JPVegh
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I like my rockets to look good once. Then I launch them and screw it... the scars of battle are just that.
I find myself dreading the finishing process. So consider me weird. Not hard to imagine ... aye? :wink:
I like them to look good once. I like people to say, "That's a sharp looking rocket!" But I do NOT like to process of getting to a sharp model. My paint jobs always have either A) Orange Peel/Stippling or B) Runs. :rant: :rant: Never do I simply get a nice smooth gloss paint job. I don't like sanding, I don't like filling, but I do it because I like the end result.
So in this case, I do things in the hobby I don't enjoy simply to get a result I do enjoy. Make sense? If I flew a rocket unfinished* I'd feel like "It is not finished."
OTOH I know people who ONLY like launching. The act of building is torturous. Finishing is worse! All they want to get to is the burning of BP or AP. The building is a means to an end. Me? Hard to say... I spend so many relaxing hours building compared to launching, I have to enjoy the building process or there would be no point. And I do love the mechanical part of building. I do like launching... but its a more nerve racking rather than relaxing experience. There is nothing like seeing that chute deploy or that glider glide...
YMMV.
Jeff
* I do fly unfinished rockets when the goal is weight savings. Like B/Gs and R/Gs or almost any contest type model.
Ah, this post gets to the meat of it. There are different types of rocketeers.
You have your craftsman types that need to build the best rocket looking that they can. This may be because they have to challenge themselve or because they want others to acknowledge their skill or because Garth Brooks will die if they don't get it just perfect.
You have your techie types that don't necessarily have to have a great looking rocket but they are motivated by higher, faster, more complicated. They get off on solving technical problems, getting that three stage HPR to work flawlessly, track it thoughout the flight with full telemetry and then track it to its final location using GPS, RDF and satellite location.
You have your dedicated contest fliers hell bent on accumulating as many contest points in a year as their wallets and time will allow. This also includes the subgroup of record accumulators. Some of these folks are overly competitive, others crossover with the techie type, solving problems to get that record.
You have your "it's all about the comradery" types. These folks are in it primarily to hang out with the group. They might fall into one of the other categories but being with other people is the prime objective. This might be the fella in the club that shows up at the launch with no rockets but is always willing, ready and able to help out with range duties or maybe he brings all of his rockets but only launches once and spends the rest of the day chatting with the other flyers.
Then there are the pure pyros, for them it's all about the flame, the smoke and the roar of the motor. The rocket is simply a vehicle for the motor which is most important aspect of rocketry for them. Really though the motor is just a vehicle for the smoke and flame.
Of course there are the armchair rocketeers, I fall into this group. I hang out at the forums but I post mostly in the nonrocketry subforums. I build rockets but seldom post build threads, documenting a build is hard. I post helpful suggestions after the fact, "your rocket crashed because...". I show up at club launches but only if I don't have other things going on. Mostly though I wax fondly on the good old days and point out how the young rocketeers have it easy compared to back when, "we didn't have no rocsim back when".
Before anyone gets offended by this post please understand that it is done mostly tongue in cheek. It takes all kinds to make up a hobby, a communty, a world... We all get different things from this craziness called rocketry and we all contribute in our own way. That crappy looking Baby Bertha sitting on that fellas table might be a real source of pride for him.
Once I was a hot shot rocket stud (at least in my own mind) and could build some great looking birds. These days I find myself getting older, the arthritis in my hands limit my abilities. The pain in my back, legs and ankles limit my mobility. Any rocket I finish is a victory for me, any rocket that I launch is a victory for me, any launch that I show up to is a victory for me. My rockets aren't as pretty as they used to be but it still brings me joy everytime I can push that button. After all, it was the whooosh pop that got most of us into this hobby, in the end it is still the whoosh pop that keeps us truckin on.