BAR From Wisconsin

[paulk]

Hi folks, my name is Paul, and I fear I have become a BAR.

My 8yr old son got an estes starter kit last xmas from his uncle, and bugged me for months to fire it up. I finally relented this summer, we had a few successful launches and to my surprise, it was fun. 8 yr old says, Dad, can we launch some of your old rockets? Next thing you know, I was digging up my 70's estes rockets and fixing them (some were pretty beat up), including making new balsa nacelles for the Mini-Bomarc, which was missing the ramjet pods. Just about every weekend since then we have been launching something different. Even went to a local WOOSH event with my brother & his kid, we had a blast watching & launching! Most of these rockets had never flown, and so far, all of them have flown great (well, maybe too great, I lost my vintage Cherokee-D on its 3rd flight - dough!). So now I find myself stopping at the local hobby shops every week for engines, spare parts, and browsing kits. Had my son build a couple E2X kits, those are great for an 8 yr old (Did that package say something about 10 yrs of age? oops). I decided to build a scissor-wing, always wanted one as a kid. No sense starting off with an easy one.

Thanks to many of you folks, especially in the Techniques forum, this scissor-wing looks better than anything I ever made as a teenager. I flew it on a B6-2 last weekend. I tell my wife to get a pic of the launch, figuring something is bound to go wrong, there are just too many things that have to work just right on this rocket. I nervously press the launch button, watch it go almost straight up, I see a full pod ejection (whoopee!), then pivot and it starts a flat glide (wow this is cool!). It heads toward the highway (heart beats faster), starts a gentle curve just as it gets to the fenceline (please turn more!), then back over the soccer field (whew!) , right towards some bleachers... (oh no!), makes a beautiful flat landing in the soft grass (whew). Even my wife says "that was cool!". I didn't even see where the pod landed, fortunately my 10 yr old daughter did. This build & launch was just so fun I had to share it! I'm so happy with the completed model, I've attached a pic, I think.

Now I'm working on a Cherokee-D clone from Thrustline w/Excelsior decals, and an old estes CorkScrew kit I found hiding at my local hobby shop. At the same time, I'm poring over the Apogee, FlisKits, SquirrelWorks catalogs to see which kits to go for next (hmm, the Snarky or the Texas Twister? the SquirrelWorks RedBaron or SpaceCruiser? or maybe a DeucesWild? - they all look so cool!).

Vintage estes rockets we've flown the last few months:
- Alien Invader
- Cherokee-D
- Der RedMax
- Gyroc
- Interceptor
- Mini-Bomarc
- Scout
- Sprint (homemade)
- Viper
- X-Ray (homemade)

Son's rockets we've flown
- E2X Mini Meanie
- E2X Gnome
- RTF NSA Starship

Please tell me I'm not getting obsessive about this!

-Paul

 

[Bowhunter]

Id like to welcome ya to the forum and back to the hobby. This forum is just loaded with great people and lots if info. keep us posted on your builds and we all love to see pics.

 

[racerx]

Which WOOSH launch were you at? I was at Bong on September 17, which was also some of my first launching in a very long time. I brought some vintage stuff, too...an old Vindicator (lost the nosecone), Comet, and Custom Landviper in addition to a Mini Minie and Lucky 7 picked up for the kids.

I brought a Cherokee D as well, but after losing my nose on that last flight got disgusted and didn't fly it. Now I'm kind of glad.

 

[paulk]

I was at Bong on Sunday, September 18th. Launched my Der Red Max, Cherokee-D, and my son's Mini-Meanie & RTF NSA Starship. After losing Cherokee-D, decided it was too windy to launch Big Bertha (another fellow lost his Big Bertha earlier in the day). My brother launched his vintage Goblin (smartly on a C11), only 1 cracked fin.

The vindicator looks cool, an awful lot like the interceptor, without the toothpicks, and different fin orientation.

Hope to see you at some future woosh events, I'd like to try one of the sod farm events, have you ever been to one of these?

-Paul

 

[astronboy]

Welcomr back!! That sure is a nice Scissor Wing. I am glad to hear that it flew well.

Please keep reporting, keep taking pictures, and most of all, keep having fun!!

Phred

 

[graylensman]

You "fear" you've become a BAR?? Embrace the madness!!!

And that Scissor Wing Transport looks great.

 

[11bravo]

You should drive down to Princeton, IL next weekend, October 28-30.
See Midwest Power 3.
Of course, if you do, you run the risk of becoming involved not only with model rocketry, but mid and high power.
Which of course is good.

Greg

 

[jflis]

Originally posted by CherokeePaul
Hi folks, my name is Paul, and I fear I have become a BAR.

>snip<

Please tell me I'm not getting obsessive about this!

Hello Paul.



First, welcome to TRF and back to rocketry... now on to the hazing...

Fear is not an option...

OBSESSIVE?? LOL oh man...

you have not *SEEN* obsessive yet, my good man... We have some really obsessive folks in here! I am not one of them though, not yet. I only do rocketry from about 9am till near midnight. but the rest of the day is ALL MINE!

Nope, no obsessive behavoir here, no sir, nope!

...

jim

 

[Fishhead]

Originally posted by racerx
Which WOOSH launch were you at? I was at Bong on September 17, which was also some of my first launching in a very long time. I brought some vintage stuff, too...an old Vindicator (lost the nosecone), Comet, and Custom Landviper in addition to a Mini Minie and Lucky 7 picked up for the kids.

I brought a Cherokee D as well, but after losing my nose on that last flight got disgusted and didn't fly it. Now I'm kind of glad.

Replacement source for the Vindicator nose cone:
https://moldinoldies.rocketshoppe.com/interceptor_parts.htm