Previously enjoyed rockets

[Fishhead]

I picked up another lot of birds tonight via the wonders of Ebay, which got me thinking about how many adopted birds I have in my flying circus. Instead of driving myself crazy trying to do it in my head, I let the voices argue among themselves and checked my Rocket Reviews list. This is what I came up with.

Quest - Area 51 Saucer This was an afterthought that turned out to be the deal of the lot. Everything else in the box was junk, but this one just needed a little spit, polish, and super glue. 3 flights to date.

MPC - Zenith 2 Payloader Unflown as of this date. Not sure if the booster is too tight to properly separate.

FSI - Dart Came unknowingly loaded with an FSI A4-4. I just need to get the nerve up to fly it this year.

Estes - X-16 On the way.......

Estes - Voyager II Pretty badly beaten, and I initially figured I'd build a clone around the original nose cone, but it turned out to be restorable and has logged several flights. Still not painted. 3 flights to date.

Estes - V-2 Badly built old K-series V-2. It's flown, but the fins were cut improperly, and every landing means another break. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Star Wars X-Wing Fighter Bought from the estate of a New York high school teacher. Missing a "pincher". Flown at NARAM 55. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Star Wars R2D2 Still needs some work, but should fly this summer.

Estes - Star Trek Came with a launcher and everything. Ugly, but carries itself with vintage cool. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Star Blazer My first Ebay rescue. 6 flights to date, the last coming 11 years ago.

Estes - Sky-Hi Sadly too far gone to save, but the nose cone lives on.

Estes - Screamer Poorly built Screamer that came with the Apogee Whiz, but it came with an unused decal. Unflown at the moment.

Estes - Satellite Interceptor Really rough when it arrived, but I did a lot of work and got it looking pretty decent, then printed off some decals for it. 4 flights to date.

Estes - Sandhawk Made the bid and had no expectations of winning the auction, but I was the only bidder. Broken fin repaired and flew it at NARAM 55. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Raven This kit was sold as "started, but complete and in good condition". It turned out to be two rockets, both mutilated. Eventually became an Estes National Aerospace Plane after I rebuilt the STEPPED ON nose cone. No idea what the second rocket was.

Estes - Mini Shuttle On the way......

Estes - Mini Bomarc Brittle old wreck that looks like it was painted with nail polish. 2 flights to date. Retired.

Estes - Micron Nicely done. Great patina. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Honest John A nicely done vintage kit, but fins are wiggly from repeated landings that turned the body tube to an almost cloth-like consistency. One flight to date.

Estes - Galactic Taxi On the way.....

Estes - E.A.C. Viper Broke a fin in a past life. Rebuilt as a three fin bird in that life. UGLY! 5 flights to date.

Estes - Challenger-1 Badly abused bird that fell apart when I pulled the nose cone out. This was a good thing because it meant I could replace the typing paper original body tube. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Bullpup 12D On the way......

Estes - Beta A hot pink mess that came with the equally ugly Shrike. I'd still like to fly it as a two stager. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Astron Shrike Ugliest Shrike in existence. Looks like the kid painted it with whatever he found in the garage. 1 flight to date.

Estes - Astron Apogee Whiz Another afterthought that I eventually decided I had to repair and fly. The nose cone had been lost and replaced with a balsa sculpture which was lost on the first flight. 1 flight to date.

Ebay - Flying Turd The one that started it all. Bought back when the ability of Ebay to show photographs was in its infancy. It was listed as an Estes Wildfire, so I bought it to cannibalize the cone for a Satellite Interceptor clone. When it arrived it was a BT-55 upscale, badly built with epoxy and ugly as sin. Wound up redeeming itself by being a stellar performer at B6-4 Field. 10 flights to date.

CMR - Effy This one took some detective work to find out just what it was. Featherweight and screams off the pad. 1 flight to date.

Centuri Engineering Co. - Screaming Eagle Liked this one so much I did it twice. The first one was a starter kit from Australia, complete with launcher and a broken fin. Flew it once. The second was perfect with just the right amount of patina. 4 flights to date.

Centuri Engineering Co. - S.S.V. Scorpion This one was a heartbreaker. It was so badly beaten when I got it that I shored it up as best I could and flew it once. Cannibalized for parts. 1 flight to date.

Centuri Engineering Co. - Mach 10 I was thrilled to land this one, but the flights are disappointing when compared to my clones. 2 flights to date. Retired.

Centuri Engineering Co. - Jayhawk Rough old original. Flown once and retired. 1 flight to date. Retired.

 

[LW Bercini]

Your own personal "wounded warriors" project.

There is a certain amount of satisfaction in taking a sad wreck of a model and reviving it.

There are perhaps 75 to 100 old wrecks in my fleet, rockets I built between 1978 and 1997. Although I much prefer building over finishing, I made a New Years resolution that I would commit time to revitalizing my "wounded warriors"

I just finished redoing a Big Bertha and an 18mm Honest John kit. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out and may very well post before and after pictures in a different thread.

 

[TopRamen]

Kudos to you for wanting the otherwise unwanted Rockets.

 

[mrichhcirm]

I repair a lot of my wrecks myself...I believe that if it was worth building, it's worth restoring. Maybe there should be a thread in the "yard sale" section where people can trade their cast-offs, either for restoration or for parts.

 

[dave carver]

I repair a lot of my wrecks myself...I believe that if it was worth building, it's worth restoring. Maybe there should be a thread in the "yard sale" section where people can trade their cast-offs, either for restoration or for parts.

...I have a 60's Estes Ranger with a chipped fin I would add to a list like that.

 

[Fishhead]

...I have a 60's Estes Ranger with a chipped fin I would add to a list like that.

I have an Estes Ranger that could possibly go on this list, but since it was only the payload section I left it off. Same with an Astron Constellation.

 

[JStarStar]

I've bought a couple of lots of rocket stuff off Craigslist from people getting out of the hobby. I got one about a year or so ago.

Mainly I grabbed it for the motors; I was not particularly short of rockets, kits or parts myself, but the asking price for the whole bundle was a great deal for the motors alone (150+ of them). So basically I got 150 motors at a good price and a carton-full of rockets and rocket stuff for free.

The rockets are a mixed bag; there are a couple of nicely built models, a few partially-completed or in need of repair with some significant dings and dents, and a few basket-case junkers. Plus the guy threw in a grab-bag box full of tubes, cones, motor mounts, stray fins, etc etc. -- he said 'take it all, whatever you don't take I'm gonna throw in the trash." He was moving from a house into a condo and I guess his fiancee said 'no rockets.'

The real smashed-up basket-cases I will probably cannibalize for parts; cut off 8" of body tube, use the nose cone on another model or something.

Ironically one of the rockets in good condition is a Cherokee-D; I had one as a kid and it was one of my favorites. I had it on my "wish list" from Semroc but hadn't gotten around to buying one before, well... you know. So maybe there was some kind of fate at work.

I was a little wistful driving away from the guy's house after I picked the stuff up. He was somewhere close to the same age as me (not quite, but close), and obviously from his collection he had been a serious flyer for some time; he had some FSI stuff in his stash showing he had branched far beyond the Estes-RTF stuff that probably 98% of the "model-rocketeers-for-6-weeks" type of people dabble with for a while, and then outgrow and never really think too much about again. We talked for a few minutes while he was packing the stuff up and he seemed to know his stuff.

I felt kinda sorry for the guy because he was in effect slamming the door on something he had enjoyed for quite a while. I understand that things change and we move on through life and you may end up in places with a lot less time, space or money than you may have had before (I have been there myself) but it still seemed a little sad he was effectively selling off his entire rocketry life.

I felt a little bad about buying the stuff, but I knew if I didn't, someone else would, maybe someone with less interest in rocketry than me. I gave him the price he asked and he seemed to be happy about it (he said he had the listing on CL for several months with no offers), so I figured it was all right in the end. Who knows, maybe he'll be back in a few years as a reborn-BAR.