Finding Flistopia

[cjl]

Was it 6? I thought it was 7 - I had 7 motors, and I couldn't find any more after the last flight. I wasn't counting though, and one of my motors could be buried in my range box .

 

[MarkII]

Flistopia - once you are there, you will never want to leave.

MarkII

 

[Daddyisabar]

Was it 6? I thought it was 7 - I had 7 motors, and I couldn't find any more after the last flight. I wasn't counting though, and one of my motors could be buried in my range box .

I heard you say six but you might have got another flight in before the emergency broadcast systems were activated. Flight number eight might have sent your Borealis to the Land of Oz! That rocket had more air time than Jerry Lewis on Labor Day.

 

[jflis]

My word!

Flippin' Adfecta's, Corona's into mini-tornado's, 6 (or is it 7?) flights on a Borealis (no doubt hauling material to recover from the tornado's) and an emergency broadcast during the launch!??!

Man, I gotta find a way to get out and fly with YOU guys!

 

[Daddyisabar]

My word!

Flippin' Adfecta's, Corona's into mini-tornado's, 6 (or is it 7?) flights on a Borealis (no doubt hauling material to recover from the tornado's) and an emergency broadcast during the launch!??!

Man, I gotta find a way to get out and fly with YOU guys!

Jim, Come on out to the Wild - Wild West…Big Sky country where you can watch the circulation forming under the dark thunderstorm 10 miles away while launching your Fliskit into the sunshine. Fairly calm down on the ground but blowen like the devil only a few hundred feet up and then “poof” it’s gone. I guess that’s why they have all that fancy Doppler radar out at DIA.

So much rain this year the prairie looks like the green-green grass of my Old Kentucky Home, but only at a mile high. Like all tall tales of the Wild-Wild West the Flistopia series are based on true stories. The emergency broadcast for the next county over actually happened just after we had loaded the equipment and I was leaving the Park. It had started to rain two inches – that is a drop every two inches – a virtual Old West downpour which shut down the launch for the day.

I sure am ready for more typical summer weather, ninety five degrees, 15% humidity and dead calm without a cloud in the sky. Then we can launch all dem purdy new Fliskits we’ve been a buildin’ over the winter and experience the Rocky Mountain High that old Henry John Denver was a singin’ about. I still insist that song is all about the altitude and the high feeling one gets from launching a rocket into the clear blue mile high sky. In Flistopia no other high is needed.

 

[MarkII]

You don't find Flistopia with a map - you find it with your heart.

MarkII

 

[Daddyisabar]

You don't find Flistopia with a map - you find it with your heart.

MarkII

Amen brother! I am keeping the faith by sending off my first mail order to some North Eastern State with that dandy little 20% off new NAR member coupon. Can't wait for the Night Whisper and Alien 8!

As the hardened, rivet counting scratch scale builders have told me, "Some people want to fill the world with silly Alien rockets," but what's wrong with that? In Flistopia there are no point reductions for gluing on little bits & pieces, getting creative with fluorescent paint, or making up a background saga for particular bird you have on the pad. And with the new Saturn 1B coming out the scale guys might even find a little Flistopia of their very own.

 

[RangerStl]

Silly alien rockets are some of the coolest.

 

[MarkII]

Amen brother!

..."Some people want to fill the world with silly Alien rockets," but what's wrong with that?...

Yes, what's wrong with that? I'd like to know. But here I go, again.... :marshmallow:


MarkII

 

[Daddyisabar]

Beware of brightly painted alien rockets taking over your next launch. They may be “pretty in pink” but the over done neon colors might cause temporary nausea in old school scale modelers, especially if proper aviation sunglasses are not in use. The only cure is for more spending to occur on BOMARC, Thunderbirds and V2’s. Working together and with a solid military industrial complex we can stem the tide of long winded background stories on how these species from the Horse-head nebula are able to deflect Federation scanning beams, replacing them with good old hard scale data. Live long and prosper … oops…well Nancy, there he goes again.

P.S. Thanks for the photo Ron

 

[jflis]

Man, what the heck happened to that TOG in the middle?? LOL

Great pix. Wish you had gotten a launch pix. Love drag races

 

[MarkII]

Beware of brightly painted alien rockets taking over your next launch.

Hey, I think that whoever took that picture must have used the wrong filter on the camera lens. The colors on those two US TOGs look like they are a bit off... :shock:

MarkII

 

[Daddyisabar]

Hey, I think that whoever took that picture must have used the wrong filter on the camera lens. The colors on those two US TOGs look like they are a bit off... :shock:

MarkII

I wish that was the case but those guys actually had the GAUL to paint their rockets like that. The off feeling you are experiencing is just temporary nausea that proves that you are indeed an old school scale guy. White, black, red-orange and olive green are the only colors you will ever need. So what if some of the Ladies at the launch don't dig the paint scheme on the Pershing 1A, we old fellers love it. Although that neon was nice in that I could see it with my bad old eyes, and the TOG was easy to find in the tall grass, and that neon paint job was real easy, and the Ladies at the launch did dig it. But look at all the fun I missed out on – why I could have spent hours of sheer enjoyment with the fellas’ looking for that olive green HAWK I spent hours on just to get the right number of rivets. I guess that in the end Flistopia has room for both scale and fantasy.

 

[Daddyisabar]

After about five flights on Estes D’s for both the Adfecta and US TOG I decided to spice things up a bit and take a ride on the wild side by sending them up on composite motors. I knew by moving off the recommended motor list it would place me squarely in the company of the Rouges, but what the heck; I wanted to send these kits to Flistopia and beyond. A great deal of mind simming was needed to generate the courage to launch the once flippin’ Adfecta on AP; however, I had visions of them crashing through the pearly gates of Flistopia and well into dream time. So I taped in the First Fire Jr. on the US TOG and walked up to the pad. Gone were the woosey doodle, girly man black powder motors with their compressed kitty litter nozzles that swell up in the lake. Gone were the Estes logos, for none were to be found any where on these kits. The circle was now complete. When I left Vern Estes I was the learner, now I am the Master. Gone too was the sweat smell of burned powder and brown paper, only the spicy poisonous smell of AP would linger in the air, with the bright white flame pouring from that shinny black plastic casing. I will not underestimate the power of the composite side, for I am now and forever on the road to join the High Power Gods and Monsters.

Then there was Zack’s dad, naughty Zack’s dad, who, with his unstable T-Shirt began chanting “TOG…TOG…TOG” as I loaded her up on the competition rack. Yes, some of us were actually flying for fun that day. The pink and green paint scheme had gained more acceptance as the First Fire Jr. lit the mighty E. With a tremendous roar the pink clad TOG shot straight up, waaay up, deployed the chute at apogee and gently drifted straight down – just like the flight profile on the side of the Estes box. On its way up I exclaimed something like “we love you Jim Flis” or “that Jim Flis is a real genius,” making sure the all the vendors who did not carry his kits could hear. It landed just off range and very close to the spot landing pole. Zack’s dad exclaimed it was a wonderful spot landing which immediately sent several of the seasoned pro competition fliers into a near coronary. “That was a spot landing flight!” one exclaimed. I had to quickly tell them that was not the case before they threw me to the raging mob of Boy Scouts waiting to launch. “Hey Mister, what kind of rocket is that?” they asked,” Why this is a Flis Kit US TOG!” I answered. The vendors present could only dream.

At the next launch I finally got to the Adfecta. A wise old rocket man who had witnessed the first flippin’ launch again warned me of using non recommended motors and of that ever tight CP – CG relationship, but with the added nose weight I was sure more power would not be a problem. He thought the result would be cool if it worked so he decided to stay another 5 minutes to watch it launch. This time I would use my first copperhead igniter. After finally getting the tape job right the Adfecta tore off the pad on an E-15 7. Again, nice and straight and waaay up. The chute got tangled in the upper portion fins but that only lessoned the distance I had to walk. The Adfecta landed on the very soft grassy bank of the little stream that runs below the dam. I knew then the rocket Gods had been pleased. For a brief time the clouds parted and the rays of the sun shown down, Flistopia at last.

 

[jflis]

Incredible, and thank you

As for the color choices discussed earlier... ...why do you think many of our kits omit decals? It's not *just* to keep kit costs down, but also to keep the builders imaginations *UP* and free to go they way THEY want and not the way *I* want

Good stuff!

 

[MarkII]

Incredible, and thank you

As for the color choices discussed earlier... ...why do you think many of our kits omit decals? It's not *just* to keep kit costs down, but also to keep the builders imaginations *UP* and free to go they way THEY want and not the way *I* want

Good stuff!

You...mean...I...have to....THINK...when I build them? :shock:

MarkII

 

[DexterLB]

You...mean...I...have to....THINK...when I build them? :shock:

MarkII

ROFL

 

[jflis]

We SO need a Homer "DOH" smiley here.... LOL