What's your biggest Hobby failure?

WILDMANRS said:

This one is easy for me.
With all of the rockets I have launched over the past 15+ years there is one that I consider my biggest failure.
The Mega Dark Star with the CTI P motor.
And it never flew.
It still hangs in my garage with the motor still in it to remind me every time I go out there "what else could I have done"

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why didn't it fly?

rocketgeek101 said:

why didn't it fly?

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The best, and most accurate, answer is "politics".

-Kevin

Biggest failure? Staying within budget.:confused2:

86mustang408w said:

Not so sure if its a faliure than waste of money..I spent the past couple years rebuilding a 1986 Mustang GT. Swapped the 302 for a 610 hp 408w, all forged internals, full Aero fuel system, Prosystems 950, etc..Tko 600 trans/McCleod bell, spec stage 3 clutch, alum driveshaft, custom 8.8 rear with 9" ends, all team z suspension, and too much more stuff. I think I spent about 25k In all, and just decided this year to get rid of it..I guess I just got tired of messing with it. I said I wouldn't put anymore money into it, and everytime I worked on it I found myself wanting to add more, then wanted to repaint this winter...I hated selling it, I had over 10k in the engine alone, and think I got 5k for it all in August. I still have the car and trans to sell. And for some dumb reason had the idea to build another engine...But am talking myself out of it, and used that money to buy another motorcycle. I think of what I spent and what I could have bought for the money I had into that one. Buying a $25k race/street car, it would be pretty nice and fast. Ill never buy all new stuff and parts again.

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If you think drag is expensive try rally... 25k doesnt even compete with the top teams... you need a car (sti or evo) 30k... then suspension 10k easily... roll cage 7k... motor work and tune to somehow pump out over 500hp using a 34mm restrictor 5-10k saftey gear another 5k... 2 sets of tires at least per event 4k... average entry fee 1k... gas hotel food yada yada 1k... the list goes on...

Or you can go open light... around 20k to get you started... if you do all the work yourself and buy used parts it is a lot cheaper

Was not going to post this, but hey,why not ?
My biggest hobby failure=ALCOHOL! uke: uke:

My biggest failure... getting involved in hobbies in the first place... I have a garage full of 'partially built' and one-of-these-days...

Had a Cox Stuka control line model along with my friend's Cox P-40 of which we took to the local park. The parking lot itself was the better choice rather than on the rough grass for taking off on. My friend got his P-40 up and I don't think he flew it long at all, I just remember the crash. So we got my Stuka running and my friend let it go. It took off quite well and I got about four or five laps on it when two things happened simultaneously. I heard what sounded like a fishing reel buzzing with a fish on it and I stopped going round in circles. That's right, the line either broke or came untied at the bell crank on board the plane.
All I could do was watch my Stuka fly off on it's own on a relatively straight path. Into the only light pole that was in the parking lot. That little red spinner on the snout took a direct hit and generally pulverized the model. Can't say who won the war that day as both 'aces' were shot down rather quickly. I do have another one that I broke the motor in on. Should take this one out and learn how to tie knots!

Stop me when you see a red flag in this story...

My biggest hobby fail was sailing. I was in college and had reserved a boat for Memorial Day weekend for a trip with friends. They backed out, so I wasn't sure what to do, maybe another friend and I would take the boat out. Then the relationship with my girlfriend started getting serious. No problem, I think. I tell my friend that I'd like him to bow out (it's a 26' boat, not much privacy), and go on a romantic sail. She doesn't sail, but no problem, I can teach her.

So there we are, headed up Puget Sound with a nice following breeze, making good time. My GF goes below to sleep a little--she needs a rest after exams. It starts getting toward dark. She comes up, looks over my shoulder, and asks about all the dark clouds behind us. Suddenly, the wind comes up, it's nearly pitch dark, I'm trying to reef the main while she steers. We accidentally jibe, which takes the boat over to about 75 degrees of heel. I'm clinging to the mast, she's slinging to the tiller, and if either of us go in, we have about a 30-minute life expectancy.

Then, as we're sorting that out, there's a RRRIIIP! and the mainsail tears along its longest seam. Then I can't get the jib down. We finally get anchored safe and fall into bed. Next morning, I'm looking for the stove fuel I'd been told was on the boat. Can't find it. Two days of cold beans on toast and fruit cocktail follow. I'm nothing if not persistent!

On the way home, the outboard motor dies, and we lose about two hours due to me mis-reading the tide chart and sailing into oncoming currents. We get towed through the locks, damage the boat that was towing us (mostly his fault, but still...), and make it back to the dock just before my friend I'd left behind was going to call the Coast Guard to check on us.

And the real punchline? She married me a year later, still married 23 years after that event. She even went sailing with me a few times after that.

I used to have a Testors Galax hovercraft as a kid, powered by a .049 glow plug engine. Accidentally set fire to it once trying to start it. Nitro fuel being what it is, flames were nearly invisible, and the plastic model shriveled as it dawned on me what was happening. I grabbed a dry chemical fire extinguisher and blasted it. That was kind of a mistake, because (a) I might have been able to salvage the engine if I hadn't done that, and (b) my dad pointed out that the fire extinguisher cost more than the model and it would have been cheaper to let it burn

Peartree said:

Even with good advice and help, any attempts at rocket gliders has looked like this...

Toss, adjust, toss, adjust, toss, glide, adjust, toss, glide, toss, glide, toss, glide... put in a motor, Whoosh...THUNK.

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HA! Yep gliders are a challenge. But sooner or later, you'll get everything to work right, and it will be beautiful. There's nothing like accepting the applause at a club launch after your glider stayed up in the air for over a minute, flying in lazy circles and catching a boost from a thermal.

rocketgeek101 said:

why didn't it fly?

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The story I heard was this, the CTI P motor is an EX motor and therefore the person who made it has to be at the launch, regardless of the fact that is was a commercially built motor, that was used in hundreds of military rockets.

Failures are learning opportunities. I know how to keep fins on better now.

[video=youtube;kyA0tkwW_LA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyA0tkwW_LA[/video]

My biggest failure is all of the started and, as of yet, uncompleted modeling projects littering my work shop and house! Off the top of my head I can think of two plastic model kits that were started and left unfinished, 4 R/C airplanes (one of which is my first foray into Scale - a 1/6 Fairey Firefly Mk IV), parts for an HO train diorama, and at least a half-dozen LPR rockets!

boatgeek said:

Stop me when you see a red flag in this story...

. They backed out

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did i get it right???

Biggest hobby failure has been not wearing sunblock.

All my life my hobbies have required a significant outdoor presence. Rocketry, hiking, distance bicycling and body surfing. Without an external shield against the ever present UV radiation, this has resulting in an ongoing battle to remove skin cancer.

UV is not your friend, especially if you have light skin and eyes. I suppose it is the friend of my last 3 dermatologists who have consistently cut, burned and frozen my epidermis many times. But this is my own fault.

Words of caution to the younger types and anyone with European genes: wear your sunblock with an SPF 9000 or above. Skin cancer is real and you can use me as living proof.

i hear ya on that and a HUGE 2nd ya on that,Blackleaf.
i worked carpentry for 10 years up to 2006- framing houses. did the majority of my playing outside before and through that.
then diagnosed stage 3 metastatic melanoma n may of 06. 3 year constant fight with close to a million dollars invested.
i still have it in 3 places internally. when melanoma gets to a certain stage, it doesnt get classified at cured or in remission- just not active.
its not a question of IF it returns or goes active, but when.
not always a pleasant feeling having that hanging over my head.

Doing my last ever motor deploy on a 5.5" LOC V-2, charge insufficient, comes in ballistic, misses Tommy, the land owner at Higgs Farm, MD by about a foot.
2nd worst thing about taking out the land owner? He's also makes the best darn food at all the Red Glare events. You can't hurt the cook!
A day I want to forget.

Blackleaf99 said:

Biggest hobby failure has been not wearing sunblock. . . .Words of caution to the younger types and anyone with European genes: wear your sunblock with an SPF 9000 or above. Skin cancer is real and you can use me as living proof.

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+1 to that. Had a couple of Basal and Squamous Carcinomas removed myself, and have the scars and skin grafts to prove it.

compared to everyone else, I'm just a wimpy whiner! I-200 in my gracefully aging Aerotech Mirage on flight #97. G's packed the chutes and dog barf really tight and she core sampled in front of a randomly gathered bunch of on-lookers. One lady with a particularly thick Danish accent timidly remarked "Eeww, I haff such (unknown word) for you. But was exciting, yah?" It was like losing a pet-it was kinda the family mascot as I had pics of my kids with this rocket when they were little shavers (this was one of the first production run Mirages) and they were all over 6' when I killed it at a family reunion in the desert. Kevin Funk's Dad (Discount Rocketry)even took a pic of it (and me)as I had it hilariously painted to match a mildly obnoxious shirt I wore on it's first flight. I also wore a Pirate's hat exactly like the one on my avatar. You had to know Kevin's twisted sense of humour to see why i did that. I have to find that picture someday-I had hair and a bright future in rocketry.....LOL!

My biggest hobby failure was getting into RC car racing, although fun I spent so much money $10K years ago a had fun for a few years then sold everything for pennies on the dollar....but then did it again about 4 years ago with the proliferation of LIPO and brushless systems, not at 10K still a substantial amount. They now sit on the shelf. Although fun and they are toys I see more crap, dirty driving, arguing, cussing and bad attitudes at the RC tracks maybe just the ones I frequented but I've been around car racing nearly my entire life and RC tracks are the worst. Too bad because I really enjoy it.

So I build a full track at my house and after continually running my well out of water trying to maintain a huge track, it's now a drivers stand and a track of weeds 😞.

I should just sell it all again ... until the next go around

luke strawwalker said:

ALL of them come back down, in one condition or another, sooner or later...

WHERE is often a matter of much debate, however...

Later! OL JR

PS... Personally I fail to understand why people put themselves into the poor house over HPR... I don't see much difference between "whoosh, pop" versus "WHOOSH! pop... POP!" There's TONS of fun to be had with LPR/MPR for a FRACTION of the cost of HPR, but hey, to each his own I guess... Hey, if it floats yer boat, go for it... but I fail to understand why people gripe about the costs involved and yet keep doing it... what I particularly find amusing is HPR folks that whine like a mule after they drop several hundred bucks on motor casings and loads, sometimes hundreds more on HPR kits and building supplies, and usually hundreds more on electronics and hardware, then suddenly find the prospect of buying a tank of gas and driving 2-3 hours to a SUITABLE HPR field to suddenly be some huge imposition and expense... seems like a $50 tank of gas is "down in the noise" compared to the other expenses... :eyeroll::lol: but what do I know... LOL

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I am starting to limit my HPR flights to around 3K feet. That way you can see the apogee event and track the entire flight. It is also cheaper due to the smaller motors needed. Every so often it is nice to send a Mobius up to 10K for the video piece.

My biggest failure to date is loss of my RW X-Celerator ... twice!

My first FG kit. Launched to 3000 feet at the sod farm, came down in a tree. So not lost, excatly, but not recoverable.

I figured it was worth the $300 to the tree climber to get it back, and I did. Couldn't wait to get to Higgs Farm so that wouldn't happen again.

Bought new harnesses and a new chutes. Brought it to Higgs Farm. I was very excited to put an L900 in it, because I wanted to break 10k feet.

Well, it was a windy, cloudy day, but I was too stupid to say no. Launched it, watched it disappear, and never saw it again. GPS led me to a huge stream. Is that where it went out of range of the GPS, or did it land in the stream and head for the Atlantic? I'll never know. I was also too stupid to take my receiver with me on the walk to see if I'd get new coordinates as I got closer.

So, I lost the rocket, the Sticker Shock full wrap decal, the CTI 6XL 54mm casing and closure, the GPS transmitter, the RRC2+ altimeter, and the $300 I paid to get it down from the tree. $1000, easily, gone in one flight. Not to mention the hours I spent searching for it.

I've had epic fails like others. But I think my biggest failure was not stocking up on Estes Maxi kits like the Honest John, the V-2, and most especially, the Pershing 1A. These kits bring insane prices on eBay.

When you think about it, any of the old K-series kits sell for outlandish prices. I console myself by knowing that I built and flew a few of them ...