Rhino's sighted in Litchfield, New Hampshire!

[jflis]

FlisWire, NH: A herd of wild Rhino's decended upon the sleepy residents of the small town of Litchfield, New Hampshire this evening, thanks to a small group of cubscouts.

Having been introduced to this wild beast by FlisKits and taught how to tame them by the company founder, these young scouts turned their entire herd loose in the skies over Litchfield.

One after another, in a rainbow of wild colors, turned in one perfect flight after another, much to the delight of parents, friends and onlookers.

The herd was quickly gathered and taken home after the wild exibition.

Here are some pix

10 happy scouts

 

[jflis]

This is what FlisKits offers over the almost-ready-to-fly bulk packs that have become common. For what it's worth, I think *this* is better, I think they *look* better, fly better and teach better.

 

[jflis]

Intense concentration to make sure everything is just perfect.

I will credit these scouts with lots of hard work. When I taught this class, I only taught the basics and the hard stuff. We built and installed the motor mount then *discussed* the attachment of the fins, launch lug, shock cord and parachute. They were then left to their own devices to finish the kits on their own.

On the field, they had to prep their own motor, install it, prep the recovery device and install it. They had to place the model on the pad, hook up the clips and run the launch controller then they had to retrieve their rocket.

With one exception, we had 100% on launch and recovery. In one case (pic later) the body tube nailed the parachute and brought it in balistic (no damage to speak of)

 

[jflis]

Here's a good launch shot

 

[jflis]

here's a great launch shot

 

[jflis]

Last pix for now (I will post these and the rest of the album later this week)

This boy had a perfect boost. Upon ejection charge, the chute came out, deployed perfectly then the body tube came right up into the canopy and the chute colapsed around the body tube.

Down it came, balistic, with the nose cone dangling under the whole thing...

it hit the soft ground in such a way that the body tube *impailed* itself on the nose cone, pinching the parachute between it and the cut made into the cone.

truely odd... LOL

Other than the round cut in the side of the nose cone, there was *no* damage to the rocket....

 

[joepolicy]

Great job Jim! Kids are the future of this hobby, I am glad to see you are taking time out of your VERY busy schedule to teach. I love that red, white and blue barber shop pole paint scheme, did you have a hand in that? Seems like something I would expect from FlisKits!

 

[qMaxx]

Originally posted by jflis
it hit the soft ground in such a way that the body tube *impailed* itself on the nose cone, pinching the parachute between it and the cut made into the cone.

truely odd... LOL

Other than the round cut in the side of the nose cone, there was *no* damage to the rocket....

I had this exact same thing happen to a Cosmodrome Nike-Smoke.

 

[Ryan S.]

Cool cool, the word Rhino in this thread gave me and idea, someone should put an AMW Red Rhino in a Fliskits Rhino....

 

[jflis]

Originally posted by joepolicy
Great job Jim! Kids are the future of this hobby, I am glad to see you are taking time out of your VERY busy schedule to teach. I love that red, white and blue barber shop pole paint scheme, did you have a hand in that? Seems like something I would expect from FlisKits!

Oh, I couldn't agree more. I teach 200-300 kids a year out here. My largest session is with an elementary school that builds the Flea. We teach 100 students in the course of 1 day then spend another full day flying them

No, I didn't do or suggest that barber shop pole paint scheme, though I wish I had These kids have more fun, learn more and are more *protective* of their model when they are allowed to make their own decisions on construction and finishing and can let their imagination become a part of the model. Then, the model is truely *theirs* and it shows.

I offered the kids either a C6-5 or B6-4 explaining the difference (C means twice the altitude, twice the risk of loosing it, twice the walk to retrieve it), about half of them selected B motors (shows their concern over their models.). All models were recovered and will certainlly fly again.

Cute story in the next reply
jim

 

[jflis]

I saw one of the dads working with his son and talking to another parent. As they talked, I saw the other parent point towards me and make a comment.

The dad looked at me and back at the parent and said something as he pointed back my way with his thumb. I'm thinking "uhoh, what's going on here?..."

So, this dad comes up to me and says "hey, you mean *you're* the guy who does these kits?"

I said "yep, FlisKits"

He said "you mean, you *designed* these kits and sell them???"

I said, "yea, didn't you get a catalog?"

He said "You have a CATALOG!??!"

I said "sure do, here take a copy. You and your son will have a ball with this stuff"

So, he takes the catalog and starts walking away as he is looking throught it, then you could SEE the full blown, goosebump realization come across his face as he turns around to me and yells...

"WAIT A MINUTE! THIS is your JOB!??!"

I grinned and said "ah'yup"

 

[prowlerguy]

I'm sure you know this already, Jim, but the Rhino is a perfect rocket for the NARTREK Cadet Mercury level requirement to "Assemble a rocket of at least 24" long and fly successfully two times (on a C or smaller)."

I just got one from JonRockets for my son Ben for this very purpose.

 

[jflis]

very kewl! no, I did not realize this but will make a point of putting it in the product description!

thanx,
jim

 

[Donaldsrockets]

Keep up the great work Jim. It is guys like you that are helping to keep this great hobby alive.

I wonder how many of those kids will end up getting into HPR later in life.

 

[WiK]

There are some grreat paint schemes there!

Now if only people did this sort of thing over here.


Keep it up!

Phil