop wash :)
Rex
 
Oh.... don't get me started on flying/SAR stuff.... I'll tell you about it, but first....

I'll need 500 feet of flight line, 2 gallons of prop wash, 5 chem light batteries, and a box of grid squares.
We

I got it Sarge! I just need one coal chisel and an 8 lb. I have hammer, one 10 gal trash bag, one ballpeen hanner and a paint shaker, and one box of maps with a pair of scissors.

I actually showed up with the hammer and chisel when sent after 5 yds of flight line.
 
Looks like I'm not the only one who has sent someone after a box of grid squares.

I also heard a story about someone being sent to the First Sergeants office with a set of (fake) orders for Inflight Missle Mechanics School, the First Sergeant was not amused.
 
My favorites

A sounding tube amplifier

Radar calibration - picture this: some boot on the pier in an aluminized flight deck fire suit holding a cookie sheet over his head as we align both the GFCS and surface search radars...
 
We have fun with the new mechanics and send them for squelch grease or send them the the 1SG looking for a prick E8.
 
We always sent folks for plumb bob oil or plumb bob bolts, a box of half inch holes, duct stretcher, sky hook or several others that doesn't come to mind ATM. One guy actually pointed out the sky hook - it was an eye bolt welded to a rafter and another brought some colored chalk (for a chalk box) thinking it was plumb bob oil. Sent a guy for a portable band saw aka Port-A-Band, and he brought back a hacksaw thinking we were messing with him, in that case we actually weren't.
 
Oh man, I forgot all about the prick E8 gag.:lol:

Yeah, the 1SG will always know what is going on and most will play along. It is even better though when Top is in a bad mood and let's the innocent and unsuspecting soldier in on the joke at the top of his lungs :roll::roll::roll:
 
When I still worked as an auto mechanic, I jumped aboard the Snap-on truck one day and asked our tool guy for a metric hammer and metric crescent wrench. He didn't get it......
I also asked our parts supplier for metric hose clamps for the foreign cars. I tried to explain to him that the 3/4" hose clamp just wouldn't work on a 19mm hose.
I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned sending anyone for the left-handed smoke shifter. :)

Phil L.
 
There was an old scoutmaster I knew who actually would create some of the searched for "items". He would be at the campsite when up would come the tenderfoot and ask for the "left handed smoke shifter". He would rummage around in his crate, pull out the requested item and send the tenderfoot back to his troop. I would have liked to have seen the reaction of the people who sent the tenderfoot.:surprised::surprised:
 
When I still worked as an auto mechanic, I jumped aboard the Snap-on truck one day and asked our tool guy for a metric hammer and metric crescent wrench. He didn't get it......
I also asked our parts supplier for metric hose clamps for the foreign cars. I tried to explain to him that the 3/4" hose clamp just wouldn't work on a 19mm hose.
I'm also surprised that no one has mentioned sending anyone for the left-handed smoke shifter. :)

Phil L.

A machine builder at my work has an honest to goodness crescent brand metric adjustable wrench. I will get a picture.
 
Funny thread! They do this in the movie biz, too. I used to be a union electrician in the film/video industry. On our first gig right out of college, the camera operator for Hairspray told my buddy to run to the camera truck and get some F-stops. About half-way there, he realized ....
 
Oh, and I have concluded that Nathan's rockets are all CGI renders. Four hours of wet-sanding, ha!

I have seen Nathan's rockets first-hand, and I can confirm that they are, in fact, CGI renders. The reason he drives a Porsche is that he's living high on the income from having invented the holodeck, and we hold our launches there.

Unfortunately, he hasn't solved the problem so evident on Star Trek of the continual computer malfunctions - or possibly that's part of the newbie initiation. Despite getting more altitude per motor-dollar than anyone I know, his rockets have a tendency to find the hardest impact point on the field on the way down. I have seen them hit a massive virtual wind sheer just a few feet from the ground so that they can strike the road or hit the side of a loader bucket. Once, while G-Dog and I were staring up trying to figure out where one of Nathan's rockets had gone, we heard a whoosh-POW noise only to spot the rocket partially buried in the ground about three feet from where we were standing (and right in front of Nathan's tent). G-Dog calmly pointed at the rocket and said, "I got eyes on it, Nathan."

Just like Nathan's paint finishes, that sort of thing doesn't happen in real life.

Kudos to him for flying those beauties, though.
 
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