I’m not sure I’d consider any particular rocket a “must have”, since everyone’s considerations are different. Budget, skill, age, certification, flying field, and areas of interest all influence selection.
There are, however, a few general acquisition trends I’ve noticed.
1.). The Clone Army. Some people just want to acquire as many, say, Berthas, as they can in one lifetime. Genuine, knockoff, scratch-build, recreations, derivatives, improvements, red ones, blue ones, old ones, new ones. Buy as many as you want (or can afford).
2.). The Motley Crew. Some people want to try a little bit of everything. Spend an afternoon lighting up woosh-pop MicroMaxx rockets and then follow it up the next weekend with an airstart-capable RCRG powered by two G motors to cap off their club’s Saturday morning launch.
3.). Challenge Accepted. Some people use rocketry as an avenue for developing craftsmanship. They may start with an RTF rocket to see how it all works, then work on progressively more challenging kits, eventually throwing together a beautifully-sculpted Falcon 9 Block 5 that is so intricately detailed you’d almost hate to see it risk any kind of damage by flying on its intended F15-4.
4.). Bigger is Better. Some people just love rocketry for the fire and smoke, and/or see both challenge and reward in building progressively more powerful rockets. They make as many inexpensive mistakes as possible in the low-power realm, learning all they can before attempting certification, and going for broke until they actually do go broke. That’s my approach, although a few elements of The Motley Crew and Challenge Accepted approaches factor into my purchases when a smaller rocket gets destroyed.
There are others, but those are the ones that come to mind first for me
), and finally historic scale models like the Estes #1921 Mercury Redstone or my bunch of OOP Dr. Zooch “ant scale” kits.
