Poll: Do you like building or launching more?

All of us are in the hobby for different reasons. So, which of these three categories do you fall into?

Although I enjoy the craftsmanship of constructing, it is just a means to an end: being out in the desert launching with friends.

All the best, James

Fdog said:

Although I enjoy the craftsmanship of constructing, it is just a means to an end: being out in the desert launching with friends.

All the best, James

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I'm with you. Although I don't yet have too many friends in the hobby, there is nothing more exciting than to head out to the field and watch those babies fly.

Building them. That is my quiet time . Baseball game on the radio ,rainy weekend day = priceless

Definitely Building! I could'nt care less about Launching.

I like building and the first launch of a certain configuration. You will never see me launch a rocket on the exact same motor in the exact same configuration. No point.

TopRamen said:

Definitely Building! I could'nt care less about Launching.

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I kind of agree but I do want to see them fly at least once

I love to do both, but I spend most of my time building. I can spend a few minutes to a few hours working a build, maybe on a daily basis or every few days depending on available time. Going to a club launch is an all day/weekend event (there are 4 clubs ranging from 1.5 ~ 2.5 hours away so it is 3 ~ 5 hours for travel round trip) which due to other activities limits me to attending only 1 or 2 launches a year.

Each rocket gets at least one flight but sadly the average is only 2 flights per bird. Disheartening my most flown rocket only has 7 flights. Four rockets each have 6 flights and nine have 5 flights

Of course if I slowed down on builds then the older rockets could get more launch time.....

Launching, as my kids (ages 3+5) aren't old enough to build their own. However there is always that fear of sacrificing another rocket to the gods. Or as I tell my kids- maybe they rocket just kept flying up and up and didn't want to come back down.

I like launching much more than building.

But with that said, I really only like to launch something I've built --- no RTF rockets for me (maybe a few ETX, like the PSII ETX's). I mostly like to build if I have a lot of time and can make a lot of progress quickly. I am not into doing a little bit each night. Since coming back as a BAR, I've put a lot more effort into finishing and painting than I used to, but I think that is mostly due to exposure to the forum and club launches and seeing all the awesome rockets I was never exposed to before --- i've got a new set of standards.

pepe said:

I kind of agree but I do want to see them fly at least once

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Sure, they definitely MUST fly atleast once.
I love to fly them, but flying can be a PITA and Anxiety inducing, whereas Building is pure Theraputic Relaxation.

I enjoy building easily as much as launching... though lately, buying and collecting seems to be my biggest rocketry pastime.. lol.. the "build pile" as now become "the collection". I think I'm an addict.... is that the first step?


Jerome

I would have to say building is what I enjoy the most. I find it very relaxing to sit down and build a kit....one of the few things that gets my mind off of work! But flying is very close second!!!

I really enjoy the launches, especially when one of the flights is a maiden flight for one of my builds. But, building rockets, especially scratch builds, is thrilling. The flight itself is simply confirmation of the design and build.

For most launches, my job is simply prep and recovery. My wife and children do all the launch work, even for the MPR flights. Only for HPR flights do I get to do the all the work.

Both the same as far as I'm concerned. But, in different ways. The building is quite time , nice and relaxing and lots of thought about how to make this or that work so I can fly it safely. The launch is about proving my theories--or not-- and learning a little along the way. I get a lot of satisfaction seeing my odd designs fly and learn from the ones that have problems---thankfully not too many of those yet.

Yes, I am an addicted flyer more than a builder....

I like to build and always try to improve but I love to launch!


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I'm addicted to building them, but if I had access to a car, and motors, I'd be flying a whole lot more.

I enjoy the jigsaw puzzle of putting together a rocket kit, and seeing the completed form take shape. Of course, this leads to launching, but I must admit that there is a certain amount of fear associated with launching, for fear that something will go wrong and invalidate the worth and value of the completed rocket.

I love building, but for me flying is a bit more satisfying than most parts of building. Getting out to the range after weeks of buildup, prepping the recovery system, double checking everything as excitement builds, tightening down the closures on the motor as I run a mental checklist of what I did while I was building it, Sliding it into the motor tube and threading on the motor retainer. Then, standing back and thinking "did I do that right, oh yeah I remember" Then carefully loading it onto the rail and connecting the igniter, as all the work put into it up to this time culminates into this, its first flight. That's what really gets me excited. Building is great, but finally seeing my last 2 months of work flying into the sky as flame and smoke propel it upwards to thousands of feet just about beats anything else.

Building for me - I like the quiet time and the challenge. On each one my skill sets improve and I learn more. I like to fly them at the end of the build to see how they work out, I have also taken to getting video footage and compiling it into short movies.

After the flights needed for video are completed I am pretty indifferent to the finished article. I keep them but would not be upset if they were destroyed. The fun is all in the building for me.

For me I love to build and take a lot of time on paint and detailing. I always hate the first launch when the rockets paint gets all chipped and scraped but after that it's like whatever.

conman13 said:

For me I love to build and take a lot of time on paint and detailing. I always hate the first launch when the rockets paint gets all chipped and scraped but after that it's like whatever.

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Never heard of chips and scratches... I have only heard of "Battle Scars".

blackbrandt said:

Never heard of chips and scratches... I have only heard of "Battle Scars".

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Haha true.


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I enjoy them both equally, although I spend way more time building than flying.

I would have voted building over flying a week ago, but then the most amazing thing happened. NARAM! That was my first event and I had the most amazing time out there. You should have another poll option: Repairing Rockets. I will soon find out how much I like doing that.

I hate repairing rockets. I spent 2 hours sanding down this primer, and then I have to rough it up for an epoxy bond and kevlar'ing it.

hornet driver said:

Both the same as far as I'm concerned. But, in different ways. The building is quite time , nice and relaxing and lots of thought about how to make this or that work so I can fly it safely. The launch is about proving my theories--or not-- and learning a little along the way. I get a lot of satisfaction seeing my odd designs fly and learn from the ones that have problems---thankfully not too many of those yet.

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+1
I envy the wonderful craftspersons who show their be yu tee ful rockets here, but I am more of a frustrated engineer. It is the combination of designing and building something hopefully enough out of the ordinary that others haven't routinely tried and then seeing if it actually WORKS that rings my bell.

The two activities are inseparable. I build rockets that I intend to launch, and I (eventually) launch everything that I build. I got into this hobby all those decades ago because I was thrilled by the beauty of a rocket streaking into the sky. Back then you had to build everything, and I was anything but a good modeler. But I dove right into building kits anyway. It took awhile, but I eventually got somewhat proficient at producing rockets that weren't utterly hideous. I put a considerable amount of time (sometimes years) and effort into making rockets that look nice, but the goal is always to launch them. None of my rockets are complete until I have put them into the big blue ocean overhead. I still get the very same thrill now that I first got nearly fifty years ago. All I have to do is press that button and instantly I am thirteen years old again.

I voted for both equally. However, I used to me more of a builder. Now I'm probably more of a flyer.