ATTN: Tour de Deuce Volunteers!

[eugenefl]

(Sorry for another thread on the TdD, but this one requires urgent attention and we don't want it to get lost in the actual project thread.)

URGENT:

Please take a moment to check out the Tour scheduled posted <a href="https://www.fliskits.com/tour_de_deuce/calendar/calendar.htm">HERE</a>. Please note that after next weekend, May 28-30 we have no volunteers lined up! Up until now this project has been running like a well oiled machine (with the expected small bumps along the way). I guess it's been running so well that the conductors kinda fell asleep at the wheel!

Seriously though, we know how responsive and cooperative everyone has been with this project and we know we can count on those who have volunteered to step it up and pick an upcoming date to commit to.

Take a moment once again to check out the <a href="https://www.fliskits.com/tour_de_deuce/calendar/calendar.htm">Tour Calendar</a> and look at the upcoming dates in June. Since the calendar on the Tour project beyond June isn't updated, you can pull up the TRF calendar located <a href="https://www.rocketryforum.com/calendar.php?s=">HERE</a> for reference. Please make your selections as soon as possible so that we can schedule July through the Fall flying season.

I don't know that we have any special conditions placed on date/weekend selections, but we ask that volunteers schedule their dates/weekends from soonest to latest first so that there are no large holes in the schedule. Club or national event involvements are always preferred since these do give the Tour the best exposure. I'm sure Jason (jetra2) will chime in if he has any other suggestions.

Please make your selections now and place those requests right here on this thread. If you have *any* questions regarding dates/weekends, please Email one of us and we'll get back with you.

Thank you for your attention and cooperation in making this a successful project.

Eugenio Cebollero, NAR #81161 L1, Team Tour de Deuce

 

[jetra2]

Thank you for doing this Eugene...

Anywho...

I'd like to suggest that more of the states that have long and/or harsh winters volunteer for this scheduling session sot hat we can get as many of the harder-to-do states out of the way. This is sorta how we've been trying to do it all along.

So, if you've live close to Canada, or you have a state that has a long no-fly season, please request your state soon.

Thanks,

Jason Toft, NAR 82997, Tour de Deuce team

 

[Neil]

I filled out the volunteer form last winter... As far as I know there are not any other people in Maine (aside from Grimlock3000) that know about TDD, so I dont think there have been any other volunteers.

My preffered date to launch would be Labor Day, at Cherryfield, Maine. Its the biggest launch of the season for our club, and its one of two launches (memorial day being the second) that are guranteed "go" weather permitting. If Maine cant go Labor Day, it would have to wait for 2005. There are misc sport launches for our club SCHEDULED, but there are very, very few people in this club, and we only rarely get to launch, other than memorial day or labor day. I *MIGHT* be able to launch at a sports field if I got a 12V controller, but I would want to fly my beat-up Duece (Lets just say it had a few hard landings... ) there before I even consider flying the good ones there.

Of course, this is all assuming you havent found another Mainer to do this... But I doubt anyone else would be able to schedule anything any better than me... Theres one club in Maine, and I dont know of a single active TRF member whos in it, and none of them had heard of Fliskits.... They all liked my Duece when it flew, though, and Im sure they would be more than happy to host the Maine state TDD launch. And I would be honored to take care of the Maine TDD launch.

 

[sandman]

I volunteered last winter too... for Michigan.

haven't heard anything yet.

sandman

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by sandman
I volunteered last winter too... for Michigan.

haven't heard anything yet.

sandman

<a href="https://www.fliskits.com/tour_de_deuce/tdd_registered.htm">Registered Volunteers</a>. Sandman, we've pretty much compiled all of the registered volunteers onto one page. We initially began contacting volunteers one by one to see if they were available to launch the Deuces. We quickly learned that volunteers have preferences so we kind of opened up the calendar for everyone involved to select their own dates.

Neil, the volunteer list is updated with your name. I will make a note of your request for Labor Day weekend which I believe falls on the 6th of Sept. Once Jim gets back from NSL he will add the upcoming months with your request.

Thanks for your patience gentlemen. We'll get the Tour de Deuce to you! Please be sure to keep your eyes on TRF for updates.

 

[jflis]

also, I should be able to make the Maine launch too

 

[iceage]

Send 'em back to Kentucky, I still have a stash of D21's waiting!



Patrick

 

[jflis]

somebody smack this boy!

 

[iceage]

Hey, Jim,

I was looking at the TDD photo site and KY has no pics up!

Did you receive the two cds I sent?

Did you receive the report I emailed?

If not I'll burn 'em again and send them out.

Patrick - the only one smackin' me is my wife... when she's in that 'special' outfit...

 

[Neil]

everyone at the launch (when I flew my Duece) mobbed me after the flight wanting to know where to get one... If you brought a dozen Duece kits with you and your vendor table to the launch, methinks you'd get some buisness Lots, and lots of buisness.


Cool! I hope you can make it! It should be fun. More so with a few exotic Fliskits designs, for sure!

If this year's Labor Day is taken, Memorial Day next year, and Labor Day next year would also work.

I wonder if we could get some CMASS members up to Maine for TDD... Our BACKUP field is 10X bigger than the CMASS field, and our regular field is 10X bigger than our backup field! We got 600 acres of blueberry barrens up here to fly on... and theres always blueberrys in abundance for snacking at the Labor Day launch big yummy ones too...

Mind coming up here with a couple of those D21s? Impossible to loose anything that goes under 3K here....

If anyone has another 18MM case, ive got some OOP E27s sitting right here.....

 

[jflis]

Originally posted by iceage
Hey, Jim,

I was looking at the TDD photo site and KY has no pics up!

Did you receive the two cds I sent?

Did you receive the report I emailed?

If not I'll burn 'em again and send them out.

Patrick - the only one smackin' me is my wife... when she's in that 'special' outfit...

Patrick,

I've been swamped and meant to get back to you! SO SORRY! the two disks are corrupt! *both* of them! I can't view the images and i can't install the software that runs the album... I;ve tried them on a number of systems, no luck...

Can you email them to me??

thanx! It will be first on my list upon my return!
jim

 

[iceage]

Jim,

I checked the disks on two different drives to make sure the burn was ok.

As for emailing them, there are about a half gig of pics on those two disks. Adelphia has a 10 meg email limit (more like two, at best). I think I'll just usps mail them again since you will not be able to get to them until after NSL.

Have fun!

Patrick

 

[Neil]

Just thinking out loud here....

Could you post them on a website or something? Then he could save them off there....

 

[iceage]

Originally posted by Neil
Just thinking out loud here....

Could you post them on a website or something? Then he could save them off there....

They are, see my sig. But they are itty-bitty and Jim wants mambo-jambo sized!

Patrick

 

[jflis]

Patrick,

Try mailing me the photos reduced to 800 pixels wide (that would be suitable for the web) then mail me another full sized set on CD. That way, at least i'll have *something* to post regardless

jim

 

[Ryan S.]

Originally posted by eugenefl
<a href="https://www.fliskits.com/tour_de_deuce/tdd_registered.htm">Registered Volunteers</a>. Sandman

What happened? I signed up for Massachusetts way back when Jason was trying to see if there were enough people to make it work, over a year ago, and my name isnt on there! Even worse...someone elses is!


Look at the original list;

Midpwrguy - Utah
cuttbow2 - Colorado
Firemanup - Iowa
TRH3114 - Rhode Island
Jase - North Carolina, sorry Milo
rocwizard - California
bmhiii - Missouri
Swimmer - Kansas
jetra2 and eugenefl -Florida
Sandman - Michigan
KermieD and Stones - Winsconsin
Pgerringer - Virginia
stymye - Tennessee
Swingwing and mge55389 - Minnesota
Ryan S. - Massachusetts
Dogsbd - South Carolina


O well...

 

[swimmer]

Ryan,

Same here. I, like you, volunteered way back at the start of TDD. I like you got in early but someone elses name is on the fly schedule for KS. When I contacted the TDD staff about it I was told to contact the person that was on the schedule and "see if I could participate with them".

I have contacted the Ks. person and he has heard nothing from the TDD staff. I've kinda lost interest.

 

[Papa Elf]

Originally posted by jflis
somebody smack this boy!

He needs to ask me about my praetor first ;-)

mmmm.... E27's. Now Neil, if you don't have a use for those...

For me, this is easy! I am the last stop in the Tour

 

[Neil]

I got 9 of em sittin right here.... A hobby shop had em hangin on a pegboard along with a reload case for em, so I snagged em. I forgot they were OOP.... Ill still be able to find a way to fly them SOMEHOW, though

Theres a field somewhere near here that might be suitable....

Do these rank up there with G64s on your rating table for trades? (I will be staring hopefully at this computer screen all night now... About those Magnalites you had....

I wish I had another reload case and a bigger field so I could put my torn-up duece up to a billion miles with em.... THAT would be a launch pic! I wish they were certified... It would be cool to fly em at CMASS... IN A DUECE!

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by Swimmer
Ryan,

Same here. I, like you, volunteered way back at the start of TDD. I like you got in early but someone elses name is on the fly schedule for KS. When I contacted the TDD staff about it I was told to contact the person that was on the schedule and "see if I could participate with them".

I have contacted the Ks. person and he has heard nothing from the TDD staff. I've kinda lost interest.

This project is estimated to take 24+ months. If we can finish in under 24 months I will have considered it a large accomplishment.

Please understand that Jason and I are merely unpaid volunteers putting together some 50+ individual rocketeers to accomplish one goal. Given we are all in different states (with the exception of Jason and I), we are very limited by means of communication. If you've received a phone call from me, it was on my dime. If I've shipped you something, I paid the postman. Having a personal Email account fielding questions from hundreds of friends and family coupled with being a central hub for the Tour de Deuce can become overwhelming at times. I do my best to get back with you. I have limited project management experience (a good reason why I took this on) and Jason is an enthusiastic rocketeer with a great ability to talk to all sorts of people. Both of us are very limited on resources - one of them being time. Jim - no one can make excuses for Jim, he's Superman! - is an incredibly busy FlisKits owner. I bet time isn't an option for him. When he is able to update the Tour website Jason and I breathe a little easier. In the meantime, we try and spot inaccuracies and get back with Jim.

My contention has been that since DAY 1 this would be a "volunteer's" project. When it finishes, the credit will go to those that made it happen. Thanks to the internet and especially TRF, this is an open field for everyone to communicate, cooperate, and share ideas regarding the project.

Swimmer, I sincerely hope you haven't lost interest. I still have 37 more states to go. I know for sure I won't have lost interest. We want people like you involved. We want this project to be of interest to anyone involved in rocketry. Right now we're having an open discussion regarding the planning of this project through the end of this year. If you want to get involved, please chime in and pick a date. We were initially planning the Tour for the volunteers and contacting them on an individual basis and picking dates for them, but it quickly became obvious that this was backwards thinking. If you are interested in hosting your state but someone else is registered, let us know. We will make an extended effort to Email or even call them to make them aware that there is another rocketeer interested. If they don't respond then as far as I am concerned it's all yours.

Thanks all for participating. This was an exceptionally long post, but I think a few things had to be said on our behalf.

Now let's keep this project rolling. Who's next?

 

[jflis]

Keeping individual interest high in any project that spans such a distance and over such a long period of time is never easy.

All we can ask is that when we are looking towards the next 3-4 month block, those who volunteered way back at the beginning step forward and (hopefully) feel the excitment again

At least if we keep focused on a 3-4 month window rather than the whole 2+ years things will continue to go smoothly.

As soon as I get back from Texas I hope to find some cycles to get the TdD web updated with pix and schedules

jim

 

[eugenefl]

Folks, we still have no one signed up for June. Actually, we don't have anyone signed up until September. NSL is occurring as we speak. Do we have any takers for the weekend of June 11-13 or anytime thereafter?

 

[bmhiii]

Eugene,

I'll take the weekend of June 12th and 13th. I'll send you an e-mail to that affect. I believe Larry of Iowa will want the next stop on June 26th, 27th. We've been discussing back-to-back launches. I'll e-mail him also.

bmhiii

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by bmhiii
Eugene,

I'll take the weekend of June 12th and 13th. I'll send you an e-mail to that affect. I believe Larry of Iowa will want the next stop on June 26th, 27th. We've been discussing back-to-back launches. I'll e-mail him also.

bmhiii

Awesome. Thank you very much. I will add you to the secondary calendar I am maintaining. Once Jim gets back from NSL he'll have a few items to update on the website. Thanks again.

 

[EMRR]

Please send them to Vermont soon. I too volunteered last winter and also sent a note when I didn't see me on the list.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by EMRR
Please send them to Vermont soon. I too volunteered last winter and also sent a note when I didn't see me on the list.

Thanks,
Nick

Here's the schedule so far.

Simon: May 28-31 @ NSL (COMPLETE)
Barry Harsh: June 11-13
Larry Vetter: June 25-27 (Tentative...awaiting confirmation)

Nick, let us know what dates you would like. We're still waiting for confirmation from Larry. Otherwise, the calendar is wide open.

 

[EMRR]

July 10th - 11th

 

[Larry]

I will take the first scheduled weekend after Barry does the Missouri TDD. Just need a confirmation from the staff on that......Larry

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by Larry
I will take the first scheduled weekend after Barry does the Missouri TDD. Just need a confirmation from the staff on that......Larry

Ok...so far no conflicts on my schedule. Here's what I have:

Barry Harsh (MO): June 11-13
Larry Vetter (IA): June 18-20
Nick Esselman (VT): July 9-11

Hmm...anyone care to do the honors for the 4th of July? I suppose this person would have no prior engagements or obligations that would keep them from flying on that weekend.

Thanks guys. Thank you very much for chiming in. We will get back with you ASAP. Jim should be updating the master online calendar shortly.

 

[jetra2]

Hi all!

We just got a request in from Jim Myers (Swingwing) for the weekend of July 23-25. That takes care of June and July!

We'd still like to have someone fly them on the 4th! THE Ultimate patriotic launch!! Think about it, ok? First come, first served! Please use the form on the TDD Site to contact us.

Thanks!

Jason Toft