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I retired from scientific work (mostly instrumentation) in 2009, and my best friend (since 1971) is interested in model rocketry. He has no knowledge of Science (he works in a Law office) but has practical experience with machinery from his upbringing on a dairy farm. He lives in Henderson (Nevada) and I'm in Las Vegas, and there seems to be no local rocketry club. How do we two old guys begin? Suggestions and links appreciated, thanks in advance.
 
Hi new guys :) Well, there's a NAR section up in Pahrump and there's Tripoli Las Vegas. You can find their listing in the Watering Hole Section under Rocketry Resources, a place where you can find most of the major manufacturers and businesses for the hobby. Begin by getting a few Skill Level 1 rockets and go on from there. Note that there is a Skill level and a High Power Level 1, not to be confused with each other. Estes and others have Launch Box Specials that include usually a couple of rockets, a few motors with igniters and wadding, launch pad and launch controller, without batteries ;) I'd stay away from Ready To Fly (RTF) and Almost Ready To Fly rockets, you learn almost nothing from them.

Read this section, find posts by other noobies where many questions you might have are answered and ask more questions. You will find quite a few here willing to help you out with your questions :)


...don't be suprized when the High Power bug bites, it happens to most here ;)
 
I retired from scientific work (mostly instrumentation) in 2009, and my best friend (since 1971) is interested in model rocketry. He has no knowledge of Science (he works in a Law office) but has practical experience with machinery from his upbringing on a dairy farm. He lives in Henderson (Nevada) and I'm in Las Vegas, and there seems to be no local rocketry club. How do we two old guys begin? Suggestions and links appreciated, thanks in advance.
Greeting to you both! Welcome to TRF and the merry mayhem we brothers in smoke cooperate, castigate. ameliorate, and just generally enjoy the heck out of! First off- you've made an excellent choice of websites! There is more experience across a wide variety of rocketry related subjects than you can shake an electron at. I don't want to assume any level of interest or competency-so starting at 'ground zero' so to speak-cruise around on this forum. You'll see 'build threads' for anything from your hobby store kits in a bag to huge "we had to build a trailer..." rockets. The three main types we discuss here are Low Power ('LPR); Mid-power ('MPR) and High Power (HPR) all pretty much defined by the motor sizes we fly. Visit some of the Vendors on the banner headline Ads to see what's available. G. Harry Stein's "Handbook of Model Rocketry" and Mark Canepa's "Guide to High Power Rocketry (1 or 2) are good starter books full of material to show you the versatility and diversity of rocketry interests as well practical instruction manuals for the whole gamut. Tim Van Milligan has excellent articles in his "Peak of Flight series found on his website apogeerockets.com as well as how to videos and technical papers. He also sells a design program called RockSim. I would suggest looking up openrocket.sourceforge.net for a free rocket design program that has a degree of sophistication you can't beat for the price and has a tolerable learning curve.
You guys are very lucky living in Vegas, as several great launches occur there every year. I'll let others chime in about local clubs, but the flying off the dry lakes is epic. Even if you don't go insane and cash in your 401k's for the sport-there is plenty of room to fly out there, so you can gets lots of practice. Fell free to PM me-I'm a semi-retired aerospace engineer myself and so have a little more time than most to walk newcomers thru the minefields and pitfalls of just starting out. That and I've been doing this for 40+ years. Keep us posted on your progress and post any questions you may have. Above all-have fun!
 
Welcome to the Forum. This is a great place to get started.
Browse the Posts on here, then decide what types of Rockets you would like to build. Try to get your Friend to get on here too.
This place is full of good things.
 
Here are my suggestions:

1. Buy a small Estes Ready-to-Fly or Almost-Ready-to-Fly rocket (available at Hobby Lobby, online, various hobby stores). Buy the recommended motors, and follow the instructions. You'll need a launch pad, rod, and controller. These come in starter sets sold at said same stores.

2. Learn how to insert an igniter in a motor, insert the motor into the rocket, fold and insert the recovery wadding and parachute. (Recovery wadding is specially treated paper that won't burn, and protects your chute from melting.)

3. Find a field that meets the minimum site dimensions (included in the motor instructions).

4. Go out and launch! Once you are comfortable with that, buy a kit that takes a little more skill. Work your way up in size, motor impulse, and in skill levels.

5. You will not be able to (legally) launch anything with a motor larger than a G impulse (don't worry what that means), or get into high power, unless you join a club and get high-power certified.

6. Buy this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0471472425/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

7. Ask lots of specific questions! You may run into things that are a tad unclear in the instructions. Or some concept may not initially make sense until you understand some of the terminology. Ask away!
 
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I retired from scientific work (mostly instrumentation) in 2009, and my best friend (since 1971) is interested in model rocketry. He has no knowledge of Science (he works in a Law office) but has practical experience with machinery from his upbringing on a dairy farm. He lives in Henderson (Nevada) and I'm in Las Vegas, and there seems to be no local rocketry club. How do we two old guys begin? Suggestions and links appreciated, thanks in advance.

You guys are taking a somewhat-unconventional route into hobby rocketry: many if not most of the people in the sport (and here on TRF) are Born-Again Rocketeers (BARs), plunging back into a hobby we enjoyed in our youth (in my case, the 'golden age' of public interest in space and rocketry of 1968-75 coinciding with the space race and Apollo's voyages to the moon).

So in essence you guys skipped the "first life" stage and are being "born for the first time" as rocketry enthusiasts. In a way that's cool because you will be coming in with fresh eyes, not bogged down with attitudes of "that's how we used to do it in 1969" (although really many techniques and skills from 1969 are still valid today).

Actually you're coming in much better equipped than many of us who kind of stumbled in as kids back in the 1960s.

Certainly your background in scientific instrumentation will give you a huge leg up in being able to understand somewhat-more technical topics such as design and aerodynamic stability; that stuff can be a bear to figure out if you are using grade-school arithmetic, as I found out at age 9 some 45 years ago. (Plus we now have computer programs which can do most of the number-grinding for you!!)

Your buddy's background in machinery will likely come in very handy too in terms of building rockets. The skills and techniques he has used over the years on machinery maintenance and repair should make most model rocketry construction and finishing projects nearly a snap for him. How to use tools, adhesives, paints, cut materials, all that stuff should be second nature for him.

Plus both of you should be real good at reading and following directions; probably 90% of all mishaps and foulups experienced by rookie flyers are the result of deciding that following directions is unnecessary (it's usually very necessary)
:y:


As others have mentioned, I might advise avoiding the Ready To Fly sets (unless you are just hell-bent to get some kind, any kind, of rocket in the air within the next 30 minutes) because they really don't deliver much in learning or any sense of accomplishment. However a RTF set does include a launch pad and a launch controller which you will need to fly most of your rockets later on.

You will find the time and expense investment necessary for rocketry will increase exponentially once you branch into MPR and then HPR. Motors, rocket parts, ground equipment and components are much more expensive, and you need to have a much larger area in which to fly (although in that respect, in Nevada, you guys are close to nirvana as far as most rocketeers are concerned, especially most of us back in the East and Midwest where we must scrounge for vacant lots and worry about rocket-eating trees).

MPR and HPR definitely deliver much more spectacular flights in terms of noise, smoke, altitude and general impressiveness, but there is still plenty of enjoyment to be had from low-power rocketry (generally, motors up to class F) and you can do a ton of interesting and just plain fun stuff -- you can fly video cameras, altimeters and other instruments; you can build gliders; your buddy can put his construction and craftsmanship skills to work on scale models -- you can pretty much go nuts.

I would personally advise to work your way up through low-power, and then to MPR and then HPR if you want the additional challenge level. Almost all skills needed to successfully fly HPR are extensions/progressions/extrapolations of stuff you learn first in LPR. While some people can and do leap straight into the deep end and start flying high-power, it's been my experience that many people following that path eventually end up "reinventing the wheel" because they've skipped over so many steps in the learning curve.

(This is VERY commmon with some Team America Rocket Challenge participants in HS or college: often kids want to jump right in the deep end and start with HPR models, and at some point a flight ends up going screwy because of some basic-level fundamental mistake they almost certainly would have avoided if they had started by flying a few LPR rockets.)


As many others also have noted, getting into a club can be a lot of fun. You'll meet a lot of people from a wide spectrum of age and experience levels. Not sure how active the Pahrump group is; probably you should contact them directly and see if they fly on a regular basis. (From a Google search it looks like they had a launch in December; not sure if they've done anything more recently.)

I suspect there are at least a few fairly active flyers in the Las Vegas area. If you join the NAR they may be able to give you contact info for other members in the area. Joining the NAR also has many other advantages such as insurance coverage and subscription to the bimonthly magazine Sport Rocketry.

If you do decide to step up to HPR you may want to affiliate with the Tripoli groups. HPR is more their bailiwick.

I also have to add another BIG endorsement for G. Harry Stine's "Handbook of Model Rocketry" -- it is the indispensable source book.
 
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Well, don't get so bogged down in the book learning you get stuck on the ground for months!! :y::y:

I'd advise to go for one of the Estes Almost-RTF starter sets such as this one,

https://www.estesrockets.com/rockets/launch-sets/001469-tandem-xtm-amazontm-crossfire-isxtm

which will set you up with a couple of basic rockets and an adequate set of launch and ignition equipment. Following the basic instructions, it should not take you more than a couple days to get these rockets built and ready for flight.

At the same time pick up a copy (or two) of the above-recommended "Handbook of Model Rocketry," you can read a few dozen pages at a time at nights while you are also flying your entry-level rockets and picking up hands-on experience of your own. In my experience in my early teens, the HBOMR was most valuable to use as a companion resource while I was building and flying rockets on a regular basis.

After you've flown your starter birds a few times and knocked off a few chapters of the handbook, it'll be time to set your sights on your next-level project: a bigger or more complex rocket.
 
Welcome !

We drove up to the Springfest hosted by Tripoli Las Vegas this year ! Very hospitable club..we were made to feel welcome.

You have found this forum..so with a search you can find pictures and build threads on alot of the rockets being sold.

Dont get to hung up on a project to start ..you can ask for feedback here on something that catches your eye before you purchase and make an informed opinion. Build it , fly it and decide what you like ! Some think bigger, some think higher and some think faster . .. after they fly.

Level 1 capable midpower rocket would be a good start.. Estes Nike Smoke, Estes Leviathan or the Giant Leap Rocketry Escape Velocity 2.6 are straight forward assembly. .the Leviathan was on sale at Estesrockets.com over the weekend.

Kenny
 
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Thanks again for all the advice, which I have been reading & heeding. Today I ordered a "Rock Star" from FlisKits, for which I'll get some C11-5 motors and maybe take to the Tripoli launch in Jean (Nevada) next month, about 30 miles south of where I'm sitting now.
 
Thanks again for all the advice, which I have been reading & heeding. Today I ordered a "Rock Star" from FlisKits, for which I'll get some C11-5 motors and maybe take to the Tripoli launch in Jean (Nevada) next month, about 30 miles south of where I'm sitting now.


....Jean Dry Lake in August...2 words; water and shade. You're from there, I'm sure you know this ;)

I bought some C11-3's I still haven't burned. Tell me what you think of the C11-5's when you're done. Thanks :)
 
I received the "Rock Star" kit (very interesting) from FlisKits, thinking of obvious modifications, chiefly among which is air augmentation. Soviet rocket experimenters worked on this fifty years ago, anything since then?
 
I do apologise for this very-late follow-up message, but a great deal of misfortune intervened: my US Army veteran diabetic brother's leg was amputated, and our mother died. My best friend's sister and mother also died, so I gave away the "Rock Star" kit, knowing we would have no time to devote.
 
Welcome to the Hobby. I own several Fliskits rockets and I enjoy them. That said they tend to be small rockets. I like bigger Rockets and thus make copies in a larger size. The Profile Photo is My 1.6X Upscaled Estes Mars Lander on the Launch Pad for my Level 1 Certification. Many people (including the Range Safety Officer) thought I was insane to use such a complicated and fragile rocket for that purpose. As I told him "If you can't run with the big dogs, Stay home on the porch") He put me on launch Pad #13. Result: Best Flight I ever had. Note: I spent several months building the rocket Very Carefully. It later got all the decals added and is beautiful.
 
Sorry to hear about the losses... Hobbies do have to take a back seat when those kinds of things get in the way. Hope you're now in a place that you can resume your interest in rocketry. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, we'll do what we can to help you out.

All The Best!
Jim
 
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