The Adventures of Dan and Dave

The year was 1993. I was the editor of Dallas Rocketry, and, like every newsletter editor ever, I needed content badly! My personal motto was "All the news that fits, I print." There was space to be filled, baby! I had done a few one panel comics to fill up pages, but I wanted to do something...bigger. Then I thought, "What about a rocket related comic strip?"

Now, I had never actually done a comic strip before. I wasn't particularly good at drawing...or story writing...or anything comic related, really. But, I had space to fill, so with a wing and a prayer I launched one of the weirdest strips I had ever seen. For seven issues, the bottom of one page was taken over by Dan and Dave.

Now, 24 years later, I am going to publish them here in this blog because:

1. I have space to fill yet again.
2. Only about ten people ever saw them (which might be a good thing, but still...)
3. Even though they're weird, I think they're kind of funny.
4. I'll probably never do a comic strip again, so why not?

Therefore, here you go. I've made random comments under the strips. You're welcome.

Ah, the first strip. Storyline established. (As was lack of artistic skill) I do think I did a pretty good job on the vulture, though... 

I didn't like drawing bodies, so I stuck the guy behind a podium. I sometimes have trouble deciding what to do with my hands too... Notice the subtle name change of the strip. Clever.

What's the easiest way to draw Robert Goddard? Make him invisible! Take that, Stephan Pastis! I traced the last panel from the previous strip. Also, that is the worst Garfield ever. Just saying.

I think the whole idea of a "Psycical Association of Rocketry" is hillarious. However, I also thought "Green Acres" was hillarious. By the way, my Goddard drawing is dead on. (Get it?)

When you get tired of drawing people, just zoom out and show the Earth. That's a hint I bet they don't teach you in cartooning school. I wouldn't know, because I never went. Obviously.

This might be a good time to point out that I have no idea which of these guys are Dan or Dave. I don't really care. I was really mixing it up with that "dramatic angle."

The big finish punch line! ...which only works if you know rocketry history. Again, I was tired of drawing those guys, so you get eyeballs in panel two. Those packages of Estes motors are pretty accurate, I think. 

And that was that. If Dan and Dave ever had any more adventures, I wasn't aware of them. Maybe they found someone who could actually draw to tell their story...

I leave you with this...just because I always liked it. I'm not sure why...

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

1969...Estes Style

I've been hitting history pretty hard for the past few posts, so I figured I'd keep it up!

1969 was a rather huge year for the space industry. We finally landed on the moon, and literally anything seemed possible. We didn't have to push STEM classes, because they were all the rage anyway. The future was bright, and science was leading us there...until the funding was cut and the public lost interest and everybody got stupid. Sorry....what was I talking about?

Oh yes, 1969! That year Estes published this catalog:

Inside this gem were some of the true classics of model rocket design. Let's take a look at a few pages, shall we?

Let's start off with a true classic. The Trident was cool because it took a simple concept and stuck tons of extra parts on it. You gotta love complexity for complexity's sake!

We had gone to the moon, so the next logical step was Mars. Estes had us covered with two of their most iconic birds!

Speaking of the moon, here are the beauties that got us there. These were the first generation models, so if you liked plastic parts, you were out of luck. These were so tough to build that many never got finished!

But that brings us to the "Scale-a-Palooza" section of the catalog. These models were, in a word, wonderful...

The end of the scale section featured the futuristic Orbital Transport. The design on this kit is timeless.

I had a Camroc. I took exactly one picture with it. I wish I still had it. I would take more and develop it myself....and don't try to tell me digital is better because I'm not going to listen to you. So there.

I included these just because I like them and I never owned either of them. I would imagine that getting the midget back might be tough...

In those days, Estes included a very comprehensive manual in their catalogs. The material still stands the test of time.

Ah, the little Birdie. I guess the Shuttlecock doesn't have the same ring to it. it used Series III motors, which were shorter than standard engines, while keeping the same diameter.

So there you have it. 1969 was a great time to be a model rocket nut! I didn't include nearly all of the models offered that year, so if I missed your faves, sorry!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Club History- 1970's Style

In my quest to figure out what the heck to write on this week, I dug through my bookcase and found an old Pink Book. What was weird is that the book clearly has John Dyer's name on it, and I have no clue of how I wound up with it. What was even more weird is that inside the book there was this card...

Yep, it's a membership application for the Garland Association of Rocketry! I texted John to see exactly when this would have come from, and he thinks it was around 1974 or 5...

He also had the following info:

GAR was started by Randall Victory, Scott Hunsicker, Allen Wilcox, and John Dyer.

It hosted the first ever "Megalaunch" contest, which was a huge success!

It merged with another local club, GASA in the mid '70's (I was a member of GASA).

It was shut down in 1977 when they realized that DARS and GAR had the exact same members, and running two clubs was unnecessary.

As I mentioned before, I was a member of GASA. We met at DP&W's Flying Boxcar (probably the coolest hobby shop ever). By the way, my Camroc took exactly one picture ever, and it was of that hobby shop. I gave it to Woody, the owner of the shop.

So there you have it! I'm going to give John both his Pink Book and card back so he can put them in the DARS archives.

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!