Proudly showing off: Estes Yankee DOODLE

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smstachwick

LPR/MPR sport flier with an eye to HPR and scale
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Today my girlfriend completed her first build of a complete airframe: an Estes Yankee kit painted to look like a Ticonderoga Number 2 HB pencil, dubbed the Yankee Doodle.

0D132CA9-C77A-4342-A78D-DC60741477DA.jpeg

After her gorgeous and remarkably neat work on the booster for my Super Goblin, she deferred to my greater knowledge of available rockets and asked that I select a kit for her to build a full airframe. Special preference was to be given to ones that suggested a patriotic American red/white/blue paint scheme. Given her demonstrated proficiency with my hobby knives and her desire to work on something more challenging, I determined that the Yankee fit the bill. The rocket’s size and the nose’s shape suggested a pencil in her mind though, so she opted for emulating the look of a Ticonderoga pencil, paying homage to her background as an English major and an artist.

When I came up with the Yankee Doodle pun she liked it enough (and facepalmed at it hard enough) that we were both in agreement that it should be attached to the rocket.

The only hands-on thing I did for her was sand the fins to produce a flat gluing surface. I had never cut fins from a paper template before so I had to experiment and find a good technique, instead of walking her through it. Otherwise assembly and finishing were done entirely by her according to the Estes instructions.

The rocket flew at ROC’s February launch on an A8-5 with an unfinished paint scheme. Since then she has spent a great deal of time getting the colors and paint scheme exactly as she wanted them. Tonight, she finished the gloss coat and declared the rocket complete.

The next flight is expected at LDRS, either on another A8-5 or a B6-6, as conditions permit. I also have a few C6-7s earmarked for it.
 
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* Happy Girlfriend... Happy Life.

* Above not applicable if you're married, and your wife and girlfriend are not the same person
 
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I love the scantron wadding idea and now wonder if there is something cool to do with the streamer. Maybe a favorite passage from a book she enjoys or something. Great theme and execution. Just plain fun!

Happy Girlfriend... Happy Life.

My wife disagrees. . . :)

Sandy.
 
I love the scantron wadding idea and now wonder if there is something cool to do with the streamer. Maybe a favorite passage from a book she enjoys or something. Great theme and execution. Just plain fun!



My wife disagrees. . . :)

Sandy.

Or maybe use the Scantron as a the streamer?
 
Great rocket and great that your girlfriend is interested in the hobby. My wife isn't really interested in the hobby that much, but she is supportive and participates. There are days where she flies more than I do. I'll take an hour to prep whatever and she flies 3-4 of her rockets in that time. . . she only does it because of me, but once she commits to do something, she maximizes her participation. I fly more Ns than she does, but she probably wins the number of flights per day most of the time. Keeper.

Sandy.
This is largely the extent of Mindy's interest as well. It's not something that she's independently passionate about, but it's something we do together and she definitely applies her own style. She's really into Diamond Art Club stuff, basically paint-by-numbers with plastic gemstones. I have my own project I'm working on and it's surprisingly involved as a hobby, so we've got a trade of sorts.
 
This is largely the extent of Mindy's interest as well. It's not something that she's independently passionate about, but it's something we do together and she definitely applies her own style. She's really into Diamond Art Club stuff, basically paint-by-numbers with plastic gemstones. I have my own project I'm working on and it's surprisingly involved as a hobby, so we've got a trade of sorts.

Sounds perfect to me! My wife knew I used to 'race small cars on a track' and stumbled across a slotcar track earlier this year while doing theater stuff. She and I have gone to play at the track a few times and the #$%!@#$ actually out ran me one day (I was on old tires etc etc etc, but she got me by 0.1s. . . no excuses). Anyway, it is great when we both support and enjoy participating in weird hobbies one is passionate about but the other is just supportive of. For reference, I have performed on stage in a show she directed because someone bailed out (waaaaaaay outside my comfort zone. . . ), so it goes both ways. I'm supporting the garden project as well, even though I'm not a gardening guy. Always good to be engaged, even if you're already married!

Awesome for both she and you. Sounds like a mutually beneficial relationship, which is the only kind that works IMO. Y'all rock!!!!

Sandy.
 
This is largely the extent of Mindy's interest as well. It's not something that she's independently passionate about, but it's something we do together and she definitely applies her own style. She's really into Diamond Art Club stuff, basically paint-by-numbers with plastic gemstones. I have my own project I'm working on and it's surprisingly involved as a hobby, so we've got a trade of sorts.
Gemstones and rockets... hmmm...
 
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