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My "Roots"
I joined the "Estes Aerospace Club" (EAC) in 1973 at age 11. The EAC membership kit came with the Viper rocket (#1447). The Viper took mini engines, which was good considering where I was flying; a medium sized field surrounded by huge rocket-eating trees (RETs), particularly to the east. Sometime shortly thereafter, a friend of mine built a Mosquito. We flew it once! Has anyone ever recovered one of these? My brother had built a black and gold Alpha a few years earlier (he's 5 years older). As I got older, I craved more power than the minis. I got some standard Estes engines and proceeded to loose my brother's Alpha in the woods to the east. The flight went vertical for the first 150 feet or so and then arced sharply to the east. He never got upset, I guess he was into chasing girls at the time. The Viper was subsequently modified to accept standard engines. At some later date it was repainted. Even later, still flying on the original rubber-band style shock cord, separation occurred. I recovered the body tube (BT) but the nose cone (NC) drifted west, across a row of tall RETs, never to be seen again. There was one engine left. |
My "Re-introduction"
I have been a part-time "born-again rocketeer" (BAR) every June/July since 1989. I used to live in Munroe Falls, Ohio, in a neighborhood with lots of tall RETs. The guy across the street and I used to shoot lots of fireworks on the 4th (including bottle rocket wars between our garages). One year I dug out that last remaining Estes engine, made a simple paper-towel tube rocket and loaded it with firecrackers, jumping jacks and bottle rockets (less the sticks) just to show him up. Boy did we start something!
Within the next couple years I added the Estes Patriot (the military Desert Storm version) and the Estes Ranger (#1955). Unfortunately, the Ranger's first flight (pre-paint) ended in a tall RET 3 blocks to the northwest. The shock cord mount softened from rain a few days later and I got a call from the owner of the RET that they had my rocket. I trimmed the bottom of the BT, dried-out the motor mount (MMT), bought a new NC (longer and skinnier), reassembled, painted, and applied the decals.
Where I Fly
I now live in Stow, Ohio, on a street which is literally a circle on the map. There is a short cul-de-sac up the middle, but it doesn't take up much room. All old corn fields, not too many trees, great spot right out my back door! My back yard is about 200 feet deep. There is only one adjacent fenced lot, and that is a split-rail fence, which is easily hurdled. That same lot has a tallish Poplar, a great wind indicator and not really a hazard, as it is easily climbable.
What I Am Flying/Building
To the above rockets, I later added the Helio-Copter (the nose cone was all I brought from Munroe Falls to Stow), BailOut!, Sidewinder, AstroCam RTF and Maniac. The Sidewinder was really the turning point for me. I bought that kit with the BailOut! in 1996 and never found the time to build it. I found the time in June of 1998 and prepared for the 4th. The morning of the 4th I went to Toys-R-Us, just to pick up a few engines. I left with a 24-pack and never went to buy any fireworks. I figured my wife could handle $25 for engines easier than $40 or $50 for fireworks, and the Sidewinder itself would be just as impressive.
In 1998, I completed a scratch-built Estes Aerospace Club Viper--a copy of my first rocket as a kid. I rebuilt a body for the Helio-Copter and a new body for the Ranger (burnt in two by an internal fire a few years ago). I completed a scratch sport scale (1/154) Saturn V (BT-80, 60, 50) before the 30th Anniversary re-release, a scratch Estes Tornado, a scratch foam glider launcher, and a modified Estes Shadow with a 5-engine cluster. I also helped my sons build some custom, scratch-built models.
So far in 1999, I have helped the boys with their Christmas presents (Hijax, Mach 12, and Stardust), picked up the X-Wing RTF and Mini Marz Lander, assembled the AMRAAM AIM-120 and SM-3 Seahawk (both are still nekkid!), and built a 4-inch camera rocket (CR4). We still have the boys' birthday presents to build (Venus Probe and Firebird), along with the 30th Anniversary Saturn V and a couple Fat Boys.
Needless to say, the $25 for engines has now ballooned way past the usual $40 to $50 annual expenditure on fireworks. At least I have more to show for it than a mess of paper scraps in the yard and a bunch of charred pink sticks!
If you would like to e-mail me please follow this link.
This page was created on December 15, 1998, and last updated on December 24, 2002.