NARCON 2010 Official Thread

[ScrapDaddy]

In contrast to last year, I'm actually bringing some money this time. Will that help? :confused2:

Heading down well before dawn tomorrow to make the mad dash to W'ster. (A 5 hour drive or thereabouts.) Then I'll be staying over Saturday night in Auburn, right near you know where...

Really, really looking forward to seeing everyone. I didn't register for the dinner because I didn't think (until just a little while ago) that I would be staying over. So maybe I'll grab a sub from Subway and hang out just outside in the hallway. (Kidding, kidding...)

MarkII

Cash? Walking around with a wad of money great idea MarkII you are just screaming rob me rob me! that gives me an idea :dark:

 

[SCE to AUX]

Am relaxing in my hotel room eating dinner surfing the net and unwinding for tomorrow. 4hr drive up here, lotsa traffic on 95.

Picked up my registration packet from Bob Krech in the lobby this evening, and will see you all there tomorrow...

 

[The EGE]

Cash? Walking around with a wad of money great idea MarkII you are just screaming rob me rob me! that gives me an idea :dark:

People don't just walk around with a wad of money in their hand. If you're going to joke, don't do it with serious stuff.

 

[Sheryl@semroc]

Please pass the word that the Semroc crew really misses seeing you there at NARCON. Hope all is going well for everyone and you don't get too much rain.

Sheryl

 

[UMRS]

Nice meeting room! They do have cafeteria food and it is suppossed to be the best. All you can eat for one price.

They told us the same thing when we stepped off the bus for boot camp in the Army. The only difference it was free

 

[AKPilot]

For those of us you couldn't make it, I for one, would love to hear what's happening - when you guys get a chance.

Tks

 

[Initiator001]

For those of us you couldn't make it, I for one, would love to hear what's happening - when you guys get a chance.

Tks

I'm not at NARCON, but according to the AeroTech Facebook site, they're displaying a 'G' Sparky motor (Metalstorm), Blackmax and Redline reloads for the RMS-24/60 casing and two new single-use 24mm F30 BlackMax and F31 Redline motors.

 

[terryg]

I'm not at NARCON, but according to the AeroTech Facebook site, they're displaying a 'G' Sparky motor (Metalstorm), Blackmax and Redline reloads for the RMS-24/60 casing and two new single-use 24mm F30 BlackMax and F31 Redline motors.

and a 24/120 case

 

[cosmodrome]

I just got back and it was a great time (I won't be able to make it tomorrow). I was able to show off my two new kits that will be going into beta testing shortly. The Black Brant VC and the Lambda 4S. Also showed off the Delta E, but that one will still take some time to get ready. I was also able to get some prototypes of the new BBVC nose cone ready. This will be my first non-balsa NC kit. This nose cone will be fiberglass filled with foam.

Jim showed off his two Goddard rockets, the Nelle and L13. Both are way cool.

It was good to see some old faces and meet lots of new ones.

 

[jflis]

Long day, busy for parts, dead for others (vendor room) as it always is during NARCON when the classes and seminars start.

The 2 new kits have been very well received and are moving quickly. The two that Tony built are stunning.

Jeff? That ACME of your is breathtaking. Dispite your note forewarning me that it looks better in photo's than it does in person...

NOT TRUE!

Folks, this steampunked ACME is simple beautiful. I have yours and Tony's and I used them both in my vendor forum talk to emphasize how exciting it is to see our customers using OUR kits to express THEIR imagination! Nothing make me more proud.

Mott Linn's talk was wonderful and delved into the very early years of Goddard's life. Mott was formally presented with the two built models and the L-13 will be installed in the exhibit tomorrow during the tour and the Nell will be installed after (hopefully) the scheduled launch on Sunday afternoon.

I also received a visit from Arnie Paye, a long time friend of mine who helped me start the Goddard Society (my NAR section from the 80's) that lead to the founding of the NEMROC conventions and so much more. I hadn't seen him in years (long before beginning FlisKits) and that was just a thrill

More tomorrow!
jim

 

[sunward]

They told us the same thing when we stepped off the bus for boot camp in the Army. The only difference it was free

Well it may be great for university kids (fresh grilled hamburgers) but I was not impressed. The salad looked like left overs from the previous week.

And NO place to get coffee when the cafeteria closed. Some university

As for events, a first hand account. There are a lot of things to do. I went to 2 seminars and well done. I have not heard a complaint about the quality of the seminars. We had a talk on Goddard from Dr. Linn of the Goddard library who gave a historical account of Goddard and his work. After, Trip Barber gave a Town Hall Meeting that was well received.

We had the buffet dinner and it was better food. Nice chat with everyone at our table.

I understand there have been a lot of walkins signing up.

I would like to give a round of applause to the organizers of the event. Very well done. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Sunday is a half day but still 9 seminars are being held.

Remember Sunday to turn clocks ahead one hour.

See you there.

 

[Pantherjon]

and a 24/120 case

Really?!?! Would like to see a picture of that!

 

[cha05cat]

It is apparently around 7.5" long!

Check out the photo here (you don't need to be registered on Facebook to view this):
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3507849&id=159005948954

 

[n3tjm]

For those of us you couldn't make it, I for one, would love to hear what's happening - when you guys get a chance.

Tks

AMW showed off the new Pro24 cases

 

[GuyNoir]

Barb and I made it home, about 1.5 hours later than planned due to the weather in the Northeast, but at least we're home.

I HAD A GREAT TIME!!

Bill Spadafora and the CMASS crew pulled off a flawless NARCON. Hotel was nice (the HS robotics competition teams staying there gave it all a "TARC" feel), the Clark U. cafeteria had some decent grub, including the Saturday night buffet dinner, and the classrooms had good AV equipment. I presented my "What's in Your Workshop?" session on Saturday (thinking about turning it into a Sport Rocketry article), and my "Growing Up Wallops" presentation this morning. That one's always a hit with you rocket guys.

Notable talks I saw included John Lyngdal's exhaustive and well done comparison of Quest and Estes igniters for cluster use, and Larry Curcio's presentation on analyzing non-vertical flights with accelerometers.

For me personally, the best talk was Bob Harrington's presentation on building paper rockets. He had about 20 different paper models, in sizes ranging from MicroMaxx to a 3'+ tall Soyuz. All neat birds to be sure!

Thanks to all the presenters, the vendors and again, Bill and his CMASS crew for a fabulous weekend!

 

[Bazookadale]

Wonderful Narcon, great sessions, a lot of learning and a lot of laughing; the only thing missing was Carl but we all understand. Due to the long drive home in the rain I missed the Goddard launch, did you get it in?

 

[MarkII]

Here's a couple of shots of Nell - one on the stand just prior to launch, and one of it taking off. Also a shot of Jim's L-13 lifting off.

Also a picture of the obelisk marking the exact location of Dr. Goddard's historic launch (with some joker standing next to it).

It was "excessively humid" and a bit brisk outside during the event.

MarkII

 

[billspad]

Thanks to all the presenters, the vendors and again, Bill and his CMASS crew for a fabulous weekend!

I'm glad you liked it. Now that it's over I can say that we really enjoyed doing it. Thursday I didn't think I'd be saying that. I'm usually pretty calm, occasionally a little hyper, but calm. By the time I got there Thursday night I was in a total panic for no good reason. The week before the events planner at Clark emailed me asking if "we were having any alcohol" at the event (we'd have to hire a campus security officer if we were) and I jokingly told her only if things weren't going well. By the middle of last week that as looking like an option. However, my guys did their usual thorough job and the only glitches that came up were things that we had no control over. Clark University and the Crowne Plaza hotel couldn't have been more cooperative.

I hear the talks were good. The only one I saw other than the S & t stuff that I had to attend was the Wallops talk that I enjoyed immensely. I spend the rest of the time walking around waiting for something to go wrong which I'm pretty sure is what Al Gloer told me I'd be doing. By the way, I'm totally in awe of what Al did with his NARCON last year with a much smaller team.

And we even got the launch in. It was raining and we couldn't fly at the exact location of Goddard's first flight so we flew off the first tee (I think, I don't golf) at the golf course. Besides the flight of the scale model of Goddard's rocket I think we got off four other flights which is about five more flights than sane people would have done. I've got to find out who took pictures because there are some classic ones of someone holder an umbrella while the flyer gets his rocket on the pad. The NAR President successfully landed his rocket in the highest tree in the area. All the others recovered. Tony Vincent's build of the Fliskits scale Nell suffered some damage on landing but flew really straight considering it was a little breezy.

 

[KennB]

Due to the long drive home in the rain I missed the Goddard launch, did you get it in?

We did get the Goddard launch done at the golf course. Trip started the rainy ceremonies with a sacrafice to the tree gods; he put up a Fat Boy that flew great but the wind took it and put it up at the top of tree along the first fairway (definitely a "slice" day). A tazmanian and a saucer went up and were perfect for the conditions.

Jim got Nell set up and after throwing the right switch on the launch control, it flew great all things considered. Landing was a little rough, though, and there was some damage. Repairs will be made and Mott will get his commemorative model.

One more flight and the owner was proud to say he launched at the same field as Goddard. A few brave souls even risked the "puddles" and went to see the marker of the actual launch site.

Others will fill in details and add pictures and video. It was very satisfying to get the last activitiy of the weekend in. I hope everyone had a good time.

 

[MarkII]

A few more launch pictures...

• Bob Alway's 24mm Taz
• Will Marchant's AAW Cluster Saucer
• Another pre-launch photo of Nell on the launch stand (taken during a momentary lull in the monsoon)

MarkII

 

[ScrapDaddy]

MarkII,Does that happen to be the new fliskits Nell?

 

[KennB]

MarkII,Does that happen to be the new fliskits Nell?

Sorry to jump a question you asked someone else, but, yes that is the Flis Kit. In fact, that is the rocket that was presented to the keynote speaker at NARCON and will be for his display when it is returned to him. If you look down the hill in the saucer picture, you'll see a small building; just to the left of that is a 4 foot tall granite obelisk that commemorates the site of Goddards launch of the original Nell.

BTW, the kit does not come with the launch tower but Jim has the plans for it at his web site.

 

[sunward]

Back home.

Drive back was generally good, except for some rain in some spots. Just long. No one was at the border so we went through in no time. Strange for a Sunday night.

Got back around 11pm and spent an hour unwinding. Got a good night's sleep and will be catching up slowly today. Unpacking and doing some orders that need to be shipped. No wood cutting.

 

[jflis]

Man, it's like Thanksgiving dinner....

All the preparation then POOF, all done...

Typical vendor area that is busy as all git-out in the morning, again between the morning/afternoon sessions and again near the end of the day. Dead quite while sessions are going on. But that's a good thing. That means that the sessions are desired and full.

I was very pleased with our booth. We had display models provided by Tony Vincent, Boris Katan, Jeff Taylor and John Harland (John, I had the Borealis you gave me up on display ) and more. Sales were brisk and the two new Goddard kits were VERY well received.

I didn't have the chance to participate in any of the seminars but enjoyed the quite times and chatting with the other vendors. Mott Linn's talk on Goddard was wonderful and he seemed to be very pleased to be around such a large group of people that loved the subject of Goddard as much as he.

All of our preparation for NARCON, over the past several weeks, went without a hitch. We got the staff shirts and t-shirts done right on schedule. Programs and range box stickers right on schedule. Custom kit parts ordered and in as well as all the documentation done right on schedule. Even got everything kitted up on schedule...

It was all going too good...

on the way down to NARCON I noticed the truck running rough. It would struggle up hills and struggled to stay running while idling. Not sure if it was related to heat or wetness. Made a mental note to schedule it for the shop when we got back...

On the way home from NARCON we pulled into a store for coffee and as I was pulling in, the rpm's dropped below 500 and my power breaks went out... as we slowly rolled towards the building I cut the wheel to avoid it and hit a 6X6 wood post sticking up. I hit hard enough that it took out the power steering... t'was a long trip back (about 3 hours vrs the expected 1 hour...)

But I didn't hit the building and we're home safe, so it's a good thing!

Now to unpack, work the orders and think about the *next* kit! Here are some pix from the weekend. I hope to get my photo album up later in the week:

• Brian and I at our booth (we got the window seat )
• The "rocket garden" that CMASS set up for rocket displays
• Folks admiring Jeff Taylor's steampunked ACME Spitfire
• Me discussing our two new kits at the vendors forum
• Launch of Nell on the site where Goddard launched the original 84 years ago!

 

[bobkrech]

WOW! What a flight.

NARCON 2010 accomplished all mission objectives successfully.

That's not to say that everything went without a hitch, but we were able to develop workarounds and got the job done.

The preflight checklist at T-7 days was complete, and we were a planned hold until T-1 days for the arrival of the NAR Board of Directors. Things were going too smoothly.

At T-4 days, we were down 2 vendors and 2 (amd possibly 4) presentations. We scrambled and got additional speakers, and as the program was already at the printers, had to rearrange the presentation schedule to make things fit. At T-1 days, we lost 2 more vendors, but the countdown resumed with the successful arrival of NARBOT at the Worcester Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Launch day arrived, and the Board of Directors meeting went off without a hitch. The CMASS prelaunch preparation crew arrived in Worcester and perfromed preflight check list a the launch facilites at the Crowne Plaza, established Mission Contol at Tilton Hall at Clark, and did a quick flyover of the landing zone at Aunt Effie's Farm in Auburn.

Lift-off occurred at 19:00 on Friday evening in the Lobby of the Crowne Plaza where about half of the attendees picked up their registration materials. Mission control took over operations at T+12 hours (07:00 Saturday) in Tilton Hall, with the first of the 3 planned Space Walks starting at precicely T +14 hours (09:00 Saturday), The first 11 speakers relayed their information to the attendees in 4 different locations, and at T+17 hours it was time for lunch in the cafeteria.

At T+18:30 (13:30 on Saturday) the second planned Space Walks began and a second group of 11 speakers succcessfully concluded their mission at T+21:30 (16:30 Saturday). At that time, a demonstration of launch qualified hardware (The Vendor Forum) at Mission Control (Tilton Hall). After the conclusion, at T+22:30 (17:30 Saturday) a planned refueling stop (the dinner buffet) began and was successfully concluded at T+24:00 hours. Immediately afterward in Mission Control, the Keynote address by Mott Linn began and continued for 1 hour. At T+ 01:01:00, our NAR President issued a mission status report that lasted as scheduled for precisely 45 minutes, and the vendors had complete control of operations for the next 75 minutes until T+ 01:03:00 (22:00 Saturday) when a planned 8 hour rest of the participants was planned until T + 01:11:00 or 07:00 Sunday morning (daylight saving time took an hour of sleep away from the crew). During the respite, NAR S&T had a planning meeting to address the upcoming NFPA 1125 revisions and to plan for future static engine test over the next year.

At T + 01:11:00 or 07:00 Sunday morning, we had our first snag of the conference when we were locked out of mission control until 08:20. The last of the 3 planned Space Walk began at 09:00 and successfullly concluded at 12:00. Preparations for reentry began at 12:00 with all crew members refuelled by Uncle Sam's Pizza. Preparations for reentry we begun and a final reentry briefing began at 13:30 in the Goddard Library.

The mission came to a successful conclusion at 15:15 PM Sunday at Aunt Effie's Farm in Auburn with the launch and recovery of a rellica of Goddard original Nell.

A post mission review was held at a Chinese Restaurant in Auburn and a 100% success declared at 17:00 Sunday.

The exhausted CMASS crew departed and will slowly be emerging from the dream in the near future.

Thanks for a great NARCON 2010.

Bob

 

[billspad]

WOW! What a flight.

I'm sure glad you didn't totally lose you mind until after the event.

 

[jbuscaglia]

I'm sure glad you didn't totally lose you mind until after the event.

I think he just misplaced it. I'm sure he'll find it again eventually.

 

[H_Rocket]

On behalf of the folks who held 2009 (CATO) my congrats to the CMASS team for a job well done. Actually the last minute shortage of a few vendors was a blessing in disguise. I actually went home with some leftover cash.

Looking forward to some of the new offerings from AMW (24mm) and Aerotech (even more 24mm).

Saw the coolest d-bag solution in a hybrid class by Kevin O'Classen

Picked up a 38mm 1G VMAX (dba Scalded Tiger) - that ought to be fun for sumpthin...

Got Nell lucky number 13. Think I'm gonna leave it in the bag!

 

[billspad]

Okay, so what do you think we should have done differently?

Was there anything that was missing?

If you didn't attend was there something that would have made you come?


Ted Cochran, just in case you wondering, no I'm not planning on volunteering again in the foreseeable future and in the distant future I'll be to old to survive the event. However, once everybody forgets how much work it was, we'll start up NEMROC again. It's the same thing only smaller so anything we learn will be useful.

 

[H_Rocket]

Okay, so what do you think we should have done differently?

Hold it when it is not raining so hard.

Was there anything that was missing?

Sun

If you didn't attend was there something that would have made you come?

Nope, there was no way you could have talked me into attending. (even though I did)

Ted Cochran, just in case you wondering, no I'm not planning on volunteering again in the foreseeable future and in the distant future I'll be to old to survive the event. However, once everybody forgets how much work it was, we'll start up NEMROC again. It's the same thing only smaller so anything we learn will be useful.

That's OK we are gonna run you for BOD instead.