How Long? Have You Been Flying Model Rockets, That Is???

My first rocket launch was in 1972.

I had begun building models in 1970 but California had some pretty strict laws/regulations governing model rocketry at the time so getting rocket motors could be difficult.

The first rocket I flew?

An Estes Falcon boost-glider with an 1/2A6-2 (Full size 18mm motor, not a 'S' Shorty motor).

It worked!

I still have the Falcon packed away in a box.
Attached is a picture of my rocket collection in 1972. The Flacon is the red glider in the front.

qquake2k said:

1972, Estes Alpha III. It's still in my blood.

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My first rocket as well, also in '72. Been at it more or less continuously ever since.

Picked up an Estes Scout and a single 1/2A motor at the LHS the fall of 1967. It was not until after I built it and went back to the shop, did somebody explain to me that I to have a launch pad. That, had to wait until Christmas. Come spring 1968, I had a helluva time getting my Electro-Launch to work. But by then, I had found a classmate who already had this rocketry thing down pat.

That began my affiliation with the APRO Model Rocketry Club, and a life-long addiction to the hobby. I took a break from the hobby from 1974 to 1979 (during my college and early career days), then again 1997 to 2011 while I pursued a far, far more expensive hobby. But both times I kept my rocket stuff in storage, always knowing I would eventually return.

It just now occurs to me....It will soon be 50 years!!

I just started yesterday. Pay no attention to the 50 years of crap I've accumulated. It was here when I moved in.....so it was my parent's house-so what???

LW Bercini said:

Picked up an Estes Scout and a single 1/2A motor at the LHS the fall of 1967. It was not until after I built it and went back to the shop, did somebody explain to me that I to have a launch pad. That, had to wait until Christmas. Come spring 1968, I had a helluva time getting my Electro-Launch to work. But by then, I had found a classmate who already had this rocketry thing down pat.

That began my affiliation with the APRO Model Rocketry Club, and a life-long addiction to the hobby. I took a break from the hobby from 1974 to 1979 (during my college and early career days), then again 1997 to 2011 while I pursued a far, far more expensive hobby. But both times I kept my rocket stuff in storage, always knowing I would eventually return.

It just now occurs to me....It will soon be 50 years!!

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You and I were on almost the same calendar -- we got our first kits for fall/winter '67 but didn't get off the ground until spring '68. I was really chomping at the bit to get flying in spring '68 and I remember it was very cold with snow either still on the ground or just melted, so it was probably March or maybe early April, I'd guess. I also made my first flights with a classmate who was earlier into the hobby. His house backed up onto a golf course and we went and flew on one of the fairways. Once the weather got good you couldn't fly on the golf course; the golfers would chase you off.

Started building in 67 or 68 I guess, (3rd grade). Assembled an Estes Streak. Never flew it. I got interested because my oldest brother built an Alpha, Space Plane, Gyroc, Mercury Redstone, Gemini Titan and Orbital Transport (that I remember). I built a few (Gyroc and Scissor Wing are the 2 I remember) around '74 but they never flew either. Couldn't afford a launch set.
First flight was a WAC Corporal in '75 (with the ROTC class). That is where it really started for me. Built several different models until 88 or so, and gave everything to a neighbor boy because I was going to sea with Uncle Sam's Canoe Club. Looked at the stuff on e(vil)bay for many years before I picked it back up in '07 or so.
Now I have too much money invested to give it up.

Daughter and I were discussing what would happen if something happened to me. She said she would sell my rockets for "a pretty penny". I had to burst her bubble and say that built rockets aren't worth very much. (Course I have a couple hundred $ worth still in kit form, and 4 ammo cans full of motors...)

Going on 54 years now, and counting...

I got hooked in the summer of 1963. Was working at a produce stand for a friend's parents and got paid $1 for working the morning. I was 7 years old and my friend and I along with his older sister got "dropped* at a nearby mall (Sharpstown Mall...just outside of Houston...and had significance to the fledgling U.S. space program). Funny, a parent wouldn't dare "drop" off a youngster double our age today! Anyway, that $1 (plus two cents for tax) landed me an Astron Scout and a 1/4A.8-something or other motor. I remember it being winter before finally launching it...no launch pad, just stood it on its fins at the top of a lumber pile outside my dad's workshop and turned up the "juice" on a Lionel train transformer until it took off. It literally just vanished before my eyes. I figured it disintegrated until my dad found it a couple of days or so later while mowing the "back lot" behind our house. I've pretty much been doing model rocketry with no significant interruptions from that day...except for when I landed a job working on...rockets (a couple of Saturn V conservations). Then, I didn't have time for my beloved hobby for about 3 years.

John Pursley

I had "false start" with a Centuri Lli' Herc around 1966-67. Didn't glue the fins on, lit the fuse, it flipped unstably up the street....and that was it for me. A couple of years later I saw some kids flying models at a schoolyard but still didn't get into it. Then I ran across Stine's Handbook of Model Rocketry in 1969, at the school library. I read the whole thing, and understood then why the Lil' Herc needed those fins. But I hated mail order, and there was not hobby shop very close at the time. Then in February 1970, the nearby K-Mart had the MPC rockets, and later Cox rockets. My first few rockets were MPC kits. The one piece fin unit, or the really simple plastic fin attachment rings, made the models easy enough to build.

So, I finally got hooked, with an MPC MoonGo. Except..... it misfired, and misfired again. Used up the red adhesive tape (sort of like very sticky masking tape) that held the igniter in. So, I used Scotch tape to hold the igniter in. 3, 2, 1.... Ignition.... OF THE TAPE! The flame was next to a fin.... and the fin caught fire. Then the whole plastic fin unit caught fire, and the body tube burned. I had no water, threw a rock that knocked the pad over and finally put the rocket out, but the rear half was toast (pretty much everything burned except.... the engine).

Finally with an MPC Viper I had my first successful flight. So, 47 years non-stop since then.

Two pics below, among the oldest rocket pics I have. One from June 1971, a Regional Contest near Atlanta, GA, having traveled from Birmingham 150 miles away. First time I ever attended any club rocket launch, first NAR launch, first contest, and seeing some people I'd read about in Model Rocketry Magazine. I met John Langford there, he was around 15 then, I was 14.




This other photo is me on the right, with a 6 foot span Swing Wing Boost Glider. It had just flown successfully, stalled a bit, and part of the right wing got toasted. From March 1972.

I've been flying off & on since 1981.

My first flight was an Estes Challenger I at 10:26 AM, May 22nd, 1981. I felt compelled to write that info down at the time since somehow, I knew I'd be doing this for the rest of my life. I was 14 at the time. I still have that original rocket but it's in pretty bad shape. I also have another one I bought on eBay in '99 that I start off the flying season with every year.

TaekwondoRockets said:

I've been flying off & on since 1981.

My first flight was an Estes Challenger I at 10:26 AM, May 22nd, 1981. I felt compelled to write that info down at the time since somehow, I knew I'd be doing this for the rest of my life. I was 14 at the time. I still have that original rocket but it's in pretty bad shape. I also have another one I bought on eBay in '99 that I start off the flying season with every year.

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Welcome to the Forum! You always have good prices on Ebay, too bad I don't have money...
Bookmarked you new web site, I'm sure I'll be visiting often!
You should do an intro on the Watering Hole!

Thanks!

Sales have been good on eBay & Amazon so I haven't focused as much on the main web store but I'm trying to get the rest of my items listed there since eBay & Amazon take a hefty chunk of whatever I make.

cerving said:

Estes Sprite in 1967. First catalog was the 1966 with the Mars Snooper on it... a classic. Wish I still had it...

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Watch eBay, you might find one. The 1966 catalog was Estes' first full color catalog. I replaced mine a few years ago with a pretty decent one for about $20, as I recall. My first catalog was the 1964. I've bid on several, but they went for WAY over $100. I decided I could live with and electronic copy (ninfinger website).