Leaving the hobby

georgegassaway said:

Also, there are certainly many things that can be done in the hobby. So for some who are having the "blah's", maybe trying something different would help re-awaken their inner rocketeer.

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Right you are. I am planning on building the rockets from the old Estes Model Rocketry publications. I don't think any of them were ever offered as kits; only as designs. Should be fun.

I've probably gone back and forth about 3 or 4 times since I was a teenager, sometimes what you HAVE to do gets in the way of what you WANT to do. For me, the electronics part of it is just as important at the rocketry part, maybe more so right now. It doesn't hurt to get a little inspiration once in awhile, something like the Nike Smoke K535 drag race at TCC last June. That'll keep you coming back...

Interesting thread...I have recently returned a year ago after 30+ years away...funny, I was in a Michael's store about 10 years ago and saw a bunch of Estes rockets and motors, and just laughed and didn't feel a desire to build or launch at all.

One day about a year ago, I was reading some physics thing, they mentioned something about rocket stability, and I took out my old "Topics in Advanced Model Rocketry" (which for some reason is like one of 3 things I have brought with me across the country, through multiple moves)...anyway, a quick look at YouTube and the high powered rockets, and all of a sudden I was hooked, again.

The hobby has its highs and lows; I love building the rockets but hate having to be be obsessive about the builds; I've given up on the "perfect" fillet or the "perfect" paint job. Living in California with its crazy rules and regs is another hurdle, but, going out to a group launch and meeting folks is fun (driving 3+ hours each way is a drag, though). Clutter is definitely a problem, as is my "kit-hoarding" or accumulating, which has reached new heights after this most recent Black Friday.

I'm thinking after I get my L1 and L2, I'll probably calm down a bit, do a couple of builds a year and go to a couple launches. It takes an inordinate amount of time (& money) to watch something that pops up and flies for 5 seconds and then float to earth, but it does capture the boyhood dream of being able to fly away into space...

Good topic. I'll add my thoughts. I started the hobby in 1964, and was quite active until High School. Since then I have gotten into and out of active building/flying several times. Currently I am active again. I like reading about rocketry and building/flying both model through high power. Model and mid-power rockets satisfy my itch for the "craft" side of the hobby, and high power satisfies my lust for loud, heavy and fast. I find that it is best to do what I want in the hobby and not what I think I should do or what others want me to do. Sounds simple, right? But sometimes it isn't. Try not to think in terms of what you feel you should do (it's a hobby!); think about what you will enjoy. You can always come back.

I sort of cycle through the year/years with my hobbies, I have the spring/summer time where I'm doing a lot of flying and running military rifle/pistol matches, then the winter where I'm doing building and some RC plane flying, sometimes I get really hot into one or the other and then cycle back to the other areas. As George suggested, trying something different is a good idea. Lately I've been building light and large using foam built up structures instead of just tubes and plywood, it has sparked my interest again and has been a lot of fun/challenging.

Frank

Take two aspirin and go to bed with somebody. You should feel better in the morning. :wink:

This is an interesting thread. In the big picture, I flew as a kid a lot, slowed a bit during HS, and only flew once during college (see the evidence below). My roommate had done the same so we brought our rockets to campus and flew them. I didn't fly again until my son was probably about five. It didn't stick with him so I built a while but then dropped out again. I found HPR mag at a local music store and have been in the hobby since (about 17 years).



I have threatened to drop out several times seriously and grumble about it whenever I miss more than one month of launching. I've gone through several spurts where family issue seemed to always fall over launch weekends. There is a lot of grumbling in The Dungeon over the winter months since I HATE COLD WEATHER. I too haven't bought anything in the Black Friday deals. I kinda lose interest in building a lot when I know they probably won't fly for several months. I'm sure I will be back in spring. It doesn't take much warm weather go get me excited about building and flying.

As an unrelated side note, like so many places I used to fly around here, the area we flew in back in college is now all buildings and parking.

I often reflect on how much time and money I put into this and think it is probably not the best thing for my family or my future. And my wife is frequently upset by my spending. But here I am planning my Level 3. Someday I will probably make a clean break. I just don't know.

Hobbies are about having fun, so when they stop being fun, or if something else captures your imagination, it may be time for a break. I've gotten in and out of hobbies of different types several times. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten in and out of beer brewing. I've bought and then later sold or gave away complete brewing setups multiple times. I got into astronomy. Bought all kinds of telescopes, eyepieces, and accessories. Got tired of the complexity, and now I just enjoy looking at the sky through binoculars.

With rocketry, I'm a BAR BAR BAR BAR.... I've been in and out many times, but this time has been definitely the deepest dive. I've got more rockets now than I've ever had. They're more expensive than ever. The mortors are orders of magnitude bigger! Reloads, electronics, simulations. The finishing and painting is more detailed. But a lot of that is driven by a combination of factors all coming together at once. I've had more time and money available than before. I've been bored with other things. My social circle contracted when I started working from home, so this online community and the club launches have been important socially. And I've been interested in all the new developments in rocketry since the last time I was into it.

Now that combination of factors is changing. Not as much time and money, for sure! The novelty of all the new changes in rocketry is wearing off. And something new has captured my imagination. I'm not planning to drop out of rocketry, especially now that flying season is finally back here in CA. But I've got enough motors and unbuilt kits from past buying frenzies to keep me going through this season. I'm hoping to not buy anything more and work through what I have for now.

Thanks AfterBurners! You Dragged Thirsty out!!!

Hey Eric,

Whereyabeen?

I bounce around my hobbies all the time from Rockets, Paintball, Real cars, RC trucks/cars, RC Comp crawling, RC planes, Guns, building computers, Growing, Highend flashlights, Lasers, Reptiles and the list goes on. I almost never get out for good maybe not touch it for 10 years and then get the bite and back to learning all the new tech I missed. It's the circle of life for men.

I haven't quit so much as I've been forced to put it on the back burner. Truth be told, I don't make a ton of money, and my wife doesn't either, and it's been a slooooowwwwww recovery for me since '09. There was a time when I would go to Lucerne 3 or 4 times a year, but as the kids grow up needs change, health issues come up and so on. I haven't been to a launch in about a year and a half and may not get to one until June (LDRS 35). Sandwich that around a 30 year wedding anniversary and it gets pretty tough to spend on this hobby.

As someone has already said, the friends made makes it so I've got to get out there at least just to see them and hang out.

Ohh, and my new hobby, playing bass guitar, takes up time and $$$.

rstaff3 said:

This is an interesting thread. In the big picture, I flew as a kid a lot, slowed a bit during HS, and only flew once during college (see the evidence below). My roommate had done the same so we brought our rockets to campus and flew them. I didn't fly again until my son was probably about five. It didn't stick with him so I built a while but then dropped out again. I found HPR mag at a local music store and have been in the hobby since (about 17 years).



I have threatened to drop out several times seriously and grumble about it whenever I miss more than one month of launching. I've gone through several spurts where family issue seemed to always fall over launch weekends. There is a lot of grumbling in The Dungeon over the winter months since I HATE COLD WEATHER. I too haven't bought anything in the Black Friday deals. I kinda lose interest in building a lot when I know they probably won't fly for several months. I'm sure I will be back in spring. It doesn't take much warm weather go get me excited about building and flying.

As an unrelated side note, like so many places I used to fly around here, the area we flew in back in college is now all buildings and parking.

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To stay in model rocketry you just need a plan, like an ekranoplan. Yes 30 years later it is 8X"C" tractor power mounted up front, backed up with mid mount, tri-canted 3X"D" power. FAR OUT! Maybe even additional 2X"D" Power in rear mounted pods for a future flight. DIG IT! OUTTA SITE DYNAMITE!

you can send all your kits my way... and anything extra you want to toss in!

K'Tesh said:

Thanks Afterburners! You Dragged Thirsty out!!!

Hey Eric,

Whereyabeen?

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Hey, Jim. I don't want to hijack this thread, but it does sort of have relevance to the topic of what kinds of things can affect a person's interest in a hobby. Last summer I had a few rocketry disappointments. One multi-day launch I was really looking forward to was canceled at the last possible moment due to freak rain (during an epic drought! How does that happen?) The make-up launch was only one day, not 3, and I just was not having great luck. That's the one that ended up with my Warlock hanging from the wires. I was only able to get 2 launches the entire day, and I got a bit ill from sitting in the 105-degree heat for several hours waiting for the power company to rescue my bird. The next LPR launch ended on a down note too, with damage to one of my favorite rockets. By this time we were into summer and opportunities to fly here in CA get very slim, especially with the drought. My next good opportunity was another multi-day launch in October, which I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, I had a painful injury the week before and wasn't able to go! So a streak of bad rocketry luck. In addition, I had a few issues here on TRF that soured me a bit on the forum experience.

In the meantime, I found a new obsession. Next year I turn 50. I want to do something significant, so my wife and I are going to hike the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. It's a 500-mile pilgrimage trail from France, over the Pyrenees, and across Spain to Santiago de Compostela. This is going to take a lot of preparation. We are saving money, which cuts into funds for other things. And we are doing daily training hikes, which cuts into time for other things. I'm spending more of my online time doing research and reading about the Camino.

Anyway, to wrap it back to the topic at hand, these are the kinds of things that can affect the ebb and flow of interest in a hobby --- negative or positive experiences, natural seasonal timing, finances, time, other interests...

A bad day on the range is better than any day at work. I too got a bit of heat exhaustion/sunburn at a launch this Summer, but at least all the powered pods lit.

Turning 50 next year so it is about up, will have to hurry and get everything done before the light starts flashing that is buried in your palm, then poof, it is all over. That is what happens at 50?

Or maybe I just need to get one of those fold up chairs with the fringed canopy on top and sit around with the Old Dudes. Remember the sun screen and set around the range, telling tall stories and watching fer land snakes.

Thanks for the update Thirsty! It's good to see you again. Good Luck with your plans! Me, I'm now looking to go to the PRC around the 13th of December, that'll put a crimp in my building for a while. I'm thinking about packing a rocket so I have something to work on while I wait for things to trickle over to me.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread...

ThirstyBarbarian said:

In the meantime, I found a new obsession. Next year I turn 50. I want to do something significant, so my wife and I are going to hike the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. It's a 500-mile pilgrimage trail from France, over the Pyrenees, and across Spain to Santiago de Compostela. This is going to take a lot of preparation. We are saving money, which cuts into funds for other things. And we are doing daily training hikes, which cuts into time for other things. I'm spending more of my online time doing research and reading about the Camino.

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If you like walking that much, why don't you come out to MDRA and recover my rockets? I'll even buy you lunch. And I can say a word or two in French, although not around my kids.

If AfterBurners actually does hang it up, he can always make a triumphant return as AfterBurnout.

Daddyisabar said:

A bad day on the range is better than any day at work. I too got a bit of heat exhaustion/sunburn at a launch this Summer, but at least all the powered pods lit.

Turning 50 next year so it is about up, will have to hurry and get everything done before the light starts flashing that is buried in your palm, then poof, it is all over. That is what happens at 50?

Or maybe I just need to get one of those fold up chairs with the fringed canopy on top and sit around with the Old Dudes. Remember the sun screen and set around the range, telling tall stories and watching fer land snakes.

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I told my niece I was turning 50, and she said, "Wow. Your life is almost half over." Ha ha! She certainly is optimistic! I'm living to 100! I should have clarified --- I'm turning 50 years old, not 50 percent old. Kids and their Common Core math...

How's this for an old man complaint --- I'm susceptible to gout! The night after the 105-degree launch and the extra 3 hours baking in the sun waiting for the cherry picker to come for my Warlock, I had a gout attack that lasted a week or so. I'm pretty sure it was due to dehydration (not the steak, wine and whiskey at Harris Ranch). Anyway, it was just part of the disappointment of a less-than-stellar day of launching. But I agree, even a bad day on the range is better than a good day almost anywhere else.

I don't want to give the impression I'm down on rocketry based on a disappointing launch or two. That was just one of many factors that contributed to me slowing down for the past months.

K'Tesh said:

Thanks for the update Thirsty! It's good to see you again. Good Luck with your plans! Me, I'm now looking to go to the PRC around the 13th of December, that'll put a crimp in my building for a while. I'm thinking about packing a rocket so I have something to work on while I wait for things to trickle over to me.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread...

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Thanks, Jim! Good luck with your plans as well.

Bat-mite said:

If you like walking that much, why don't you come out to MDRA and recover my rockets? I'll even buy you lunch. And I can say a word or two in French, although not around my kids.

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Ha ha! I'll wear my Fitbit, and you can pay me by the step. I'll only be in France for a day or two. What I really need to work on is my Spanish profanity.

tmacklin said:

If AfterBurners actually does hang it up, he can always make a triumphant return as AfterBurnout.

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LOL! That was pretty good...

I have A LOT hobbies. I love it that way because when I start losing the passion for a hobby a put it aside and work on something else, eventually you remember the fun you had with an old hobby and start to pick it back up with new passion. Presently my hobbies are rocket building, RC rock crawling, SIM racing, video games, mountain biking, fixing up my mX5, fixing up my 70 Boler, and wood working. My advice would be to pick up a new hobby and store your rocketry stuff.

Interestingly for me we are going to step back a small bit. I am going to ramp up my other hobby - bicycling

My goal is to ride at least 1,500 miles in 2016 (Karen and I have declared it the year of the bike). The high point will be a seven day bike trip of Door Count Wisconsin. We will average 50-70 miles a day. I expect we will dial back to club launches, TARC finals, and NYPOWER.

I seem to be building more than flying. Only did 4 launches this year. Now that the snow's starting to fly, my CAP unit wants to have a launch for the first time in 3 years.

RocketT.Coyote said:

I seem to be building more than flying. Only did 4 launches this year. Now that the snow's starting to fly, my CAP unit wants to have a launch for the first time in 3 years.

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I did all my clubs launches but only flew about 16-18 flights all year, most of those at 3 launches, most of the time I was a Range Monkey/Pad Fuhrer/RSO.

The_Lone_Beagle said:

Interesting thread...I have recently returned a year ago after 30+ years away...funny, I was in a Michael's store about 10 years ago and saw a bunch of Estes rockets and motors, and just laughed and didn't feel a desire to build or launch at all.

One day about a year ago, I was reading some physics thing, they mentioned something about rocket stability, and I took out my old "Topics in Advanced Model Rocketry" (which for some reason is like one of 3 things I have brought with me across the country, through multiple moves)...anyway, a quick look at YouTube and the high powered rockets, and all of a sudden I was hooked, again.

The hobby has its highs and lows; I love building the rockets but hate having to be be obsessive about the builds; I've given up on the "perfect" fillet or the "perfect" paint job. Living in California with its crazy rules and regs is another hurdle, but, going out to a group launch and meeting folks is fun (driving 3+ hours each way is a drag, though). Clutter is definitely a problem, as is my "kit-hoarding" or accumulating, which has reached new heights after this most recent Black Friday.

I'm thinking after I get my L1 and L2, I'll probably calm down a bit, do a couple of builds a year and go to a couple launches. It takes an inordinate amount of time (& money) to watch something that pops up and flies for 5 seconds and then float to earth, but it does capture the boyhood dream of being able to fly away into space...

Click to expand...

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I totally agree and will probably do the same after my L2

tmacklin said:

If AfterBurners actually does hang it up, he can always make a triumphant return as AfterBurnout.

Click to expand...

I like that. :roll: Seriously just want to get my L2. The rocket is built, just needs paint and my PML Bull Pup is about ready for paint. Those two rockets I want to complete, launch my L2 bird and retire from the hobby for awhile. Maybe spend time designing some stuff on RS. I want to mess with my RC Trucks more. I love my hobbies, but need some balance if you know what I mean?

I have an old pinball machine I want to learn how to work on. That would save me money than to have someone else do it. I also want to take some more road trips on my down time.

K'Tesh said:

I'll voluntarily quit when I permanently drop to room temperature.

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Now there's a man after my own heart! You rock(et), brother!