Dusting off the old (20 yrs+) collection

[Flyfalcons]

When I was younger, my grandmother would take me to the local shopping mall, which had a hobby/toy store in it. They actually had a pretty good rocket section and I would drool over the kits, wishing I was a bit older so she could agree to buy one for me. Eventually I got my first one, an Estes Black Brant II, because the package said it goes really high so why wouldn't I get that one? Losing a rocket, what's that? Anyway, my dad built it and we flew it sans paint from the local elemantary school, never to see it again. I was immediately hooked. We did decide to bring it down a notch since our launch sites weren't too big, but I had a lot of fun collecting, building, and flying my rockets. Probably some time around when I was fifteen, I drifted away from rockets in favor of RC airplanes.

That was twenty years ago. Aside from maybe a few times at the field with a buddy or my girlfriend at the time (now my wife), my collection has sat dormant, unloved in a box in the garage. I decided recently that it was time to start lighting the spark in my one and a half year old daughter's head about aviation stuff. She's totally into my wife's horses and I thought there needs to be some balance to the force in her life. She already likes to watch airplanes flying around, and we've taken her up a couple times to her delight, so I hoped she might want to have a rocket and watch those go. This, of course, motivated me to pull out my old collection and see what I still have. It looks like I held on to all of my favorites and some sport rockets that were still in decent shape. I've flown the Alpha a few times in our back yard, which my daughter actually loved watching. I broke a fin on landing and told my daughter that we had to stop, and she actually burst into tears. All was well though, when I pulled a new rocket out of a bag and let her decorate it with horse stickers. I'm looking forward to having the chance to fly some more rockets with her. Besides, if she gets into horses AND rockets then there's no way she'll ever have the money for drugs.

Anyway, here are a few pics I took of my old collection. Pardon the dust, I'm working on getting them cleaned up. My favorite rockets are the scale birds, but I have some favorite sport rockets too including the original Alpha, the white and black USA, the Mighty Moe (behind the Alpha), and the Rampage. Everything has flown, except for that white space cruiser looking thing. I'm looking forward to going through them all and getting them back in the air.

 

[samb]

Great intro and great pictures (especially like the old Estes Pro Series Jayhawk and Patriot) ! By all means, take every opportunity to get a launch controller into your daughter's (and her friends) hands. Welcome to the forum.

 

[RFMan]

I recognize some old friends there

I had one of those Honest Johns. Lost it while a sophomore in college, to an FSI F100 cato :cry: Probably made between 40' and 50' on just the cato alone, like a sledgehammer to the butt. The fins were two pieces of plastic; eight in all. I only ever found five of the eight pieces. That's what taught me never to leave engines in our dorm over spring break...

 

[FastCargo]

Nice to see that old steam gauge Astrocam. Depending how electronically inclined you are, you could mod it to use a modern keychain videocam.

That 1/100 Saturn 1B is very rare and hard to duplicate...definitely fly that one with care. Same with the Honest John...you couldn't duplicate that one without spending a lot of money.

I like how you modded the basic BT-60 Patriot with avionics tunnels like the Pro Series version. That Jayhawk flies sweet...flew mine several times before I retired it.

FC

 

[Flyfalcons]

Thanks for the advice FC, I do have some attachment to those and the big V, and it would be tough to see them crunched. I think the Patriot is my favorite all-arounder; it looks good, can be replaced, and I can fly it low or high. I was bitterly disappointed to see the current Estes lineup. They've really dropped off on the scale stuff. I do have a Mercury Redstone on backorder from Tower and am excited about that one! Who do you freight dawg for? I'm at NetJets flying business jets.

 

[FastCargo]

Thanks for the advice FC, I do have some attachment to those and the big V, and it would be tough to see them crunched. I think the Patriot is my favorite all-arounder; it looks good, can be replaced, and I can fly it low or high. I was bitterly disappointed to see the current Estes lineup. They've really dropped off on the scale stuff. I do have a Mercury Redstone on backorder from Tower and am excited about that one! Who do you freight dawg for? I'm at NetJets flying business jets.

Well, hardly any kids build anymore....most are pretty much one and done. So, yes, Estes went where the mass market is and there just isn't much demand for builder kits. There are a few Estes employees who hang around here, and they can tell you how small the market is for builder/scale kits based on sales (or lack thereof) of previous attempts. However, there are several cottage makers that are putting out all sorts of kits...in some ways, the selection is better than ever. Ya just gotta look...and be ready to spend.

I fly freight for Fred out of Memphis. Just realized tonight that I'm halfway through my airline career ... assuming I retire at 60.

FC