Newbie's First Flight

[texasck1]

This morning I ventured out to the loccal High School and made my first ever rocket launch. What a rush!

I am a Director of the local Boys & Girls Club and got interested in putting together a science program for the kids with Model Rockets. (Lots of science to be learned in the sport) While at Walmart the other day, I found an Estes "Stars and Stripes" RTF on clearance for $7. It included the launcher, pad, rocket, and 2 B6-4 engines. After begging the wife, she submitted. Just to shut me up I think.

This was a very simple model to assemble. Took maybe 1 hour tops, but I'm hooked. Both flights went great. Weather was perfect. I even let my wife fire off the second in hopes that she would like it and not give me a hard time about taking up the hobby. She enjoyed it also, but I don't think she will be an active builder.

This is a great sport and I wanted to share my excitment with you. If I can get the funds for the Club I will be starting a program for our Jr. High kids to teach science in our educational programs.

No pictures this time, but I will take the camera next time. Maybe I will invite some kids to go with me.

 

[OKTurbo]

Cool isn't it!

Welcome to TRF.com. You'll have lot's of fun here.

Here's a good source of info for your Club activities.
https://www.esteseducator.com/

John

 

[sandman]

Welcome to the forum and by all means...invite a bunch of kids along next time...They'll LOVE IT!

 

[brianc]

Welcome to TRF!

In addition to the Estes Educator site, here's one from NASA-

https://spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/NASA.Educational.Products/Rockets/

Best of luck!

 

[wwattles]

Welcome to the hobby/sport/tradition/underground society of crazy folks! I hope you enjoy your newfound source of entertainment and inner peace. If you have any questions, please feel free to throw them out - we've all asked them at one time or another!

WW

 

[jflis]

BBwwaaahhahahahah, we got another one!

texasck1, welcome to the sport/hobby and welcome to TRF. YOu will find this to be a very active and very family friendly place to discuss all things rocketry. Do not be afraid to ask questions nor to offer opinions.

Welcome aboard!
jim

 

[Fore Check]

And only because it hasn't been mentioned yet:

WE LOVE PICTURES!!

Where is Trinity, Texas? I live relatively close to Ft. Worth.

 

[n3tjm]

Originally posted by jflis
BBwwaaahhahahahah, we got another one!

What? No FlisKits Plug?

Welcome to the forum texasck1 .

Check out www.fliskits.com. They have a couple cool kits that you can order...

 

[jflis]

oh, I try to avoid the plug on the *first* contact... let 'em get their feet wet first... But, since it's been mentioned, I *do* invite you to check out our site, our company and our kits.

Good timing too, as we're celebrating our 2nd anniversary all month long and you can sign up for a chance to win a kit

 

[Planet Andy]

Hey Tex,

I experienced that BAR rush and whoosh about 3 months ago...it's great, the folks in this forum are great...to be a BAR is great...won't be too long til you're enthusiastically sharing your fleet...oh what have we here..a jpg of my "long overdue" in progress...durn have to wait till the weekend to paint and complete. or maybe you'll dedicate a section of your personal website to your new sport/hobby/educational pastime
at the risk of too much promotion in the thread I say...be safe, follow the code, build em' launch em' have fun, and like the others I welcome you.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[nomopbo]

Welcome to the forum. This is truely a fun hobby. Wait till you see how deep the rabbit hole goes.
TRF is a great place with wonderful people. You will learn lots here!

 

[Missileman]

Welcome to TRF and to the hobby,
This is a great hobby to expose youth groups to.
There is an awful lot they can learn about math, science, physics, and the list goes on.
BE CAREFUL though, rocketry can be very addictive

 

[JRThro]

As everyone else has said, welcome to the hobby and to TRF.

My first ever rocket launch was on June 5th of this year, and it was a rush, for sure!

See my signature for what I've built and am working on now.

 

[powderburner]

And speaking of clearance sales, go check out your local Toys-R-Us to see if they are 'clearing' any packs of Estes motors.

The local stores here in Fort Worth are selling the Estes Flight Packs (24 motors, A-B-C 18mm sizes, plus igniters and wadding) for $15. These stores are getting out of the rocketry hobby, so if they have any of these packs they won't last long.

A Flight Pack normally retails for about $45 (or more) so this is a REALLY good bargain. Even if you use the 40% off coupon from the Sunday paper and buy these packs at your local Michaels MJ Design, they still cost $28-29.

And where is Trinity?

 

[JRThro]

Originally posted by powderburner
And speaking of clearance sales, go check out your local Toys-R-Us to see if they are 'clearing' any packs of Estes motors.

The local stores here in Fort Worth are selling the Estes Flight Packs (24 motors, A-B-C 18mm sizes, plus igniters and wadding) for $15. These stores are getting out of the rocketry hobby, so if they have any of these packs they won't last long.

A Flight Pack normally retails for about $45 (or more) so this is a REALLY good bargain. Even if you use the 40% off coupon from the Sunday paper and buy these packs at your local Michaels MJ Design, they still cost $28-29.

And where is Trinity?

Dang!!!

I didn't even know Toys R Us carried any rocketry stuff, but I obviously need to find the closest one(s)! I'm in Houston.

 

[powderburner]

As was explained to me by one of the managers at my local T-R-U store, the chain (nationwide) is no longer going to carry model rockets or plastic models.

They already got rid of all their MMX stuff last year. They got rid of most of their rocket kits (what little they had). My local store has a few plastic RTF starter specials left on the shelf but has not marked them down yet.

A friend of mine told me that he saw flight packs on sale (and still in stock) at a T-R-U store in Dallas.

 

[moocrew]

hey texasck1

welcome to the hobby/habit/obsession....
this is a good site to check out www.info-central.org....
besure to check out the coffee house page for a BIG list of all kinds of links to every place online imaginable. There are also many programs to help you if you ever decide to really get into the stuff and mabey do a few scratch builds.
Hope ya have as much fun as we do!

-matt

 

[wwattles]

Originally posted by powderburner
As was explained to me by one of the managers at my local T-R-U store, the chain (nationwide) is no longer going to carry model rockets or plastic models.

They already got rid of all their MMX stuff last year. They got rid of most of their rocket kits (what little they had). My local store has a few plastic RTF starter specials left on the shelf but has not marked them down yet.

A friend of mine told me that he saw flight packs on sale (and still in stock) at a T-R-U store in Dallas.

After a recent stop (yesterday) at my local T-R-U store, I think your local manager might have been mistaken about the national policy.

The local store (Chula Vista) still had a whole bunch of the Flyables out on display, along with the Blurzz cars and foam air rockets, and some of the Cox R/C planes. Interestingly, though, they only had the A10-PT motors for the Blurzz, and no other motors. Prices were pretty outrageous for the kits, so I'll stick with my launch site vendor instead.

WW