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Topic: I've waited 30 years for this....

HalfVast

Member # 3187

posted March 07, 2005 17:34

It was the spring of 1975 and I had my first Estes catalog. "Dad, I want one of these and one of these and..." Then when I finaly had a paper route and money of my own it was gone. "Discontinued", they said. Thank goodness companies would rather dust off old plans than spend time on new and innovative designs! Buy the time I have this finished the snow should be gone and we should be having some good 'launch weather' around here. I might be 40 now, but I'm having more fun than the 10 year old me could imagine. [Razz]

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Silly railfan pics...

Posts: 789 | From: In the mitten around the abductor pollicis brevis. | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

garlicguy

Member # 3166

Member Rated:

posted March 07, 2005 17:57

Cool. Good for you HalfVast. [thumbsup]

I love rockets, RC planes. I've even goofed around with those Airhog planes. If it flies, I like to take it outside and play with it.

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I don't know what I was thinking... it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Posts: 3752 | From: Pluto, no matter what you call it, is still my home. | Registered: Dec 2004 | IP: Logged

n4dmx
Geek
Member # 3177

Member Rated:

posted March 07, 2005 18:00

Ah, yes. I remember when I went through the Estes craze. I built and launched a good many rockets when I was in grade school. I think I actually still have the ignitor and launching stand in storage somewhere. [Smile]

I might get around to looking for them someday, and maybe even put together a few kits. [Cool]

Posts: 218 | From: Georgia | Registered: Dec 2004 | IP: Logged

Rhonwyyn

Solid Gold SuperFan!
Member # 2854

Member Rated:

posted March 07, 2005 18:42

If you want to rationalize your foray into model rockets/planes as adults, build a large collection, then contact local elementary schools and volunteer to launch rockets for science classes. The kids love it!

Make sure you don't do it around buildings or trees. Don't forget to take a really long pole for retrieval if you do happen to launch a rocket into a tree! [Eek!]

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Change the way you SEE, not the way you LOOK!

Posts: 3821 | From: Lancaster, PA | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

Cap'n Vic

Member # 1477

posted March 07, 2005 18:46

/whispers under breath

Obviously he is trying to compensate for something [Razz]

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(!) (T) = 8-D

Posts: 5471 | From: One of the drones from sector 7G | Registered: Jun 2002 | IP: Logged

ewomack
Highlie
Member # 3225

Member Rated:

posted March 07, 2005 18:55

What could be more fun than taking a week or so to build a model rocket? Then shooting it up into the lower stratosphere? Then realzing the parachute did not pop open? Then watching it descend like a wild stiletto? Then watching it go PHOOSH! about 6 inches into the ground? Then watching all the fins pop out one by one before your eyes? Then realizing it's become permanently wedged in the ground a la "sword-in-the-stone"? Then ditching the area before any cops charge you with destruction of public property?

This MIGHT be from experience...

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Ed Womack
Get Milked

Posts: 721 | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

csk

Member # 1941

Member Rated:

posted March 07, 2005 19:23

Hey, no need to rationalise. If it's good enough for John Carmack, it's good enough for anyone.

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6 weeks to go!

Posts: 4455 | From: Sydney, Australia | Registered: Jan 2003 | IP: Logged

HalfVast

Member # 3187

posted March 07, 2005 19:55

Cap'n Vic said;

quote:
/whispers under breath

Obviously he is trying to compensate for something

Nah Cap'n that's not compensation.

Now THIS is compensation!

Hmmm... I may have said too much [blush]

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Silly railfan pics...

Posts: 789 | From: In the mitten around the abductor pollicis brevis. | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

Snaggy

Sir Snaggalot!
Member # 123

Member Rated:

posted March 07, 2005 20:15

ROCKETS!!!!!! I LOVE ROCKETS!!

Nitro and I had a rocket revival a few years ago... I put whistles on a Big Bertha (it made a cool whistle going up, and even cooler one as it dived down with a long delay ejection charge... kinda like a buzz-bomb).

Also had a ton of dangerous fun with a two stage rocket. I used a regular engine for the first stage with a long delay... so the rocket was no longer vertical when the second stage went off. [Eek!]

(don't try this at home kids!) Had some gorgeous high altitude horizontal flights with that one. [Big Grin]

Posts: 7684 | From: Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

TheMoMan
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 1659

Member Rated:

posted March 08, 2005 06:10

HalfVast________Hey I remember those things, I and my kid brother-in-law put two D size in a model of a 707 I think it was a Revell model. We then went out into the country and set it on a snowbank for ignition, of course we were standing behind the damned thing while the flames started. The plane left the ground with a nose up condition that resulted in a large loop that was going to take it through our position. We all hit the dirt as it, the plane made its first lap, to be followed by two more and becomeing a glider at about 75 feet. then the shute deployment charge went off and tore off the right wing. My then brother-in-laws also got to witness a vet in full PTSD trying to crawl under the car.

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If it don't glow it ain't Ham Radio

Posts: 5074 | From: Just South of the Huron National Forest, in the water shed of the Rifle River | Registered: Sep 2002 | IP: Logged

GMx

Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
Member # 1523

posted March 08, 2005 09:14

I loved Estes. Had a lot of their stuff. I still have the Enterprise model and the Saturn V. Wish I still had the Mars Lander. Now that was a bitch to build.

Posts: 5818 | From: S-4, Area 51 | Registered: Jul 2002 | IP: Logged

Moosemeat
Maximum Newbie
Member # 3558

Member Rated:

posted March 08, 2005 10:30

Do any of you remember when you could put critters in the nose...hamsters and crickets? I never did, but I rememeber my friends telling me that the weight ratio was all screwed up. Basically your pet hampster became a lawn dart. [cry baby]

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Why do you think they call me Meat?

Posts: 11 | From: Under your bed... | Registered: Mar 2005 | IP: Logged

TheMoMan
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 1659

Member Rated:

posted March 08, 2005 17:53

Try this take a very large fire cracker M-80 or a 160 fray the wick and insert it into the front end of a mighty D then tape a piece of welding rod to the combined charges make a suitable wick for the rocket motor. Now find a nice damp field stick the rod into the ground, light the fuse to the rocket motor and run like hell, on our attempt the stick stuck for a while, the rocket rotated around to a position that when it did get free of the earth it was chasing us. The rocket shot between us and the M-80 explodeing about 25 feet ahead of us. I have seen a cartoon in the Sunday Funnies that I swear that the creative man for that cartoon must have lived next door . OH the Cartoon Foxtrot.

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If it don't glow it ain't Ham Radio

Posts: 5074 | From: Just South of the Huron National Forest, in the water shed of the Rifle River | Registered: Sep 2002 | IP: Logged

quantumfluff
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
Member # 450

Member Rated:

posted March 08, 2005 19:34

I love model rockets. A few years ago my daugher got interested in them so I had an excuse to start lanuching them again. There's nothing like the smell of burnt engine in the morning.

Posts: 2863 | From: 5 to 15 meters above sea level | Registered: Jun 2000 | IP: Logged

ewomack
Highlie
Member # 3225

Member Rated:

posted March 09, 2005 17:46

Ahhh... I remember rockets that held eggs and ones that had attached gliders that detached in midair, but I DO NOT remember one specifically designed for carrying hamsters... I imagine that someone was improvising on a theme... wow... [Eek!]

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Ed Womack
Get Milked

Posts: 721 | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

Rocket Man
Single Celled Newbie
Member # 4835

posted January 18, 2006 17:37

The back-fire is supposed to eject the passenger (incapsulated in a custom nose cone with a parachute). All explosives aboard the rocket are easily ignited by the back-fire. If large explosives (capable of an extreme shock-wave) are used: additional fins and a booster rocket (A-10-PT engine) are recommended for the passenger's escape-pod, these will help him escape the lethal danger zone. The parachute must then be engaged by the booster's back-fire. A much more practical escape method would be a glider, this will minimize the amount of G-forces upon the passenger yet there will be a greater margin for error. A G80-10T Blue Lightning Engine was used as the main booster in this feat.

This procedure for launching a hamster in a rocket armed with an M-80 was succesful, Mr. Jemkins lives to this day.

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Hamster Vaporization Compete...

Posts: 3 | From: fl | Registered: Jan 2006 | IP: Logged

Rocket Man
Single Celled Newbie
Member # 4835

posted January 18, 2006 17:48

Any slight error in parachute deployment or frame integrity and hammy could get splattered or vaporized. I have vaporized many slugs and crickets and dollar bills.

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Hamster Vaporization Compete...

Posts: 3 | From: fl | Registered: Jan 2006 | IP: Logged

Rocket Man
Single Celled Newbie
Member # 4835

posted January 18, 2006 17:52

And please, don't shoot at the escape pod with a BB gun. It may be fun but it has claimed the lives of many.

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Hamster Vaporization Compete...

Posts: 3 | From: fl | Registered: Jan 2006 | IP: Logged

HalfVast

Member # 3187

posted January 18, 2006 18:20

Wow. My very first necropost on a topic I started. [Happytears]