This is NOT a blog post!!!

Due to statewide academic testing, there will be no post this week. Thank you for understanding...

Birth of the Pturpledactyl

About five or six years ago I purchased a few used rockets at a DARS auction. I restored and flew most of them, but I kind of forgot about one.

The rocket was a Public Missiles Pterodactyl Jr. It's a cool little rocket (if you want to call a 38mm motor rocket "little") even though it was in rough shape. It had about a three inch zipper cut into the tube due to a hard ejection charge, chipping paint, and gobs of epoxy where it had been fixed a few too many times. Also, someone had obviously given up on it and went ahead and harvested the launch lugs for another project. Pretty sad, really. I put it in the corner of my rocket room and slowly forgot it was even there...until this week!

I happened to have bought another four inch diameter rocket for salvage a few months ago. It was damaged beyond repair, so I decided to break it down into parts. Pretty soon it was clear that the only parts that might be useful were the body, nose cone, rail guides, and motor mount. Suddenly having a large chunk of Quantum body tube reminded me of my little neglected rocket that needed exactly that! A project was born!

The beginning...Note the 5.5 inches of purple Quantum tubing. That fixed the zipper tear!

The purple rocket also donated its rail guides. Also, in this picture you can see that I have cleaned up a lot of the slopped epoxy and started adding filler to gaps.

In the "paint booth!" Ok, in the Redneck Engineered Paint Booth! Hey, it works... Now for the last thing the donor rocket gave us...the color!

Finished! Purple and silver make for a good looking rocket, in my opinion!

Thanks to the internet, we have a mascot! The name "Pturpledactyl" came to me as I was falling asleep one night. It seemed to fit!

So there you have it! Hopefully she will be flying at a local launch soon. Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

1991...Estes Does Scale Right!

When people think of the "Golden Years of Model Rocketry" 1991 does not usually spring to mind. 1960's and 1970's seem much more suited to the title. However, a quick glance at the 1991 catalog suggests that there was more going on than folks remember! Take a look at the cover:

Yep! The cover is enough to set any Apollo scale modeler's heart a-flutter! You could actually get the Little Joe II, the Saturn IB, and the Saturn V with one quick order to Estes! Granted, you can get two of the three now (and the Little Joe II is arguably better) but can you get...THIS?

Or THIS???

Yep, the Space Shuttle (which, when trimmed well actually did fly great) and the Titan IIIE certainly upped the bar!

In addition, Estes offered the Bull Pup, the Iris, the SR-71 Blackbird, the Phoenix, and the Black Brant II! 1991 was a good year for scale....

Hopefully, we are slowly moving back in that direction. I have the Little Joe II and Saturn V kits in my build pile, so things are looking up!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!