Box of parts competition

[Gillard]

It's back

EMRR is hosting the Box of Parts competition for 2009.
some changes from last year - should cut down the costs of the competition.
This was a massive thread on TRF last year.
so i'd thought i'd get the ball rolling - what do you think to the new rules, are you going to enter. - will Chan find away to get first again?

 

[SwingWing]

Linky:

https://www.rocketreviews.com/contests/contest_box-o-parts_2009.shtml

Important dates:
Declarations must be received by EMRR no later than February 22, 2009
Bonus Boxes of parts must be mailed no later than March 1, 2009. (if this option is chosen)
Submissions must be received no later than July 1, 2009.

 

[powderburner]

And next year it will be: Night of the Living Box 'o Parts
Then: Last Box 'o Parts on the Left
Eventually: Box 'o Parts the 13th

Any chance of morphing this sort of contest into something more along the lines of a kitbash? Or at least, providing (for an entry fee) a 'standardized' box of materials (hopefully, well-selected)?

Asking for a package of trash to be sent to me just somehow doesn't appeal to me. (Perhaps because of all the other trash I already have?)

 

[Peartree]

And next year it will be: Night of the Living Box 'o Parts
Then: Last Box 'o Parts on the Left
Eventually: Box 'o Parts the 13th

Any chance of morphing this sort of contest into something more along the lines of a kitbash? Or at least, providing (for an entry fee) a 'standardized' box of materials (hopefully, well-selected)?

Asking for a package of trash to be sent to me just somehow doesn't appeal to me. (Perhaps because of all the other trash I already have?)

Read the rules for this year's contest. If you want, this year you get to use your own trash...

 

[PunkRocketScience]

Woo-hoo! I can post again!

I'm in! I've got mailing boxes on order from the post office, so if you are in southern California and you need just one (the post office only will ship them to you in quantities of 10 or more...) I've got several spares...

I'm definitely going to go for the "send your box to someone else" bonus...

 

[kjohnson]

Using your own box of parts seems to me to not be in the spirit of the original contest. The thing that made me enter last year was the unknown variable of what my box would have in it.

I prefer the idea of a direct box swap, instead of the mix and match approach taken last year. That way you are guaranteed some commonality of parts.

kj

 

[Peartree]

Using your own box of parts seems to me to not be in the spirit of the original contest. The thing that made me enter last year was the unknown variable of what my box would have in it.

I prefer the idea of a direct box swap, instead of the mix and match approach taken last year. That way you are guaranteed some commonality of parts.

kj

The difficulty lies in find the money to ship all those boxes.

 

[EMRR]

Using your own box of parts seems to me to not be in the spirit of the original contest. The thing that made me enter last year was the unknown variable of what my box would have in it.

I prefer the idea of a direct box swap, instead of the mix and match approach taken last year. That way you are guaranteed some commonality of parts.

kj

You can go for it then... we presently have (3) people ready for a "box swap"... so, once you declare your parts to me and show they fit into a box... we can start exchanging addresses and such.

Nick

 

[kjohnson]

The difficulty lies in find the money to ship all those boxes.

Expense for whom?

Instead of sending all the boxes to one place (shipping charge 1) then sending them out again (shipping charge 2 multiplied by the number of entries) you send an email with the address directly to the people who are interested in swapping. They are still paying the 1 shipping charge, but they were going to have to do that anyway.

The swapping doesn't have to go a-b b-a either. You could send a's address to b, and c's address to a and b's address to c. Don't want people to know where the box came from, have them put EMMR's address as the return.

Me, I'm not entering this go round simply because I don't have any more spare parts. Last year's contest plus a moving purge last month means I don't have anything to send in.

I was offering a response based on Nick's original question "what do you think to the new rules, are you going to enter."

 

[Peartree]

Expense for whom?

Instead of sending all the boxes to one place (shipping charge 1) then sending them out again (shipping charge 2 multiplied by the number of entries) you send an email with the address directly to the people who are interested in swapping. They are still paying the 1 shipping charge, but they were going to have to do that anyway.

The swapping doesn't have to go a-b b-a either. You could send a's address to b, and c's address to a and b's address to c. Don't want people to know where the box came from, have them put EMMR's address as the return.

Me, I'm not entering this go round simply because I don't have any more spare parts. Last year's contest plus a moving purge last month means I don't have anything to send in.

I was offering a response based on Nick's original question "what do you think to the new rules, are you going to enter."

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you were advocating for central distribution like last year instead of the swap idea proposed for this year.

 

[EMRR]

Expense for whom?
Me, I'm not entering this go round simply because I don't have any more spare parts. Last year's contest plus a moving purge last month means I don't have anything to send in. "

Box-swapping will be randomized, not A-B and B-A.

You can still enter, I have two people that said they will build a box up, if you want to play.

Nick

 

[rokitflite]

Box-swapping will be randomized, not A-B and B-A.

You can still enter, I have two people that said they will build a box up, if you want to play.

Nick

Oh God... I just might enter. I will give the crybaby condition though, that if I get a box of poo I will simply drop out. The box of parts that I send in will be all new, quality materials with neatly cut tubes, full sheets of balsa stock and good recovery material. (Actually, there MAY be some paint already on some of the nose cones) I want to see someone limited by their imagination, not the quality of the materials. If I spend that much time on a project, I want it to look good and to be built well. I don't want to spend time doing a write up on a flying joke.

Oh, I'm also gonna throw in some decal paper for laser printers

 

[EMRR]

Oh God... I just might enter. I will give the crybaby condition though, that if I get a box of poo I will simply drop out.

With the "declaration" and picture requirement, EMRR will get to see what each person is going to send in the Box Swap... this should prevent a box of poo.

EMRR is standing by waiting for declarations and pictures:

DECLARE YOUR PARTS: Inventory and describe a bunch of your left-over spare parts*, put them all out on the floor/table and take a picture of them. Place them all into a Priority/Express Mail Tube Small and take another picture (they must fit). Send those pictures and the list of declared items to attachment @ rocketreviews.com. THESE WILL BE THE PARTS YOU WILL BUILD FROM unless you participate in the Box-swap Bonus.

* Each box of parts must include at least one nose cone, a section of body that fits the nose cone, at least one motor tube, a set of launch lugs or rail buttons, some fin stock, and a recovery system (parachute or streamer) and shock cord. The parts being generally compatible (e.g. a MMX motor tube does not go with a 4" Diameter nose cone or G10 fins).

 

[SwingWing]

Oh God... I just might enter. I will give the crybaby condition though, that if I get a box of poo I will simply drop out. The box of parts that I send in will be all new, quality materials with neatly cut tubes, full sheets of balsa stock and good recovery material. (Actually, there MAY be some paint already on some of the nose cones) I want to see someone limited by their imagination, not the quality of the materials. If I spend that much time on a project, I want it to look good and to be built well. I don't want to spend time doing a write up on a flying joke.

Oh, I'm also gonna throw in some decal paper for laser printers

The "Box-o-Poo" contest is the next EMRR contest, not this one
I agree that it can be frustrating to carry out an idea, then not have the parts to do it. However, this contest is supposed to tickle the "I can make a rocket out of that" sense that many of us have and exercise when on boring shopping trips with SWMBO. Part of the fun is sticking the random bits together and trying to figure out how to creatively use a short piece of speaker wire, a turkey baster and three coffee filters. Every box should have enough standard components to build a nice rocket, and then some fun stuff for "adapting"

 

[rokitflite]

The "Box-o-Poo" contest is the next EMRR contest, not this one
I agree that it can be frustrating to carry out an idea, then not have the parts to do it. However, this contest is supposed to tickle the "I can make a rocket out of that" sense that many of us have and exercise when on boring shopping trips with SWMBO. Part of the fun is sticking the random bits together and trying to figure out how to creatively use a short piece of speaker wire, a turkey baster and three coffee filters. Every box should have enough standard components to build a nice rocket, and then some fun stuff for "adapting"

Very true, but having nothing to use but a BUNCH of goofy components, used & crashed rockets, and left over die-cut sheets is not fun in my opinion. If as you say, there are enough GOOD parts to counter this, then its all good. I would have liked to have seen more nice looking gliders in the last competition, but I don't think people got enough good fin/wing material to pull it off. I am optomistic about this years competition though (in the Box-Swap category).

 

[SwingWing]

Yeah, fin/wing material was the downfall of the last contest. I had to use tube fins and tubes on fins to make it stable enough for flight, much less have any type of glider.