HPR: What's the worst part?

[jetra2]

Hey all,

Curious thought came to me this morning. I'm curious to see what some of you HPR-certified rocketeers think the worst part is?

Price?
Time?
Nagging? p)
etc....

You see where I'm going with this. This will be a highly opinionated thread. I can bet on that!!

Jason

 

[BlueNinja]

I say it's the money. (not certed here, opinion only).




Blue

 

[Austin]

Well, speaking as one of those certed nuts, I can say...

THERE IS NO WORST PART!!! If you have a worst part, then your are not having fun, which is why we do it in the first place, right???!!!

So, in reality should be no "worst part".

Carl

 

[jetra2]

Alright! ALRIGHT! Sheesh!

I guessed that someone would answer that way!

Jason

 

[rict]

That's easy...the asinine ATF rules and restrictions that are based on the ridiculous premise that APCP is an explosive!

(one ATF administrator to another):
"Hey, let's make all those people flying hobby rockets get explosive licenses...it won't make the country any safer, but it'll sure make the rest of the population FEEL like we're actually doing something to prevent terrorism."


Ric T.

 

[RocketboyG80]

I don't want this thread to go in the wrong direction. But it is funny that you mentioned that rict. I just gave a persuasive speech on that subject yesterday in English class. (I got a 100%.)
So I thank the BATF for giving me an intersting topic to base my speech on.

 

[rstaff3]

Having things a little cheaper would always be nice. Gasoline too. (remember this is a political free zone...and don't start talking about economics either )

 

[North Star]

rict and Carl both make good comments;

The worst part for me is having a 12" tube set and nosecone sitting waiting for M motors to come available in Britain, and having built some nice, large rockets, to always have the worry that the 'authorities' will stop you flying them.
Our version of your BATF is just as frustrating - I can possess any size of Aerotech and store them BUT I can't get any. The Pro xx series are getting here but I'm not allowed to keep them due to local interpretation of the laws.
So, whilst it probably wasn't the response you were looking for there it is

 

[Chilly]

Umm...I should stay away from this thread but it's too late.

I'm starting to have a real love/hate relationship with HPR. I love building big rockets, and love flying them. The problem is flying...I never get to! Between field availability and weather, I'm lucky to fly twice a year. And I've lost about half of my large rockets, including an RMS casing. I guess that's to be expected but I can't justify literally throwing away money at the rate it's been going.

So HPR has carried a very high frustration level for me, personally. I've had to seriously rethink my "building strategy" in the last few weeks. Do I want to put all my resources into high-power and only fly a couple times a year, or spend it on D & E powered stuff and fly more?

My kids love flying the "little stuff" and are too small to spend all day at an HPR launch. I don't want to spoil their budding interest in favor of indulging myself once or twice a year. So, I've been stocking up on some of the more interesting low-mid power kits for this winter. I'd planned on building my L2 project but it can wait. I'm allowing myself one big project a year, the rest of the time will be spent with Dynastar, Thrustline, and Fliskits. My kids won't be kids long enough...

 

[Martin Vrstal]

Guess it's my turn....
For me it's a money issue...or lack of. Being unemployed due to a back injury several years ago, the one hobby that I get the biggest kick out of always has to go on the back burner so more important things get paid for.
I'm lucky that i have a great wife with a great job that understands my love for rockets.....even though I do hear "How much is this going to cost " from time to time.

 

[Johnnie]

money, nagging and time...

Regardless of cost, or the ATF and the LEUP thingy, I can still fly H,I and J motors. The Hybrid J's are cheaper, and sing it with me now, the ATF "can't touch dis..."

My wife and I have an understanding, she does not nag as long as I keep my wits about me and find a way to pay for me rocket adventures that do not interfere with getting our food on the table and paying the bills on time. Oh yeah, I can't schedule family vacations around certain rocketry events either

Time? That, I do not have alot of, and I welcome the winter building season so I might get reasonably caught up on sidelined projects.


...but I agree with Carl, there is no worse part. I would not trade HPR for any other hobby. (period!)

 

[eugenefl]

My #1 thorn-in-the-side goes to the regulatory stuff. I think I would have pursued larger reload casings and motors if there wasn't such a roadblock. Other than that, I don't have any beef with HPR.

The 2nd worst part about HPR is that I live in an apartment. Space is thin and there is no room to build. Perhaps maybe next year I can put a tablesaw in the living room and a paint booth in the shower.

Item #3 is the field availability issue. Jason is with me on this one, but we don't have a field nearby. I guess the norm will be to drive 6+ hrs roundtrip every time we want to fly anything over 1000ft.

If you are saying to yourself that the cost is the worst part about HPR then perhaps the income spent on the hobby really isn't disposable. Just my 2 cents.

(Ok, time to go pull that 8" dia. tube out of my closet...)

 

[Elapid]

with everyone!
(ain't gonna happen again, though!)

 

[rstaff3]

Hehehe...I agree with everyone also, including you elapid. Of course you can't agree with me since you said it would never happen again. Therefore you don't agree with anyone in this thread...oooh...head....hurt....

 

[hokkyokusei]

Crashing.

 

[North Star]

Originally posted by hokkyokusei
Crashing.

Thought you'd have said; "Having someone else press the launch button"

 

[Johnnie]

Crashing falls under cost I believe. This prhrase comes to mind:

"if you can't afford to loose it, then maybe you should not fly it..."

 

[Adam Selene]

getting the opportunity to fly! between moving every month or two and working most weekends it is very difficult to fly HPR. easier to do gorilla luanches with low power. thought i was going to fly this weekend but the launch was scrubbed due to the weather report.

 

[hokkyokusei]

Originally posted by Johnnierkt
Crashing falls under cost I believe. This prhrase comes to mind:

"if you can't afford to loose it, then maybe you should not fly it..."

Huh? Who said I couldn't afford to lose it?

The question was "What's the worst part?"

For me, the worst part is crashing, because of the time investment.

 

[hokkyokusei]

Originally posted by North Star
Thought you'd have said; "Having someone else press the launch button"

But I don't have someone else pressing the launch button

 

[Chuck Rudy]

I believe it's the concentration. You're so wrapped up in what you're doing you miss the show going on all around. It's not until you've retrieved your beast that you can sit back and enjoy someone else doing the thrash, of course, unless a second flight is on the menu

So what could be the worst part?

Crashing? Part of the learning process, I came I crashed I rebuilt and I learned.....then I repeated
Expense? That's a personal decision, all hobbies have cost, many are more expensive than flying....but it's definitely manageable as long as one doesn't get envious of his neighbor
Shortage of flying fields? We live two hours from NEPRA, METRA and MDRA, not a problem here
ATF? Hybrids are a great workaround, and a great way to tinker in the hobby
Learning Curve? Definitely part of the fun, frustration and reward
Puddknockers at the field? There are 10 times as many great rocket people, maybe 100 x more
Storage at home? This could be a problem for many.....luckily not here
Wife at home? Yeah right, provided I hide her credit cards

I'm looking for a worst part and cant' find one......snow on launch day maybe? High winds aloft?

 

[Johnnie]

When I had my first true anomaly, in this case I shredded the rocket I certified L2 on, my rocket friend came over to me placed his arm on my shoulder and said: "please tell me you could afford to loose that one...cause if I see you frown one little bit I will LMAO at you." All though I hated loosing that one, it was the coolest shred I had ever seen...we all laughed, because it was still a better day than any good day I would have ever had at work.

Rockets cost money, and your time investment is a labor of love, and that is price less...a crash would then fall in two catagories: Time and money, and I for one would hate to loose either.

 

[astrowolf67]

There really is no worst part for me. But, then again, I just certed earlier this year, and have yet to take real advantage of it. I think the hardest part has been my stubborness. You see, I like White Lightening propellant. And that's what I've been "holding out" on. It seems that as soon as vendors get a shipment in, it sells out in the same day. But, I got lucky earlier this week, called a vendor up, and he had already sold out of 95 percent of what I was wanting. Being a little frustrated, I just cancelled the order, not willing to pay the hazmat for just a few motors. A bit later, I took a chance, called another vendor, and now, I have a moderate sized order on the way, with everything I was wanting, plus a few extras That same day, my wife smiled at me and said, "Christmas is starting early dear" (she's actually the one that placed the order for me while I was at work, and, ordered the extras, what ever they may be).

 

[cls]

interesting thread. certainly cost & regulation come to mind but I've learned to work with both of those ... for me I would have to say the worst part is driving to the launch sites!! generally we have 7 hour drive, some times it's only two hours. heck even for LPR & MPR we have a 40 minute drive.

wish we had a great launch site in our backyard.

 

[Chilly]

I think I will feel better about the whole deal once things are "back in balance", the whole yin-yan thing...

Pardon me, I'm just PO'd at myself mostly. I focused all of my hobby time & money on high power for over a year at the expense of building and flying with my kids. That will not happen again.

My wife is actually very supportive so long as I keep it in perspective, which I haven't for the last year. Spent a lot of time getting my hopes up just to see launches scrubbed, or personal schedules interfere, or big projects lost because I got desperate and flew high & fast when I should've known better!

Still have a Mini-BBX in the basement that will be my HPR project for this winter. In the meantime, there's an Estes Spaceship One and Canadian Arrow on the way next month. I'm treating myself to a Dynastar Snarky for Christmas. And it feels good.

Heck, I might even join NAR when my Tripoli membership's up!

 

[Chuck Rudy]

Originally posted by Chilly
Spent a lot of time getting my hopes up just to see launches scrubbed, or personal schedules interfere, or big projects lost because I got desperate and flew high & fast when I should've known better!


Heck, I might even join NAR when my Tripoli membership's up!

Go fever is something one has to learn to deal with........I'm going the opposite way and dropping NAR for TRA, since I don't have to buy the (@$$&+7#) mag no more. ;-)

Chuck

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Time and Money....... I don't have enough of either......

I need more time to build more / bigger rockets and I need more money to put in bigger motors!!!!!!

 

[Ryan S.]

Originally posted by CTulanko
Well, speaking as one of those certed nuts, I can say...

THERE IS NO WORST PART!!! If you have a worst part, then your are not having fun, which is why we do it in the first place, right???!!!

So, in reality should be no "worst part".

Carl

You cant do it enough.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

For me the worst part is never having enough money to do all the cool types of camera-payload flights that I'd like to do. Motors are so expensive! Gas too -- takes a sizeable chunk of change to pay for a trip out to the desert.

Second worst is not having enough time to do all the flights I _can_ afford to do.

And of course, the regs suck too.

Knowing I have two rockets and two cameras sitting somewhere out in the desert, and not being able to find them after spending literally days of searching, is pretty frustrating.

 

[DynaSoar]

Originally posted by jetra2
Hey all,

Curious thought came to me this morning. I'm curious to see what some of you HPR-certified rocketeers think the worst part is?

Price?
Time?
Nagging? p)
etc....

The highly opinionated threads people start because of it.

You see where I'm going with this. This will be a highly opinionated thread. I can bet on that!!

Sorry. I had to.