New to TRF and Rocketeering

Wildman Rocketry
rocket sok
SilicdyneTRF
The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Purkeypilot

Purkeypilot

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
158
Reaction score
2
Hello all, I've been frequenting this forum for about a week now and decided to register. I'm a pilot and certified flight instructor and am obsessed and infatuated with aviation and aerospace. Launched my first rocket in 6th grade (an Estes Alpha, of course...) which was fully successful, though I could never find it in some trees. About 10 days ago, I was at my folks with my family and was talking about the Cosmos and space travel and was remembering my 6th grade rocket launch. Decided to get into it, and I'm COMPLETELY hooked. That same day, I picked up a Estes Hunter's Choice kit. The only recommended engines that were readily available at the hobby shop at the time were some B6-4s, so that night and next day, I built the Magnum Load. Let the carpenter's glue and Loctite epoxy cure for about 6-8 hours and flew 'er with my 3 year old daughter that evening. 2 perfectly successful flight and some of the most classic fun I've had in a long time. A few days ago, I found some 1/2A3-4Ts, A3-4ts and some C6-5s and built the Small Round. Flew it twice successfully two nights ago as well as a third flight of the Magnum with a B6-4 (Didn't run the C6-5 due to wind and field size). No problems so far.

Yesterday, I picked up an Estes Alpha III, Estes 220 Swift, Estes High Flier, and Estes Twin Taser, and will eventually build them. I plan on also building an Alpha, a Yankee and a Wizard. It's an absolute blast and I love everything about it. It's a great hobby, community and is just a great thing overall.

I'm happy to and am looking forward to being part of the community here and am excited to learn about every aspect of Rocketeering to include building techniques and material choice, finishing (painting, etc.), as well as designing my own from scratch. Thanks for having me!
 
Last edited:
Welcome - beware of the "COMPLETELY hooked". You may end up joining us zanies with way too many rockets!
 
les said:
Welcome - beware of the "COMPLETELY hooked". You may end up joining us zanies with way too many rockets!
Click to expand...

Haha! Ya, at this point, I'm pretty well expecting it. I've already strongly considered joining the NAR and have spent a while on their site, researching Amateur "High Power" Rocketry, Safety code, certification, etc....It's good times.

I even geeked out and made a miniature "Flight Crew Checklist" for my daughter. Thanks for the welcome!
 
Join the party, NAR or TRA and also a local club affiliated with either national organization, not only will you get to fly your rockets, but have access to an easy source of experienced mentors, who can answer all those technical questions and demonstrate what they are talking about. Local clubs are just plain fun, and they love kids (after all they are the future of our hobby). My 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter fly their own rockets at nearly every club launch that we go to.
 
YES! Welcome to the madness:wink: I agree with all the above posts, especially pictures and joining a club:cool: I live in the Dallas, TX., and the Dallas Area Rocket Society (DARS) is a outstanding club:smile:
 
Welcome. I also would encourage you to join a club.

As for completely hooked...I took my young son to a club launch a little over 3 years ago, on a separate note I submitted my L3 project proposal today. Completely hooked, I have no idea what you are talking about. :wink:
 
Yes. Welcome back to the hobby and the Forum. I agree that joining a local rocket club will add much enjoyment to your born again rocket experience. Lots of history about the Hobby to learn as well. Ninfinger.com has many of the old catalogs in digital form on that website. It's fun to visit that website and reminisce.

Enjoy,
David
 
Welcome to the TRF party,,,
Welcome back to the hobby...
And geezzz you sound like you got bit by the bug bad,,, lol...

Have a great time...

Teddy
 
Yea where you hiding out? Let us know and we can better infect you :)
 
Welcome! Welcome!

Just a heads up that once you take the rocket pill, there's no turning back...

...so here's your chance to put down the rockets and walk away...

...Otherwise be prepared to open your senses (and wallet) to an incredible new world of FUN!!! :grin:
 
KenECoyote said:
Welcome! Welcome!

Just a heads up that once you take the rocket pill, there's no turning back...

...so here's your chance to put down the rockets and walk away...

...Otherwise be prepared to open your senses (and wallet) to an incredible new world of FUN!!! :grin:
Click to expand...

Welcome aboard! Like KenECoyote said that once you take the rocket pill, there's no turning back...I have been a Perky Rocketeer and haven't come down yet.
 
JERRYR708 said:
Welcome aboard! Like KenECoyote said that once you take the rocket pill, there's no turning back...I have been a Perky Rocketeer and haven't come down yet.
Click to expand...

Yep been this way fpr me for over 2 years now. :D

Welcome to this spectacular hobby!
 
Thanks for all the friendly welcomes all! I will post pictures of my "Kit" as soon as I have a few minutes. I have fully accepted "defeat", haha! It really is a great hobby, and one of the things that makes it so great, is that it is REAL! It's no kidding science and aero/astronautics, just on a smaller scale! It's intimidating and infatuating all at the same time! I want to know EVERYTHING! I'm in Arizona, and I'm pretty well a Desert Rat. Been here the vast majority of my life. Thanks again all!
 
Ok, I just officially joined the NAR! Member #212405

On a quick side note; I'm trying to add an Avatar to my account as well as update my settings, and it's saying that I do not have those permissions. Is that due to something like a low post count or something? Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome to the hobby! It's addicting as hell! And yes, once you have a higher post count, you'll be able to update profile picture and info.
 
Purkeypilot said:
Ok, I just officially joined the NAR! Member #212405

On a quick side note; I'm trying to add an Avatar to my account as well as update my settings, and it's saying that I do not have those permissions. Is that due to something like a low post count or something? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

As soon as you get a few more post under your belt you will get those permissions.
 
You have one last chance to turn around and walk away. You have 24 hrs to rid your self of all things rocket related. This must be a complete purge, if there is even one spec of balsa sanding dust remaining, you will be unable to rid your self of this disease and will forever be infected.

If you do not follow these instructions, treatment of symptoms is simple. The most effective treatment is building rockets. Be aware that the disease does progress in most cases. At first, low power kits are the recommended treatment but mid power and/or scratch build treatment usually becomes necessary. Many cases progress to the point that high power treatment is recommended but that is not always the case. Fortunately, all of us here are in various stages and can help you with the appropriate treatment protocol for your individual case.
 
Welcome! I am another victim (as many have chimed in) of the most wonderful disease, Born Again Rocketry. Caught the bug and started my re-entry (pun intended) a couple years ago. Did you see what I did last weekend?... check my signature. It seemed like a harmless interest, and now I'm High Power Level 2 certified. God help us all!
 
kjkcolorado said:
Welcome! I am another victim (as many have chimed in) of the most wonderful disease, Born Again Rocketry. Caught the bug and started my re-entry (pun intended) a couple years ago. Did you see what I did last weekend?... check my signature. It seemed like a harmless interest, and now I'm High Power Level 2 certified. God help us all!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome :) Ya, I'm definitely interested and will more than likely pursue High Power. I absolutely love it. About 2.5 weeks ago, when I re-entered, I actually said outloud, "It's a relatively inexpensive hobby...", YA! NOT! HAHA! It's an absolute blast (pun intended) and myself and daughter have really been enjoying it. It's intimidating how much there is to learn, but that's one of the reasons why I love it so much; that's how I am.

On a side note, when able, please post or PM me a picture of you Blue Tube scratch built that you flew for your Level 2 :)
 
The Flying Dutchman.jpgBoth Flying Dutchman.jpg

Per your request, here are a couple photos of my scratch built Level 2 rocket, 'The Flying Dutchman'. My youngest son, pictured, is 11. One of his uncles nicknamed him 'The Flying Dutchman'. That name started from a combinaton of our heritage and an incident where my son was launched off an inflatable tube while being towed behind his uncle's speed boat. He's my rocket buddy and was thrilled I wanted to use his nickname for this rocket. As you can see, I flew it in gray primer. Need to get some paint on it and some vinyl from StickerShock23.com. The rocket is about 6'4" tall. The door in the photo behind my son was cut down to fit in a goofy space in our basement, so using it for perspective might throw you off.

Alright, enough of me hijacking your thread. Again, welcome!
 
kjkcolorado said:
View attachment 269880View attachment 269881

Per your request, here are a couple photos of my scratch built Level 2 rocket, 'The Flying Dutchman'. My youngest son, pictured, is 11. One of his uncles nicknamed him 'The Flying Dutchman'. That name started from a combinaton of our heritage and an incident where my son was launched off an inflatable tube while being towed behind his uncle's speed boat. He's my rocket buddy and was thrilled I wanted to use his nickname for this rocket. As you can see, I flew it in gray primer. Need to get some paint on it and some vinyl from StickerShock23.com. The rocket is about 6'4" tall. The door in the photo behind my son was cut down to fit in a goofy space in our basement, so using it for perspective might throw you off.

Alright, enough of me hijacking your thread. Again, welcome!
Click to expand...

Thanks much! No kidding, the small door is pretty unique! I love it! Paint would be great, though I can't lie; I'm loving the primer gray haha! How much does it weight and did you run an H or I class engine? Well done sir!
 
Fully prepped for flight it's almost exactly 9 lbs without the motor. Level 2 requires J, K and L class motors (Level 1 is H and I). My certification flight was on a J357. Altitude was just over 2000'. I wanted to keep it low where I could see everything happen with the dual deployment. I flew it once prior to the certification flight to check everything out. That first flight was on an I303 to just over 1500' altitude.
 
kjkcolorado said:
Fully prepped for flight it's almost exactly 9 lbs without the motor. Level 2 requires J, K and L class motors (Level 1 is H and I). My certification flight was on a J357. Altitude was just over 2000'. I wanted to keep it low where I could see everything happen with the dual deployment. I flew it once prior to the certification flight to check everything out. That first flight was on an I303 to just over 1500' altitude.
Click to expand...

Nice! 2000' sounds great for the purpose of easy tracking. It looks great and sounds like it flew great too! Where did you source the Blue Tube?
 
The coolest thing about rocketry is that there is a never ending series of goals you can set for yourself. It starts with just wanting to successfully build an Estes kit and fly it straight and recover it.

Then one day you say, "I think I want to try helicopter recovery," and you learn that. Then you say, "I think I want to try mid-power," and you do. And then...

High Power
Dual Deployment
Redundant dual deployment
Level 2
Minimum diameter
Using a GPS tracker
Going Mach
Going over a mile high
Going over two miles high
Going Mach 2
Experimental motors
Level 3
Scale modeling
Odd rockets

...and it just never stops. But, yeah, it's inexpensive. And you can show this post to your wife. Very cheap hobby, no second mortgage required. :wink:
 

Similar threads

miket6000
New New Zealand model rocketer
Replies
16
Views
439
miket6000
miket6000
ep29030
New Decals Mean Some MMX kit Possibilities
Replies
2
Views
152
BEC
BEC
ShakyShane99
Replacing shock cord, what’s the best approach?
Replies
12
Views
935
K'Tesh
K'Tesh
J Blatz
Slightly interesting difference in mid 70 Estes motor vs modern
Replies
8
Views
306
AeroTech
AeroTech
Peaceful_Warrior
Learning model rocketry, all over again, in Tennessee.
Replies
3
Views
247
teepot
teepot

Latest posts

Back
Top