That is so true, as a kid I used to count every dollar. I remember wanting the WARP II, but it was too expensive at $15.19, so I got the SuperNova instead ($10.59). Boy, my perspective has changed....
BARs, What Was Your BAR Moment?
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That is so true, as a kid I used to count every dollar. I remember wanting the WARP II, but it was too expensive at $15.19, so I got the SuperNova instead ($10.59). Boy, my perspective has changed....
gtche98
Gary W
Re-Bar here. Built my first rocket in a HS aero-science class in '92. Loved the experience, but overbuilt my capabilities and started with a 2 stage Estes (Kinda looked like today's loadstar, but was blue and white...can't remember exactly what it was). Lost it to wind and the roof of a factory about 1/2 mile from the football field we launched from. Off to college shortly thereafter...
Caught the bug again in 2008, after destroying a couple of R/C planes and looking for a more forgiving hobby. Found a Crossfire/Amazon starter set at Hobby Lobby and decided to give it a go again. I also built a Baby Bertha and a Crossfire before rockets took a back seat to work and young children.
Second rebirth happened in 2016 thanks to, of all things, Cub Scouts. My son was a Webelos scout when our leadership team decided to have a model rocket launch as a summer activity. I quickly volunteered to lead the building and launching activities and fell back in love with the hobby. I have built at least 2 rockets every year since.
The current flight worthy fleet includes the following (All Estes to this point, but I am ready to branch out): Baby Bertha (from 2008), Crossfire (rebuild), Vector Force, Super Neon, Mini Honest John, Super Alpha, Der Red Max, and a Mercury Redstone (most difficult build to date).
The build pile contains a Mini Der Red Max (replacing one that failed to deploy and ground augered), a Goblin, a Nike X and a 1969 Apollo V. I also have a nose cone and body tube for a 4" Mega Der Red Max to complete the family. That will be my first semi-scratch build.
Caught the bug again in 2008, after destroying a couple of R/C planes and looking for a more forgiving hobby. Found a Crossfire/Amazon starter set at Hobby Lobby and decided to give it a go again. I also built a Baby Bertha and a Crossfire before rockets took a back seat to work and young children.
Second rebirth happened in 2016 thanks to, of all things, Cub Scouts. My son was a Webelos scout when our leadership team decided to have a model rocket launch as a summer activity. I quickly volunteered to lead the building and launching activities and fell back in love with the hobby. I have built at least 2 rockets every year since.
The current flight worthy fleet includes the following (All Estes to this point, but I am ready to branch out): Baby Bertha (from 2008), Crossfire (rebuild), Vector Force, Super Neon, Mini Honest John, Super Alpha, Der Red Max, and a Mercury Redstone (most difficult build to date).
The build pile contains a Mini Der Red Max (replacing one that failed to deploy and ground augered), a Goblin, a Nike X and a 1969 Apollo V. I also have a nose cone and body tube for a 4" Mega Der Red Max to complete the family. That will be my first semi-scratch build.
gary7
Well-Known Member
Seeing this:
Lightning struck October 5, 1957. It was like any other Saturday, we had finished milking the cows and I ran through the house out the porch to the road to get the newspaper from the delivery box. I read the headline and I knew what I wanted to do with my life; space, rockets, whatever. Sputnik had been launched into orbit. The nation’s youth went into frenzy. Some made black powder rockets, some blew their hands off, others had rockets go through the roofs of their houses, some set fire to their homes, and some had parents like mine that said no to rockets. All I had were old JetX (?) reloads I tried to power a model rocket car with minor success. Then cars and girls came into my life. Luckily I made it through college and was able to run real rocket engines for a few years. And unluckily the space race died and I had to find something else to do for a career.
Many years later I find myself in Alaska during the “dark” months in one of the many bookstores that are coffee shops looking through the many available magazines. I find several that look interesting. They are about powered parachute flying and model rockets. I don’t remember the names of the magazines but I started researching more about rocketry. Once I got back to the lower 48 I joined a club and am hooked. I don’t consider myself a BAR. I like to think I was just snoozing for a few years. About that powered parachute thing, the wife said “No.”
Many years later I find myself in Alaska during the “dark” months in one of the many bookstores that are coffee shops looking through the many available magazines. I find several that look interesting. They are about powered parachute flying and model rockets. I don’t remember the names of the magazines but I started researching more about rocketry. Once I got back to the lower 48 I joined a club and am hooked. I don’t consider myself a BAR. I like to think I was just snoozing for a few years. About that powered parachute thing, the wife said “No.”
Pyrotechnics workers have a very old saying: "He who has once smelt the smoke is ne'er again free." Applies to rocketry too.
Best -- Terry
Tim51
Well-Known Member
For me it was more a case of a very long gestation than a rebirth. Estes motors weren't readily available here in the UK until the 1980s. Whilst doing my degree I met a guy who was the secretary of a rocketry club, and that same year (1989..?) by coincidence, I visited an old school friend who showed me an Estes kit he'd built with his nephew, and I watched them launch it. Looking back I think the motor was probably something like a B6-4...Anyway I made a mental note to look into it all further at some point, but I was pretty busy with life and 20 years passed without me doing anything about it. Then about seven years ago another friend gave me an Estes catalogue he'd picked up on a business trip and suggested it might be an interesting hobby for me to share with my young son. He was right, of course. My son and I found a club, and we saw our first HPR launches. I was impressed, but weirdly, perhaps, my real lightbulb moment was witnessing a recovery rather than a launch, whilst we were hunting in the field for one of our LPR creations and a Loc Bruiser gently came down under chute nearby - it was then I thought 'I really need to have a go at this!'.
Back in the '70s I had seen model rockets in magazines and thought they would be good to get into. Motors were hard to get in Australia, as were kits, I recall. My parents didn't have a lot of money to spare so the idea just faded away. In early 2000's I went into a hobby shop to buy something and they had a cabinet with motors in it. After they explained how the motor designations worked I went away. A few weeks later I came back and purchased a kit, an RTF for my daughter (Estes Moondog) and some motors. The rest is history. Found out you could get BIG motors so then HPR got my interest.
I still generally fly motors up to about D, and then K or above. Good fun either way.
I still generally fly motors up to about D, and then K or above. Good fun either way.
Originally got the bug when over in Lexington, MA circa 1970. Dad was doing a sabbatical at Harvard while I did 2nd year high school. Bought some kits (usually Centuri) and flew them at the local sports field. When we got back I tried to source local suppliers, clubs without much success. Flew a few out in the back blocks but enthusiasm eventually waned. Career, marriage and kids got in the way for a while then I was renting a 300 acre property just outside town. Looked around and thought "I know what I can do here!" Dragged the box of stuff out, sourced some motors, found the local club was flying not more than 27km away and away I went. I now "dwell" in a 70m2 shed full of all sorts of goodness.
Cheers
Cheers
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Bump
"Bump"? Something went "bump" and that was your moment? Tell me more.
blackjack2564
Crazy Jim's Gone Banana's
My best BAR moment happened when I got the ID check job at local strip club bar.....O my...stories I could tell
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A rocketeer bumped into a BAR... Later, wallets were emptied, and the sky was streaked with smoke.
(I'm a historian, not a comedian)
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Having a family didn't slow me down from any of my hobbies/interests. So technically I never 'left' rocketry to reinstate myself again. The only thing that remains fluid would simply be interest. Moving from one interest to another has been the only constant.
I was introduced to rocketry in grade school in the '70s through 4H. I flew for several years, even competing, but then drifted away. I still remember some of the kits I built - Yankee, Mosquito, Screamer, X-Ray, X Wing, and some model based on the space shuttle.
Fast forward 30 years, and I reconnected with a grade-school friend who also used to be into rocketry. He said that he had gotten in to the big rockets (I had never flown anything "bigger" than a C). At the time, my daughters were about 4 & 6, and I was always looking for things to do with them. I wondered if they would enjoy rocketry. Bought an RTF, took them to a club launch (lived in metro DC area - there is _no_ casual launching there) and got hooked. They enjoyed flying with me for a while, but their interest has waned.
Me - I've been a L2 for a couple years now, and do not want to think about how much $ I've poured into the hobby.
What I still enjoy is the creativity. I tend to ask retailers to "throw any bent/salvage body tubes they have lying around" in to my order as filler. I then take whatever I got, and see what I am inspired to build. My $0.02. Which is about $0.03 more than it is worth.
Fast forward 30 years, and I reconnected with a grade-school friend who also used to be into rocketry. He said that he had gotten in to the big rockets (I had never flown anything "bigger" than a C). At the time, my daughters were about 4 & 6, and I was always looking for things to do with them. I wondered if they would enjoy rocketry. Bought an RTF, took them to a club launch (lived in metro DC area - there is _no_ casual launching there) and got hooked. They enjoyed flying with me for a while, but their interest has waned.
Me - I've been a L2 for a couple years now, and do not want to think about how much $ I've poured into the hobby.
What I still enjoy is the creativity. I tend to ask retailers to "throw any bent/salvage body tubes they have lying around" in to my order as filler. I then take whatever I got, and see what I am inspired to build. My $0.02. Which is about $0.03 more than it is worth.
Joshua Westbrook
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Mine was very recently, I flew many small estes as a young teen, then due to living changes I got out. I recently moved into a farm and have all the space I could ever want. So began the obsession again. Lol
Welcome back.
ebruce1361
The man with the plan. And some duct tape.
I started flying in 2000 at the age of 11 (yeah, I'm relatively young compared to some of you folks who have been flying since the 60s). I flew almost every Sunday after church in the parking lot since it was situated between large horse pastures on either side and the church property was two acres on its own. I moved away from home at 19 and got a summer job at Apogee Components, but the '08 recession hit and I was laid off. On top of that, it was hard enough to maintain bills with my new fiance, so we up and moved to Kansas in November '08. My rocket collection sat patiently in plastic totes at my parents' house for over eight years while we started a family and kept trying to dig ourselves out of debt. In 2014 we moved to Florida and I worked a job that had me work every Saturday, but after three and a half years, I left that job and finally had weekends free and was making enough money to pursue my interests. In June of last year, I dusted off my collection and took the family out to Tripoli Tampa and flew rockets for the first time in ten years.
I guess I never really left the hobby to return, but rather took an extended necessary hiatus. At any rate, now I have the wife and kids into rocketry, so we all have a good time with it and fly as often as we can!
I guess I never really left the hobby to return, but rather took an extended necessary hiatus. At any rate, now I have the wife and kids into rocketry, so we all have a good time with it and fly as often as we can!
In February of this year, my YouTube feed started being flooded with Model Rocket launch videos from SodBlaster, Midwest Power, Tri Cities and others. Not sure how or why other than I watch the SpaceX launches.
Regardless, I sought out my local club that I had seen at local robot fighting competitions and rejoined.
Been having a blast ever since.
Regardless, I sought out my local club that I had seen at local robot fighting competitions and rejoined.
Been having a blast ever since.
John Taylor
Well-Known Member
I was in Cub scouts in 1969 and they had a activity I chose, building and flying Alpha's. That got me hooked. My mom supported me in my new hobby. Got out of it like a lot have said was when I discovered girls.
Fast forward till 1993. I took my daughter to a science store in the mall to pick out a gift for her birthday. She became interested in a Estes starter kit with two rockets, pad and a few of a's and b's. I told her I would help her with it if she chose that for her gift. ( secretly inside I was already excited, hoping she would go for it) She did and we started to build. First launch at the high school field was very exciting for all.
My family of wife, two daughters and myself started a adventure that culminated in my getting my TRA lvl 2 certification in 1997.
When my daughters grew up and lost interest, along with the ATFE out of sight regulation efforts making it very difficult to fly high power I drifted out of the hobby in 2003.
THEN, my grandson Chase, 14 years old became interested it the hobby a few months ago, I gladly obliged to "help him". We built an Estes Executioner and named it Chase Me.
Now I'm back, Lost my cert. due to time. Joined Dallas Area Rocket Society, DARS and starting with a model launch, then to a high power launch, watching those big birds was a big thrill. Now I'm launching mid power at the local launches twice a month with my grandson. Then my wife wanted her own, so we built an Estes Star Orbiter she named Buttercup.
Joined this great forum and now I'm considering getting back into high power.
Fast forward till 1993. I took my daughter to a science store in the mall to pick out a gift for her birthday. She became interested in a Estes starter kit with two rockets, pad and a few of a's and b's. I told her I would help her with it if she chose that for her gift. ( secretly inside I was already excited, hoping she would go for it) She did and we started to build. First launch at the high school field was very exciting for all.
My family of wife, two daughters and myself started a adventure that culminated in my getting my TRA lvl 2 certification in 1997.
When my daughters grew up and lost interest, along with the ATFE out of sight regulation efforts making it very difficult to fly high power I drifted out of the hobby in 2003.
THEN, my grandson Chase, 14 years old became interested it the hobby a few months ago, I gladly obliged to "help him". We built an Estes Executioner and named it Chase Me.
Now I'm back, Lost my cert. due to time. Joined Dallas Area Rocket Society, DARS and starting with a model launch, then to a high power launch, watching those big birds was a big thrill. Now I'm launching mid power at the local launches twice a month with my grandson. Then my wife wanted her own, so we built an Estes Star Orbiter she named Buttercup.
Joined this great forum and now I'm considering getting back into high power.
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You should build another Estes Star Orbiter and name it "Westley" (or perhaps a MDRM clone named "Dread Pirate Roberts").
Last edited:
John Taylor
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I needed that.
Oh, now you've done it. We need a rocket with six fins called Count Rugen, a big rocket called Fezzig, a goony called Vizini...
KILTED COWBOY
Well-Known Member
First flew rockets in the 60's as a kid.
Then started up again with my twin boys in the early 2000's.
Stopped when they moved on to other stuff. I have always had a couple of hobbies going at the same time
like wooden and plastic model building and the shooting sports.
The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 was coming up and I got to thinking about how much fun I still had as an adult.
Dug around in the attic and found the rockets the boys and I built . Took em out and cleaned them up.
Then two friends from my Boy Scout leader time and I took them out on July 20th and shot them.
Time had taken it's toll on the old birds and lost almost all of them. But what fun!
So started building again. I is too hot on my 60+ year old body to fly in 100F heat so I have spent the last 3
months building. I have completed a V2, Mercury-Redstone, Nike X, ESAM, and a Cherokee E.
Bought a RTF Saturn V small rocket which now got me building the 1/100 scale. Just started that last week.
Great thing about being a BAR at this time in my life is I an semi-retired, Kids are out of college, house is almost paid off
so I can afford Rockets I never could in the past. I am not very good with computers and math was never my strong suit.
But y'all on this forum have helped me out a lot lately. Thank You
Then started up again with my twin boys in the early 2000's.
Stopped when they moved on to other stuff. I have always had a couple of hobbies going at the same time
like wooden and plastic model building and the shooting sports.
The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 was coming up and I got to thinking about how much fun I still had as an adult.
Dug around in the attic and found the rockets the boys and I built . Took em out and cleaned them up.
Then two friends from my Boy Scout leader time and I took them out on July 20th and shot them.
Time had taken it's toll on the old birds and lost almost all of them. But what fun!
So started building again. I is too hot on my 60+ year old body to fly in 100F heat so I have spent the last 3
months building. I have completed a V2, Mercury-Redstone, Nike X, ESAM, and a Cherokee E.
Bought a RTF Saturn V small rocket which now got me building the 1/100 scale. Just started that last week.
Great thing about being a BAR at this time in my life is I an semi-retired, Kids are out of college, house is almost paid off
so I can afford Rockets I never could in the past. I am not very good with computers and math was never my strong suit.
But y'all on this forum have helped me out a lot lately. Thank You
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Flew quite a few Estes models in the late 70s, then caught the computer craze that took me away from rockets and through college.
Years later (2002) my wife and I visiting Hawaii for the first time, walking through a city park...when I heard the unmistakable sound of a rocket motor take off, and saw some kids with a rocket. I asked them what motor they had, and they said an E something. I said "they don't make an E do they? Thought D was the biggest"....and they said "oh no, Es Fs and more!". That rekindled the fire for sure...
Back on the mainland I visited my local hobby shop to see these bigger motors, and while I'm expecting to see kits, nothing prepared me for the HUGE Binder Design 4" diam Velociraptor hanging from the ceiling....I was stunned!!! Walked away with an Excel kit. Built it and flew it on G77Rs, then found the flyer at the hobby shop for the local club and took my son to the desert to watch the launch.....wow, things were bigger than I expected!
Wasn't able to get him interested too much, so waited another 10 years until he was through school then started attending the club mtgs regularly, dusted off my Excel (who waited patiently in the corner for me) and started into the cert process. Now enjoy flying multi-stage high power...and enjoy thinking how much the hobby has offered over the years.
Years later (2002) my wife and I visiting Hawaii for the first time, walking through a city park...when I heard the unmistakable sound of a rocket motor take off, and saw some kids with a rocket. I asked them what motor they had, and they said an E something. I said "they don't make an E do they? Thought D was the biggest"....and they said "oh no, Es Fs and more!". That rekindled the fire for sure...
Back on the mainland I visited my local hobby shop to see these bigger motors, and while I'm expecting to see kits, nothing prepared me for the HUGE Binder Design 4" diam Velociraptor hanging from the ceiling....I was stunned!!! Walked away with an Excel kit. Built it and flew it on G77Rs, then found the flyer at the hobby shop for the local club and took my son to the desert to watch the launch.....wow, things were bigger than I expected!
Wasn't able to get him interested too much, so waited another 10 years until he was through school then started attending the club mtgs regularly, dusted off my Excel (who waited patiently in the corner for me) and started into the cert process. Now enjoy flying multi-stage high power...and enjoy thinking how much the hobby has offered over the years.
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Ya mean this one at Tammie's Hobbies in Beaverton?
That's the prototype Binder Design Velociraptor. That one helped keep my pilot fire lit for years. I now own two, but I'm having the hardest time sourcing materials I want to have to use for my build of it here in China.
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Hi K'Tesh! It may have been that one, but it was hanging in the Salem hobby store along with an Honest John and a couple of others that fade from memory, but will never forget that Velociraptor... beautiful bird!Ya mean this one at Tammie's Hobbies in Beaverton?
photo credit: me
That's the prototype Binder Design Velociraptor. That one helped keep my pilot fire lit for years. I now own two, but I'm having the hardest time sourcing materials I want to have to use for my build of it here in China.
Btw, do you still have Bug Off with you over there? Hope all is well with you, hope you can come back to Sheridan and see us...a supply run perhaps?
The Velociraptor is the favourite in my fleet.
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@OregonBAR
If it was in Salem in 2002, then I doubt it. IINM, it's been in Beaverton since at least 1999. I could be wrong, but I don't remember ever going into Tammie's without seeing it there.
Deep Space OFFL is still in Oregon, hidden somewhere in a box under my mom's house.
I don't have a date for my return to the US.
If it was in Salem in 2002, then I doubt it. IINM, it's been in Beaverton since at least 1999. I could be wrong, but I don't remember ever going into Tammie's without seeing it there.
Deep Space OFFL is still in Oregon, hidden somewhere in a box under my mom's house.
I don't have a date for my return to the US.
