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- Jan 19, 2009
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A quarter of a Century..... 25 Years! Wow!!
In 1998 I became a BAR. Two of my kids, in different activities, got to build a rocket. I recalled my fun from the 60's and got more kits for them to build, plus a few for me. Unfortunately, they both lost interest but I continued.
I became one of those "crazy folks" who went overboard. My spreadsheet shows I have 781 rockets/kits. These are from over 60 different manufacturers. Many of which are no longer in business. And several rockets are scratch/bash builds
I've "built" 255 of those (a very few were RTF rockets). For my 25 years, that works out to about 10 builds per year.
Of the 255, I still have 217 in my possession (although several are on the repair pile).
Of the 38 MIA, 7 were destroyed during a flood and 11 were donated. I've lost 20 due to "on the field" issues.
My wife knows I have many, but not how many rockets. Fortunately, she is on a trip with her sister so she wasn't around when I did a family portrait.
It took me two days to haul everything out, set up, take the pictures, bring back in, and re-shelve (that took the longest)
Note - I missed 2 that were stashed elsewhere
Flight statistics. I don't get out flying as often as I would like. My spreadsheet shows I've had 566 flights, for an average of 2.29 flights per rocket. That also works out to a loss rate of about 3.5% My most frequent flyer is the Explorer Aquarius, with 11 flights.
15 rockets have never flown, but 5 of those were donated rockets where I built them and donated them before they got a flight. One was destroyed in the flood before it had a chance to fly. One made it to the field, but when I returned from flying another rocket, I got back to my table and found several rockets had blown off the table. This one had been stepped on and totally crushed - that one really hurt.
I've supported outreach, working with scouts, 4H, and CAP. I've set up displays for Space Day and Kopernik Observatory's annual Rocketfest. This is the 14th year for the Rocketfest, and I've only missed one so far. I even invested in a designer, providing some up front money so he could get parts for his kit designs. Besides the money, I suggested we could get bulk packs from AC Supply (when they had their 40% off). This provided some body tubes, engine mounts, nose cones, chutes, launch lugs. He then designed several kits based upon these items.
It was associated with the scouts that at our local hobby shop (unfortunately now closed) that I learned about the Estes North Coast Rockets and COMPOSITE motors. I built and flew the Phantom 4000. What a rush!
Later, I got my L1 on a PML Ariel, my L2 on a Rocket Warehouse X-celerator, and finally my L3 on a modified Wildman Ultimate Darkstar.
I remember wanting to do my L1, but said I would never spend the money for an L2. Until they had the 50% off sale on the kit...
But L3? No way. WAY TOO Much money. Then Tim had a sale, and I broke down figuring this would be an item on my Bucket list. Hence my Tekcub 3L.
I mentioned some of my rockets are scratch/bash/steam punk. Here they are. Unfortunately, I didn't notice I had 2 rockets in line so it looks like one, Skeletar is in front of another
These are my "signature" series. Signed by Vern Estes and Jim Flis
Also wanted to do a shout out to John Pursley (RIP) and his fabulous wraps
And doesn't everyone have a Star Wars collection?
In 1998 I became a BAR. Two of my kids, in different activities, got to build a rocket. I recalled my fun from the 60's and got more kits for them to build, plus a few for me. Unfortunately, they both lost interest but I continued.
I became one of those "crazy folks" who went overboard. My spreadsheet shows I have 781 rockets/kits. These are from over 60 different manufacturers. Many of which are no longer in business. And several rockets are scratch/bash builds
I've "built" 255 of those (a very few were RTF rockets). For my 25 years, that works out to about 10 builds per year.
Of the 255, I still have 217 in my possession (although several are on the repair pile).
Of the 38 MIA, 7 were destroyed during a flood and 11 were donated. I've lost 20 due to "on the field" issues.
My wife knows I have many, but not how many rockets. Fortunately, she is on a trip with her sister so she wasn't around when I did a family portrait.
It took me two days to haul everything out, set up, take the pictures, bring back in, and re-shelve (that took the longest)
Note - I missed 2 that were stashed elsewhere
Flight statistics. I don't get out flying as often as I would like. My spreadsheet shows I've had 566 flights, for an average of 2.29 flights per rocket. That also works out to a loss rate of about 3.5% My most frequent flyer is the Explorer Aquarius, with 11 flights.
15 rockets have never flown, but 5 of those were donated rockets where I built them and donated them before they got a flight. One was destroyed in the flood before it had a chance to fly. One made it to the field, but when I returned from flying another rocket, I got back to my table and found several rockets had blown off the table. This one had been stepped on and totally crushed - that one really hurt.
I've supported outreach, working with scouts, 4H, and CAP. I've set up displays for Space Day and Kopernik Observatory's annual Rocketfest. This is the 14th year for the Rocketfest, and I've only missed one so far. I even invested in a designer, providing some up front money so he could get parts for his kit designs. Besides the money, I suggested we could get bulk packs from AC Supply (when they had their 40% off). This provided some body tubes, engine mounts, nose cones, chutes, launch lugs. He then designed several kits based upon these items.
It was associated with the scouts that at our local hobby shop (unfortunately now closed) that I learned about the Estes North Coast Rockets and COMPOSITE motors. I built and flew the Phantom 4000. What a rush!
Later, I got my L1 on a PML Ariel, my L2 on a Rocket Warehouse X-celerator, and finally my L3 on a modified Wildman Ultimate Darkstar.
I remember wanting to do my L1, but said I would never spend the money for an L2. Until they had the 50% off sale on the kit...
But L3? No way. WAY TOO Much money. Then Tim had a sale, and I broke down figuring this would be an item on my Bucket list. Hence my Tekcub 3L.
I mentioned some of my rockets are scratch/bash/steam punk. Here they are. Unfortunately, I didn't notice I had 2 rockets in line so it looks like one, Skeletar is in front of another
These are my "signature" series. Signed by Vern Estes and Jim Flis
Also wanted to do a shout out to John Pursley (RIP) and his fabulous wraps
And doesn't everyone have a Star Wars collection?
