Beginner - Cost concerns

[Gary Byrum]

OK....This hobby doesn't cost me a fortune, but it's not as inexpensive as it used to be. And BTW, pay no attention to the HPR guys behind the curtain. (OZ reference) Most of them don't understand how us LPR folks still get a thrill from it. Frankly, it doesn't have to cost a bundle. I bought my chrome finished 6' rods from a hardware store for under 5 bucks each. Granted, that length might cause rod whip, but they were cheap, and they can be cut to a desired length. I used my tripod as a launch pad base with a little construction ingenuity to create an adapter to hold my rods using a drill chuck. It also keeps me from having to crouch down on the ground to wire the starters. Second, I bought a tractor battery, made my own wiring connections and a launch control from parts bought at Radio Shack. This was designed for when I could launch something not at a club event. BTW, the tractor battery, wires & controller fit very well in a small cooler. These avenues and buying from online vendors for parts, has saved me a lotta bucks. Gotta lathe by chance? Turn your own nose cones. I do that a lot. Gotta circle cutter? Make your own centering rings. I do that for special needs. That wont work well if your CR's are plywood.

Personally, I don't have the bucks to burn like so many people I see at the launches, and that doesn't bother me. I really can't fathom spending 317 bucks on an M1850W motor, and a $1000 rocket to use it, when I can get a boatload of rockets and launches from that much expense. No offense HPR doods. I know you do what you do, because it's what blows yer skirt up.

Third, Touch base with me if you think you are as frugal as I am.

 

[crazyed]

Doggone,, Sure are alot of great tips and advise here. I got a few.(one is drying right now..lol)I find myself pickin up odds and ends from various places for free. airframe material-fin stock-wadding-motor mount items and so forth. I hand sew my own chutes when i can get the right material. make my own starters and have fashioned a nose cone or two. I still buy kits and parts and everything else. But within reason for me. If I can save a buck I will. But I wont sacrifice safety at a club launch as with all Im sure...
Im havin a BlastView attachment 187250

 

[bill_s]

Rocketry is slightly expensive. Compared to what a lot of people spend on entertainment, not really, but a lot of us definitely aren't doing that. The reward depends on how you look at it. The cost per seconds of actual flying is ridiculous, but if you consider almost every activity of rocketry, from design and build, flying as a "climax", to enjoyment of possessing the rockets, the reward is high.

It does seem to really "nickel and dime you", you need so many little odds and ends, that's how you know it's a real hobby ... fortunately some of this responds to ingenuity.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Rocketry is slightly expensive. Compared to what a lot of people spend on entertainment, not really, but a lot of us definitely aren't doing that. The reward depends on how you look at it. The cost per seconds of actual flying is ridiculous, but if you consider almost every activity of rocketry, from design and build, flying as a "climax", to enjoyment of possessing the rockets, the reward is high.

It does seem to really "nickel and dime you", you need so many little odds and ends, that's how you know it's a real hobby ... fortunately some of this responds to ingenuity.

I agree that you can't judge the cost of the hobby based on cost of the motor divided by burn time. That cost per second is ridiculous!

You need to also include the delay and descent time --- much more reasonable!

I"m joking of course, and you are right. You need to factor in all the elements of enjoyment, from building to painting, to posting about rockets on the forum, and meeting people at launches. If you include design and simulation, photography and video, there are lots of interests you can bring into the hobby for fun that do not cost much, if anything.

There are also definitely a lot of ways to spend money as well, and some of them are very sneaky about how they get you. My recent build was one I got at last year's Frys clearance sale. That was a cheap rocket. But then I did some modifications that cost money for materials. I bought some tools. I upgraded the recovery gear. Then I upgraded the recovery gear again. I spent more on modifications and upgrades than I did on the rocket!

The most ridiculous part was the paint! That one really sneaks up on you. Multiple cans of filler primer. Nice top coat. Then there was some damage, and I sanded most of that away. More primer. Problems with paint adhesion. More sanding and more primer. Nice color coat. Clear coat. Not happy yet. More color. Then 2 more colors for details. Then more clear coat. And I might even do more! I'm sure I spent more on PAINT than I did on the rocket! But I've also enjoyed that creative process, so I think it is worth it.

 

[BobH48]

On the days when I only fly LPR (most launches) the most expensive part is the post launch dinner.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

When I fly on my own, I usually burn a lot of motors (maybe a dozen), because I'm the only one flying (along with whatever people I bring along, but I'm still usually the one buying the motors). And flying your own rockets is the only thing happening to keep it interesting.

But when I go to a club launch, I might only fly three in a day. For one thing, lines can be long. But the main thing is there is a lot of other stuff to do. You can talk to people, walk around and see the other rockets, watch launches you are interested in seeing. You might not fly many times, but you can enjoy hundreds of launches by other rocketeers for absolutely free.

Of course, If I'm only flying 3 times instead of 12, then I will probably fly the more expensive motors --- focus on quality over quantity. But even still, the cost for an all-day launch is not very much, and you can have a lot of rocket run.

 

[JeromeK99]

i guess the cost of this hobby really depends on a couple of factors. Basically how much disposable income you have and how much of it you are willing to spend! What one person considers a lot, another may not.

My last hobby was racing r/c cars. Spent over 20 years going to various tracks to practice and race a few times a week. That got expensive for me and I suppose I even spent more than I should at times. I out lasted most of my buddies and then somewhat recently I gave it up for health reasons. I became a BAR about a decade or so when I got a couple of my nephews into rocketry. I had dabbled in and out of it since I was a little kid. Then I got a buddy to come with us to a launch that had High-Power. He got hooked. So even after my nephews grew up and out of it, we continued. My buddy got the HP bug and really doesn't do LPR and rarely flies anything under an H. He tried to get me hooked on HPR and even bought me a big rocket to cert on... well I finally launched it last Sunday and got level 1 certified. It took about a decade, but now its done. I still really love rockets of all sizes. Luckily for me too... I'm not wealthy by any means and LPR/MPR makes better sense money-wise. So all these years my buddy would spend upwards of $40 for a single launch, that same money in LPR would let me launch up to a dozen times. I would rather watch his than spend that kind of money all the time!

Anyways.. back to spending.. I find that rocketry is a small fraction of the cost of my r/c crack habit. I spend time online on TRF, ebay and rocketry related websites finding deals all the time. So with online, building, prepping & launching, I get a whole lot of bang for my buck. Personally I get as much fun even shopping for rocket related stuff, more so when I get a great deal! Now my 9 year old great-nephew is my newest rocket buddy. How can you put a price on that?


Jerome

 

[swatkat]

I'll second/third/hundredth the Party Crepe paper at the 99 cent store... just check out the test video. (And be prepared to laugh)
[video=youtube;cdg8XBRX6O8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdg8XBRX6O8[/video]

 

[Andy Greene]

Lance:
Crepe Paper or Dog barf (blow-in insulation) are Cheap. Permenant Teflon Plumbers tape "Pom-Pom ball" wadding is even cheaper (but take a little while to make). There is also the fabrication of ejection baffles but they are NOT permanent they ware out after X number of flights. And there is up to 2" wide PTFE Teflon military grade thread sealing tape that makes excellent LPR model Streamers requiring no wadding at all. Just a heavy dusting with Talc Baby Powder before fold/rolling.

Edit: One of the best things I've discovered using Dog Barf has been to add one or two sheets of good Old Estes wadding or Crepe Paper sheet below about 2 loose packed diameters of Dog Barf and a last sheet folded loosely around the bottom of the chute. This practice has ended melted plastic chutes and burnt holes in my rip-stop nylon chutes.

Personally I'm not a big advocate for ejection baffles as they are not permanent. They all ware out without warning and when they fail the unprotected recovery system is Toasted. If you decide to go with ejection baffles I strongly suggest adding at least a sheet of FP wadding loosely folded around the aft end of your recovery device.

As for Igniter...Excuse Me...Starters! Make your own! I'm sure you remember back in the Stone Age 60's when we were given a small coil of bare Ni-Chrome wire with our Estes BP motors to "coil around a pen tip" before inserting in our motors with a small ball of wadding as a stopper. Well the same thing still works exactly and same and PERFECTLY today.
McMaster-Carr has 1/8lb spools of 30ga. .010"diameter x 400feet #8880K83 Nickel-Chromium (Ni-Chrome) wire currently for $18.18 plus about 5.40 shipping that will make about 2400 - 2" igniters.. I mean Starters, for less then a penny-a-piece (.0098 cents each).
If you want to improve these with a home-made tip dip. A few (3) Ping-Pong balls cut-up in 8oz of Acetone make a very nice Nitrocellulose Lacquer that can be used alone or mixed with a very small amount of Pyrodex which make Excellent Cluster Motor Starters

NOTE! Sally Hansen Hard As Nails it the only decent Nitrocelloulose Lacquer nail polish. Clear is by far the best for igniter dipping but do remember this is only the "starter" base. It's works fine for single motor use but they are NOT and I repeat NOT reliable for use in multi motor Clusters. That included two motor clusters.

Hope this helps a little. if you need further info for making Teflon Pom-Pom permanent wadding and/or info on the Military grade PTFE Teflon Streamer material PM me.

Would this work as well, dipped of course ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWS4DOE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[rharshberger]

Ask my 5 year old daughter if the money Dad spends on her model rockets so she can launch them is too much. She has a blast and it only costs us about $15 a month for the 6 motors she uses (A-Cs). I on the other hand spend about $40 dollars a month between motors and parts to build kits. https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?70827-SA-3-Goa-Semi-Scale-2-Stage-with-Cluster-Booster is a rocket I recently built cost me about $30 dollars in parts from Balsa Machining Service and about $15 per flight for the 4 motors required two Cs and two Ds, and its a blast to fly, thats why its worth the money to me. We also limit our flying to the monthly club launch.