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OverLord

OverLord

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Can I leave the hobby?

Guys/Gals,

Flew my first rocket in 1976....."Estes Alpha starter kit" Since 1995 I have spent "THOUSANDS" of dollars on rocketry related parts, books, videos, motors, electronics, chutes, you name it... because I discovered "HIGH POWER"...Every few years(tears) I decide I can't afford it any more...So I sell it off....
But it ALWAYS comes back...That need/passion for the hobby...I am yet again selling off items, well all I have left now... Trying my hardest to "Let it go".. But good friends PM/E-Mail me...

I have had the "honor" to fly and use some of the best stuff rocketry has ever known...I have lost friends...Lost others that I never had the privlige to meet...I have seen companys come and go....I'm trying to let it go...But it's this thing deep in my mind I'll never forget...

Just wondering is it as hard for you or others you know as it is for me?

Mike
 
I cannot picture myself ever doing that. When I resumed the hobby 8 years ago, I had very little money to devote to it. So I searched website and downloaded as many free paper rocket plans that I could find, and that was what I built and launched during the first couple if years. I launched stuff mostly on MicroMaxx and 13mm motors. I loved it. I have no particular type or power level of rocket that I "have" to launch; it's all good. Launching any rocket, even a water rocket made out of a 2 liter soda bottle, is better than trying to go through life without launching anything at all. ;) You can have a great time in this hobby while spending very little money if you are resourceful and creative.

I love high power too, but it's rather difficult for me to do much of that right now. It's OK, though; it's not the end of the world. I'll do more of it when I can afford it.

One of the things that I really like about flying micros (MicroMaxx-powered rockets) is that I can carry my entire set up, rockets, motors, launch pad and controller, in a cigar box. (The box doubles as the pad.) A few years ago I used to just drive over to a nearby park on my lunch break, park down at the empty part of the parking lot, set up my pad on my trunk, put on the radio and launch a few micro rockets while I ate my sandwich. What a stress reliever! The first time I did it, I L'd MAO for nearly the entire break! Micros recover on streamers, at least those that are designed to deploy any recovery device at all, so they always come down right near the pad. And with paper/cardstock rockets, it was no big deal even if I lost one. I could just print another one out and assemble it that evening. No paint job to worry about, either. Doing that was such a hoot, and it totally affirmed for me that I was more than just what my job (and my boss) said I was!
 
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You can try to leave the hobby, but the hobby will never leave you.
 
This is my 3rd try in 17 years...I am sitting on 91 motors and enough parts and pieces to do a lot of things....I get as big of a kick fly'n a "C" motor as I do a "J", and I have lit many!
I guess I'll never get it out of my system...Long as I have a "football" sized field and a youngster to watch..."PRICELESS"
We'll see.....Just regret my wallet has out-grown the dreams sooo many times...

Thanks guys...I feel a little better...(but don't tell my wife!)

Mike
 
People drift in and out of "semi-retirement" in regards to rocketry, but if you have 91 motors and a handful of rockets, you should be able to fly for a year or so without buying any new ones.

Unless you are going through a life-change where storage space will make it utterly impossible to keep any of it, I wouldn't "divest" completely -- you'll almost certainly end up taking a big loss on the rocketry stuff anyway, so selling it, to me, would be a last-ditch decision.

I feel your pain on the financial pressures -- I've held back on getting involved on any more than a ceremonial basis with MPR or HPR rocketry because of $$$$$ -- but LPR is still not really very expensive, after sinking $25 into a starter set and maybe $10 into building a rocket, it can give you (and others) a lot of enjoyment.

Now that even LPR motors are averaging a couple bucks a shot, yeah, it is not a cheap undertaking to go out and launch a couple dozen rockets. But if you consider the weeks if not months of enjoyment that goes into getting ready for the launch, your per-minute entertainment cost is not bad.
 
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I have over 300 motors from OOP 1/4A's to J's. A fleet of un-flown rockets. It's been years since I've been out to fly but give it up...never. I can go and watch others and get the same enjoyment I do from flying. Seeing kids faces is a big thing for me. Seeing them having fun is enough.

I like to build. I like rockets due to the variety of possible designs. My very first rocket was a scratch build lost to a tree on it's first flight. I mourned the loss and sent another order to Estes from the ragged, dog-eared catalog that was falling apart. Estes sent me a new catalog with that order and I was estatic.

I still build scratch rockets to this day. I actually have a few kits that I look at every day. On the bottom of the pile is a FlisKits Decim8, a rather daunting build. I can't just glue it up. It deserves a modelers' attention to detail. I watched Chan Steven's build, he builds very good rockets but I set a different standard for myself for this rocket. I think I'm looking at many, many hours of building it. I want things to be more rounded and molded and flowing. It reminds me much of a Babylon 5 Vorlon living spaceship, very organic. I think when it's done it will never fly.

I just have periods where my activity isn't much but leave...naaaaa.
 
The quitting, selling off at a loss, coming back, repurchasing what you already had - repeat is something I don't understand. Just hang on to the stuff until your next venture.
 
cavecentral said:
The quitting, selling off at a loss, coming back, repurchasing what you already had - repeat is something I don't understand. Just hang on to the stuff until your next venture.
Click to expand...

For me, the sell-off helps fund the next venture... I just came back to the hobby myself, and to do it, I had to sell off all of my military surplus rifles and ammunition...

I have motors, rockets, chemicals, hardware, reloads, single use, chutes, trackers and altimiters just to name some of the stuff I had to purchase to climb back on this crazy train... it's tough to do, but what Overlord is talking about is indeed real, it happens to many of us... I am a BAR 3.0

Get this; now that I have all of this rocket 'stuff' I am starting to obtain some resemblance of riflry back... I let too much go in order to come back, so now I am beginning to purchase some rifles again. So far, I have not had to sell any rocket stuff to do it... but it is an option.
 
DRAGON64 said:
I let too much go in order to come back, so now I am beginning to purchase some rifles again.
Click to expand...

My point exactly.

Keep the stuff you will use again, and get to the new thing a little slower. Of course some hobbis like R/C racing things get obsolete fast - not worth saving.

Each to their own.
 
cavecentral said:
My point exactly.

Keep the stuff you will use again, and get to the new thing a little slower. Of course some hobbis like R/C racing things get obsolete fast - not worth saving.

Each to their own.
Click to expand...

Not so simple... selling off helps fund the next venture... otherwise you are buying outside of your means. In this case, I utilized some credit to get a rifle back... but I let go of none of my rocket stuff in the process. If rocketry becomes the un-fun money pit that it has in the past, then I will once again migrate to another passion in a mass sell-off... it is a vicious circle.
 
I have launched rockets at 5 different times in my life, so I would say that you can leave the hobby, but you will be back.

The farthest I went in the hobby last time was L1 cert. and "I" motors. My current club launch site is limited to "G" motors so I'm organizing most of my flying for BP C through E motors. The rockets and motors aren't as big or as expensive, but I can launch more of them.
 
DRAGON64 said:
Not so simple... selling off helps fund the next venture... otherwise you are buying outside of your means. In this case, I utilized some credit to get a rifle back... but I let go of none of my rocket stuff in the process. If rocketry becomes the un-fun money pit that it has in the past, then I will once again migrate to another passion in a mass sell-off... it is a vicious circle.
Click to expand...

Just hopefully you don't take a major lose at each junction. If you are gone for good, it makes sense to sell. Hind sight is always 20/20.
 
You could always volunteer at launches, take photos or videos or help others get involed. That way you are still a part of the hobby. Great way to spend a weekend without the cost.
 
"You can't run away forever, but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start."
Meatloaf

No matter how away far you go, It always pulls you back.:dark:
Sometimes willingly, sometimes kicking and screaming.
 
cobra1336 said:
You could always volunteer at launches, take photos or videos or help others get involed. That way you are still a part of the hobby. Great way to spend a weekend without the cost.
Click to expand...

Yeah, even during my "retirements" from rocketry sometimes I got out and watched some launches, just to see what was going on.

Amazingly/astonishingly, several years after the fact, I found out a NARAM was actually held in my own home town, 5 miles from my house, during the middle of my longest and most serious "retirement" from the hobby (about 18 years). Had I known a NARAM was going on in town, even though I hadn't touched a rocket in 7-8 years I probably would have dropped in just to check it out.

It was kind of funny I never saw even a teeny weeny newspaper or teevee news story about the NARAM (and it's not like much else was going on in the summertime around Snoozeville), but that particular NARAM has become semi-legendary for a lot of real bad reasons so maybe it was a good thing after all.

:surprised:
 
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cavecentral said:
Just hopefully you don't take a major lose at each junction. If you are gone for good, it makes sense to sell. Hind sight is always 20/20.
Click to expand...

And that is no lie... I need the right event to get me going again. Something to get me back in the swing of things, and I'll be at the fields more often...

I mean, look at the hardware I purchased to make sure I have some bases covered:

IMG_4416.jpg


IMG_4409.jpg


These do not include the Aerotech consumer aerospace hardware (29/40-120; 24/60; 24/40) or the Dr Rockets 29/240... I'm about as serious as I can get...
 
When things got rough for me, I seriously thought about selling off all my rocket stuff. I looked at it, mentally figured what I had into it in dollars, realistically calculated what I could get out of it, and then put it up against the enjoyment not only I got out of it. But my family, friends, and even the occassional passer by. Not worth selling. So I stored it for about 12 years.
Last year, on Fathers day, my oldest son started a conversation about the rockets somehow. Eversince, I've dug out the stuff, and scratch building mostly, and low power.
You don't have to go big, you don't even have to launch everything you build, although it would be nice.
I'm out of work for 3 years, nothing but time on my hands, and if it were not for model rocketry, I would have probably lost my mind by now.
I would rather launch a couple times a year, even if it's just mini engines, and spend my free time building.
One thing I have noticed over the 40 plus years I've been into it, is you always learn more and more, and it runs in phases. Deep interest, then other things take over, then something brings you back.
If you really want to get out of it, I think you eventually regret it. If you can recover at least 50% if you need the money, then do what you must.
I rarely break the 1000' altitude, but it's just as fun and relaxing and probably less stress than the expensive big ones.
Just can you can build and launch and have the best, doesn't mean you have to, to enjoy the hobby, which fastly becoming a sport as I see it.
It's part of you, always will be. How you manage it is up to you.
Just enjoy it within your capabilities and it will fun.
 
DRAGON64 said:
And that is no lie... I need the right event to get me going again. Something to get me back in the swing of things, and I'll be at the fields more often...
QUOTE]

I flew in the late 80s and 90s with my older brother. I was in high school. We eventually burned out, used up the motor stock, and he sold his stuff off that he no longer had motors to fly. He asked me if I wanted to keep stuff before he sold it, but I had no intention of flying without him. Well, I was wrong.

I got back in 3 years ago. Lots of money spent since. I got back in beceause of a chance to make my own motors. I wanted to do that all along. I spent way too much to dump at a loss without getting a lot more enjoyment out of it first. Maybe cutting down inventory, but never selling everything unless I had no home to store it in.
Click to expand...
 
This seems like a good place to put my first post! Like others here I've been in and out of the hobby and came close to selling everything. It wasn't so much the cost ( though I fly mostly mid- high power), it was the driving time to the nearest launch site! I sat out from Aug 2008 to Oct 2011. Had no interest until watching Master Blasters and decided to see what kind of motors I had left. Found out I had enough motors to head out to the Mohave desert for Roctoberfest. Big mistake! Now I'm hooked again! Had a great time and it renewed my interest! Now I have been busy rebuilding or repainting old rockets and planning new ones! Just have to watch the cost! Too easy to make a $500 order on the internet! Gonna be a good year!
 
OverLord said:
Can I leave the hobby?

Guys/Gals,

Flew my first rocket in 1976....."Estes Alpha starter kit" Since 1995 I have spent "THOUSANDS" of dollars on rocketry related parts, books, videos, motors, electronics, chutes, you name it... because I discovered "HIGH POWER"...Every few years(tears) I decide I can't afford it any more...So I sell it off....
But it ALWAYS comes back...That need/passion for the hobby...I am yet again selling off items, well all I have left now... Trying my hardest to "Let it go".. But good friends PM/E-Mail me...

I have had the "honor" to fly and use some of the best stuff rocketry has ever known...I have lost friends...Lost others that I never had the privlige to meet...I have seen companys come and go....I'm trying to let it go...But it's this thing deep in my mind I'll never forget...

Just wondering is it as hard for you or others you know as it is for me?

Mike
Click to expand...

Dood! It ain't all about flying rockets. That's the expensive part anyway. Consider the craft. If you have pieces and parts laying around, use them. I don't know what you favor as your plus moment with this hobby is but I do know this, I'll design and build even though I have nowhere to launch. I get a kick out of a new build. To me, I get great satisfaction from building. Launching them only makes my butt pucker. And of course I will launch them when I can afford to. Get your eyes out of the glimmering lights and get down to working your craft. It's really not that expensive to be a builder. It will at least satisfy your need for the hobby.
 
This hobby is like the mob...you may *think* you can leave, but you will probably not get out while you're still alive. :dark:

I've had kinda long periods of inactivity (a few years at a time) but always keep coming back. I only got rid of stuff wholesale on one occasion when I was about 14 years old, and it was a really terrible decision because I gave up a Space Plane (!!!), original Mars Snooper, Apogee II, Avenger, X-Ray, original Mark (with Gleda's hand-rolled tube) and several other awesome rockets from the late 1960's, and then went right back into the hobby about 18 months later. Dang... :cry: I never put a lot of $$$ into HPR hardware so I don't feel like there's a lot of recoverable money tied up anyway. I never really think of "quitting" any more though I know I'll probably be dormant sometimes.
 
Bazookadale said:
You can try to leave the hobby, but the hobby will never leave you.
Click to expand...

you hit the nail on the head.

Once I got to be a senior in High school I started working, driving, girls etc. Then I got into the fire department and all of a sudden I want to get all my levels. I havent flown in 2 years but I keep thinking about it.

I cant ever get away! DAMNIT!

Ben
 

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