Dad returning to model rocketry after 30 years!

[Archphoto]

Hello all! My name is Eric from the Pacific Northwest, and I'm freshly back into this glorious hobby that I loved as a kid because of my son.

Not sure if this will be a flash in the pan or a return for life, but a community like this is only going to help keep my interest alive. I have ADHD and so I tend to go all in and deep on a new hobby, but many of them fizzle out just as quickly. Being a life long pyro though makes rocketry a way to scratch that itch year round.

I am also an avid 3D printer, and can see myself getting into designing my own custom flyers.

Professionally I manage a large tech community product forum, so I am at home in this sort of environment. I look forward to meeting new amazing people and hope to collaborate on some fun projects together!

 

[Wrightme43]

Welcome, Glad you are here.

It is still a blast!

 

[Huxter]

Welcome Eric! With ADHD, I'd suggest you do as much, or as little to finish your rockets as you want. I rarely fill in spiral or balsa grain. They still fly great! To each his own!

Please let us know what you're up to!

 

[teepot]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[prfesser]

Welcome! There's a new tool in town, he's called OpenRocket, and he's absolutely free! Build a virtual rocket, insert a virtual motor, see how high she'll go, best delay time, top speed, speed off the rod/rail, etc. If you're building a kit you'll probably be able to find a file for it, there are files for hundreds of kits and even more for scratchbuilts.

A lot has happened over the last 30 years of rocketry:

• Railbuttons for every rocket size; launch rails are far superior to rods IMHO.
• Jolly Logic Chute Release lets you do dual-deploy without ematches or BP charges.
• Q-Jet composite motors are the same size as Estes (18x70mm) but can deliver twice the impulse of BP; there are also 24mm Q-Jets.
• Altimeters, flight computers, and kits for same. Eggtimer Quark fits a BT50, does dual deploy, and beeps out the altitude, for under $25).
• Mach1 rocketry has fiberglass tubing in the same sizes as Estes body tubes if you want to build a hard-to-destroy rocket.
• In addition to regular single-use motors and reload kits, Aerotech has "Disposable Motors", single-use except that the delay can be adjusted. (Delays can be adjusted in reload kits, too.)
• All sorts of propellants to choose from, Black Jack, Fast Black Jack, Warp9, Super Thunder, etc., etc.
• Lots of high-power kits from multiple vendors.
• Wireless remote systems for launching between one and 64 rockets.
• Research rocketry is here: Tripoli L2's are allowed to make and fly their own composite motors at TRA launches.

The list goes on and on. You are about to commit...fun!

 

[DerRedMax]

Welcome to the hobby. I see you are from Seattle. Check out the Washington Aerospace Club and the Boeing Employees Model Rocket Club.

Where can I launch model rockets in Washington state?

60 Acres Park in Redmond is probably the best place. And since there aren't soccer games going on now, you probably won't have any conflicts. We've also launched from Magnuson Park in Seattle - they have some pretty wide open areas that have worked. You can fly some mid power rockets at 60 acres.

Also check out the Boeing Employees Model Rocket Club. They have a site where you can launch low power rockets.

 

[Joel Shepherd]

As @DerRedMax said, 60 Acres is one of the prime sites near Seattle. It’s usually flyable from roughly November through May: during the summer and autumn, soccer teams rule the field. WAC schedules organized monthly launches there in the winter. If you follow this thread, folks often post if they’re thinking of going out for an impromptu launch; company is always welcome!

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/60-acres-park-redmond-wa-seattle-area.173828/page-23

 

[BEC]

Hello all! My name is Eric from the Pacific Northwest, and I'm freshly back into this glorious hobby that I loved as a kid because of my son.

Not sure if this will be a flash in the pan or a return for life, but a community like this is only going to help keep my interest alive. I have ADHD and so I tend to go all in and deep on a new hobby, but many of them fizzle out just as quickly. Being a life long pyro though makes rocketry a way to scratch that itch year round.

I am also an avid 3D printer, and can see myself getting into designing my own custom flyers.

Professionally I manage a large tech community product forum, so I am at home in this sort of environment. I look forward to meeting new amazing people and hope to collaborate on some fun projects together!

Welcome back. As I have noted to other returnees, my experience and that of many others is that the rocketry bug bites harder the second time. I came back to the hobby in 2009 and it's pretty much taken over my life, and now I've got my wife in it, too, which I think is pretty cool.

Welcome to the hobby. I see you are from Seattle. Check out the Washington Aerospace Club and the Boeing Employees Model Rocket Club.

Where can I launch model rockets in Washington state?

60 Acres Park in Redmond is probably the best place. And since there aren't soccer games going on now, you probably won't have any conflicts. We've also launched from Magnuson Park in Seattle - they have some pretty wide open areas that have worked. You can fly some mid power rockets at 60 acres.

Also check out the Boeing Employees Model Rocket Club. They have a site where you can launch low power rockets.

Thanks for the BEMRC plug. Our next launch is scheduled for next Saturday and at the moment the long range forecast looks really nice (quite unlike this weekend has been). Our site is smaller and rougher than Sixty Acres but we still have fun. I'm expecting a small number of Civil Air Patrol cadets this time so I'm mulling over how many pads to set up. Note that the size of our site dictates D and below total impulse only.

Also, this being the rush to the finish for posting official flights for the American Rocketry Challenge there will be activity at Sixty Acres pretty much whenever the weather is good enough between now and April 8th, and there is a WAC launch scheduled for April 7th, I think.

 

[Bryshereyy]

Welcome aboard . More relaxed here than other chat forums.