Honest Check-In!

Well, my Estes Maxi Honest John rebuild/ upgrade must be the slowest project ever (we're on about twenty something years now), but I did make a little progress this weekend! You see, this weekend was rainy and dark...perfect building weather! So, I jumped in!

But before I get into what I got done, I have to give a HUGE shout out to Gregory Henderson and Chas Russell for their help! You see, I had some of the old parts to the HoJo, but some where lost and gone forever. Namely, the launch shoe fiddly bits. So, I put a call out on the NAR Facebook page, and Chas sent me actual pictures of the real parts (on the honest-to-gosh missile!) and Gregory snail-mailed me copies of the original instruction sheets, templates for the parts, and even instructions on how to make the "motor bands" (which I had completely forgotten about). Wow! Thanks again so much guys!

Now on to the build! The first thing I had to do was to replace the ballast on my shop light. No kidding. It was dead. Actually, I found that I could replace the whole light for fifteen bucks less than just replacing the ballast, so...

Brand new shop light!

Next, I dug into those fiddly bits! I had plenty of scrap balsa and basswood around to make them from, so I took Gregory's templates and got to work...

The all-important templates!

The parts are coming together!

Ok, a bit of explanation on this one- the shoulder on the Estes Maxi Honest John nose is short...only about one inch. That's not much stability for a honkin' big cone! Therefore, I used a bit of scrap BT-80 (slit so the diameter was less) and extended the shoulder about three inches. I used wood glue to stiffen the tube and to help the masking tape stick. The nose is much less wobbly now!

Not perfect...but not bad, either...

Epoxied on the model!

Dramatic angle!

So there you go! Next, I'll put on the launch lugs, make and install the engine band, paint, apply my Stickershock decals and BAM! we're done!

More on that soon!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Checking In With Something That Could Be Checked Out...

Well, life has gotten rather "nutsy coo-coo" lately, and STB has gotten the short end of the stick. However, I thought I'd do a quick check in with everybody by sharing something from my collection that I really like. It's my Fourth Edition Handbook of Model Rocketry from 1976!

Now, it's really not all that rare but it's fun anyway. My mom was librarian at Garland High School for quite a while and gave me this copy when they retired it. Sometimes I wonder how many kids checked it out and dreamed about rockets in the 70s. Let's take a look, shall we?

The cover, which featured contest flying. It was big back then. Really big. Now...not so much.

The title page shows that the first edition was published in 1965...It was updated very quickly to this 4th edition.

One of the coolest ideas ever was featured in the "payloads" section. I actually had a Camroc about the same time this book came out. I took exactly one picture with it (of DP&Ws Flying Boxcar) that I gave to the owner, Woody.

This is called "math." We used to use it instead of altimeters and sim programs. 

At the far right of this picture we have the massive F100! FSI knew how to do "cool."

Speaking of "cool," let's get downright cold! These rockets (originally from Vashon) were fantastic! And then the government said we couldn't have them any more....

So there you have it! There are a lot more neat things in there, but you'll have to find a copy and look for yourself. Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!