What is the worst part about the hobby?

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I've enjoyed reading the responses to this. I knew sanding and costs would get a lot "hate" but never considered many of the things some of you dislike.

I've often said that the best thing about the hobby is that everyone finds the niche that they really enjoy (speed, altitude, building, painting, electronics , research, etc) and I guess that's true of the worst parts too.
 
The cost of motors. I remember when I could fly I357 for $20 to $25. And now they are in the $50 range. I'm flying g motors for $25 now.
 
bschultz32 said:
Bad weather that scrubs a launch event.
Alas, we are in an outdoor hobby and very much affected by the weather . . . .
Bob Schultz
Click to expand...
Indoor rocketry is possible but renting spaces like domed stadiums (stadia??) is expensive. The biggest weather problem in the middle of the country is that the safety code (and common sense, too) prohibits launching in weather that Kansas and Colorado consider a light breeze.
 
The brutal inconsistency of spray painting.

With the same three cans of paint (blk, gry, clear), my Loc4's nose cone came out flawless. Show room Harley good. My payload ball came out good. My booster was a complete loss, and had to be resanded down to primer, and sits reprimed.

Sanding and painting is no big deal, if you only have to do it once. Doing it twice on an unflown, brand new airframe, majorly stinks.
 
My pet peeve is traffic getting to 60 Acres. With most everybody back to commuting after Covid, the Seattle, Bellevue, I-5 and I-405 freeways have returned to a daily traffic jam with no shortage of aggressive drivers. I could console myself with trips to a 500' x 500' playfield a few blocks away for my first year back, but succumbed to higher ambitions.

As far as universal problems with model rocketry in general, I'm pleased to imagine it has only gotten better since the 70's and 80's, although rising costs and regulations could throw a monkey wrench into what is basically a hobby for schoolboys, the working man and the retired man. My main hobby throughout my career at Boeing was racing karts, upon which I spent an average of about $10k/year at the time, 20th Century money.

To conclude on a positive note, almost every time we go to the local park and encounter shooolchildren and supervising adults, they are keenly interested in our works, and gather nearby. I like to hand out Estes catalogs on these occasions.
 
Last edited:
MidOH said:
The brutal inconsistency of spray painting.

With the same three cans of paint (blk, gry, clear), my Loc4's nose cone came out flawless. Show room Harley good. My payload ball came out good. My booster was a complete loss, and had to be resanded down to primer, and sits reprimed.

Sanding and painting is no big deal, if you only have to do it once. Doing it twice on an unflown, brand new airframe, majorly stinks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've got one painted with laquer, so it is a little satin/matte. I really want to put some clear on it, but it REALLY looks good, now. Probably going to pass on the spray and go to either nothing, clear waterborne (has beaded up on my laquer), or floor wax.

Nothing additional looks really good, now.
 
The worst.....
Watching all you good folks building, flying and having a jolly old time while I have a shop full of parts/motors and an endless list of projects but no time to build or fly.
😟
Have fun for me.
 
Overpriced kits . . . It's just paper tubes, a little wood (maybe), and a plastic nose cone, plus some decals., after all.
 
Here are a few things that I *used* to hate, but no more because I listened to what people say here (and other places)
  1. Sanding. Solution: a) machine sanding with orbital, oscillating and mouse sanders b) Use better sandpaper - 3M and SandNet
  2. Rattle-can painting. Solution: Spray guns (detail gun, airbrush) with better grade paints.
  3. Filling tube spirals: Solution: heavy coat of high-build primer followed by machine sanding.
  4. Unsoldering electronics: Solution: Hakko FR-301 desoldering tool, ditch the spring plunger solder suckers.
  5. Filling balsa grain: Solution: coat with CA and move on to the high-build primer
 
masking. big pain(t) in the a*. also trees. f* trees. most of our oxygen comes from the ocean anyway, an squirrels suck. they ate my fuel line, gas was spraying on the block. they're tryin' to kill me.
 
cerving said:
Gluing. If somebody made a snap-together HPR kit, I'd be all in.
Click to expand...

Estes Booster-55 and Booster-60 are almost that way. The motor retainer cap actually holds the fins in, so they are effectively take-down and can be packed in a mailing tube and carried in your luggage. They are molded for a 24x70 motor, but chuck them in a lathe and hog out the front end. You do have to glue in a MMT at that point, but it's not like gluing on fins. I don't know how fast the fins will go without fluttering, though.
 

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