BARs: Pictures of your childhood rockets

[cellofellow]

Are you a born-again rocketeer? Do you have pictures of you doing rockets as a kid?

Me with a rocket that I (meaning my dad) made for my 12th birthday. Mailing tube with a candy bottle cap nosecone. I had two friends over and they had rockets too.

Not too long after this Dad took me to a lecture by Homer Hickam (from October Sky).



I was such a nerd. Still am.

 

[wilsotr]

View attachment TIIIC 01.jpg

I'll meet your nerdiness and raise X2. Me with my MPC Titan III shortly before the grossly underpowered plastic beast met its demise. Now ... back to lurking.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

View attachment 669584

I'll meet your nerdiness and raise X2. Me with my MPC Titan III shortly before the grossly underpowered plastic beast met its demise. Now ... back to lurking.

NOW WITH THAT LEVEL ON NERDINESS WE'LL HAVE NO MORE LURKING!!! YOU ARE ONE OF US!!!

Let's hear more from you!

Sadly, though I was a geeky, nerdy and dorky as a kid can be, I have no surviving pictures of me and my rockets. My dad abandoned ship when I was just shy of 16, it'd been h-e-double toothpicks for at least a year before that, and everything got lost, including my first full self-design that never flew -or got paint for that matter...

So let's see those old pics!!!

 

[Initiator001]

Here's a picture (Slide) of all my model rockets circa April, 1972.

I still have all of them.

 

[mbeels]

First rocket, first flight:

 

[NateB]

I don't think I have any. I was given an Alpha III starter set and a Space Racer kit when I was 9 for my birthday. Over the years after that I was given or purchased many other kits. If there are pictures, I haven't seen them.

 

[bjphoenix]

I have an assortment of old photos, most of them not very good because of the crude toy cameras I had.


Here is the rocket fleet, photo from December 1966. There is an Arcas and an X-ray in the photo, both of which I still have.


This is a photo of me with my first 2 rockets, I think both were scratch built. I don't know when this photo was but likely 1965 or maybe early 1966. The buildings in the background were on my grandfather's farm, beyond the buildings are some pastures where we did most of our launching.


This is launching from my grandfather's field, March 1967.


This is a group photo at the end of the launch day. In the photo left to right I can recognize a Big Bertha, X-Ray, V2, Arcas, and Estes Ranger. This photo was from February 1968. I am on the right in the photo. This field was a cleared field outside of our town that was being prepared to become a housing subdivision.

 

[jsdemar]

1969, I think. Big Bertha clone made from wrapping paper tube.
I still have that rocket.

 

[Huxter]

1978 - The only pic from my younger rocket days - This is me holding my 50:1 scale Apogee II !

 

[lr64]

I wish I had a picture of my old Sprite, warts and all. And I wish I had that old Farside kit from back then. I think it intimidated me a little.

 

[chrisudy]

Flying a NASA Pegasus 1986 or so…

 

[RiffD]

Funny enough my mother was going through a photo album a few weeks back, saw one of my dad and I, and sent it my way. Looks like we were launching my dad's Patriot. This was most likely early 90's.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Flying a NASA Pegasus 1986 or so…View attachment 669774

What are you, about thigh-deep in snow?!?! Now THAT'S a guy who really wants to launch!

 

[lr64]

What are you, about thigh-deep in snow?!?! Now THAT'S a guy who really wants to launch!

Some people launch from frozen lakes. I used to live within walking distance of a big one that froze up. A couple of feet of ice for 2 1/2 miles the short way! I wasn't into rocketry at the time, though.

Richard Nakka at a frozen lake:
https://www.nakka-rocketry.net/frostfire/ff2aut1.jpg
https://www.nakka-rocketry.net/ff-2.html

P.S. Never talk your dog with you when you're skating on a big lake if there's any water on the ice. It's bad for their feet. Also, if there's a one inch dip in the ice, with water over it, even with the higher ice, falling on your face after the drop can be a little too exciting. For a moment, I thought I'd fallen into deep water, but there was actually plenty of ice underneath. You can hear bizarre noises on the ice a while after sunset. I think they may be cracks propagating as the ice shrinks a bit. Sounded like it was going right under me.

 

[bjphoenix]

1978 - The only pic from my younger rocket days - This is me holding my 50:1 scale Apogee II !
View attachment 669751

I have one laying on my workbench in the garage, with motors in it. I haven't been brave enough to fly it. I didn't include it in my post above because I don't remember when I built it but I'm sure it was way beyond my childhood.

 

[chrisudy]

What are you, about thigh-deep in snow?!?! Now THAT'S a guy who really wants to launch!

Snow wasn’t quite that deep…. I was kneeling on the ground.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Snow wasn’t quite that deep…. I was kneeling on the ground.

I'll have to remember that trick when I send my sister pics of our snow. She lives in Florida.