A Quick Post On a Quick Build

There are times when life gets very busy and you might think to yourself, "Well, Myself, I certainly have no time to do anything rocket related right now, much less build a killer helicopter odd roc that will actually take mid power motors." You then go out into the world and do totally non-productive things like work and pay your bills. Well, we here at STB say, "Psh!" (or however you spell that noise you make when somebody told you something really stupid.) Because we know better! We know....

This is the answer to all of your "I got no time" blues! The Rocketarium Mega Vortico!!!!!

I got this really cool kit a while back at the DARS Classic, but I just now got around to building it. The kit is amazingly simple to construct. You pretty much stack the wood like it tells you, stick a tube in it and....done!

Stacked and All That!

The parts fit together so well and everything goes together so quickly that it might take a few moments to realize that you are actually finished. (Painting is optional and I haven't decided on that yet). It might take a few more moments to realize that since that middle tube is 24mm, you can actually stick A STINKIN' F MOTOR in this baby!!!!! And the company says it's cool to do it!!! High speed psycho-helo-action, baby!!!!

Well, that's how one of my quickest builds turned into one of my favorites. I have yet to fly her, but I will.....oh yes, I will....

If you would like your own kit, you can find them at
http://www.rocketarium.com/Rockets/Mega-Vortico

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high! ...or fast, anyway!

45 Years Ago Today....

This picture was taken at Disneyland exactly 45 years ago today.....

From the Official Disney Blog

All of these people were crowded into Tomorrowland to witness man's first steps on another world. Walt Disney had helped pave the way for this moment with his Man in Space series of programs that featured such greats as Werner von Braun and Willy Ley, so it was perfectly fitting that his park would feature the historic event. Of course, the rest of the world was watching as well.

I can remember as a child of six, watching it with my parents in Denison, Tx. We were at the Garber's house (Henry Garber was the pastor of our church, and since my father was the church's minister of music and youth, they were good family friends) and had hamburgers. The black and white picture on the tv was somewhat static prone, but to my six year old eyes it could have been in Technicolor and 3D! I had a real sense that I was watching history.

As we left their house that night, I looked up at the moon. The knowledge that there were men there...right at that very moment...filled me with awe. I guess that feeling has never really gone away.

That is why each year for the past five years I have volunteered at the DARS booth at Moon Day. Frontiers of Flight Museum (Home of Apollo 7!) puts on the event each year on the Saturday that is closest to the Apollo 11 mission date. Various science, space, and technology groups take part in the celebration in order to hopefully rekindle the spirit that took us away from our planet all those years ago.

This year the DARS booth featured over 50 rockets, ranging in size from four inches long to over 10 feet tall. In addition to myself, DARS members Jack and Suzie Sprague, John Dyer, Scott Cook, John and Melanie Kneen, their kids Hannah and Michael and Hannah's friend Tori were all there and helped out TONS. (Jack helped set up and tear down, but he had to cover the launch in between times) We had a building session for kids where 14 eager new club members built their first Alpha III's. All in all we saw hundreds of enthused space lovers and met tons of great people!

The DARS booth

One of the free giveaways I picked up was a pinback button with a simple message: Carpe Lunam. I think that sums up the day quite nicely. We should never forget to look toward the moon and remember that we were there....and we can be again...

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

One From the Very Early Days

As some of you may know, my wife runs an eBay business where she sells various items that we find at auctions throughout North Texas. Recently, I was able to pick up about 300-400 model airplane magazines from the early '50s to the late '70s. I plan on reselling most of them, but I'm keeping the ones that contain any information on model rocketry, such as ads or articles. I also plan to share the really interesting stuff with you here!

Therefore, let me first share an article from the January 1959 issue of "Flying Models." It is simply called "Jupiter C" and was written by Gene Thomas. When I first read the article, I thought that "Gene Thomas" might be a pseudonym for G. Harry Stine, since the writing style is similar, and since his company is so prominently mentioned.  However, upon further research (although admittedly not much further) I found that Gene Thomas was actually a model airplane guy and that he published a series of airplane scale data packs. Apparently, he also dabbled in rockets, at least once anyway.

Anyway, here are the scans from the article. Just click on them to enlarge them. I hope you enjoy!

The cover makes no mention of the rocket...

There ya go! It is interesting to see how the modeler had to make literally everything from scratch, including the launch system! However, there were some kits available, and I find it amusing that this ad was in the back of the same issue:

I "Googled" Model Dynamics, but had no luck...

I hope you enjoyed our blast from the past! Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Happy Star Spangled Independence Day!

Today marks The United States' 238th anniversary! And Britain said it wouldn't last a day over 163... Anyway, before I head down to Main Street to watch the sky explode in celebration, I thought I would share a topical picture from the STB vaults. Here ya go!

This late '80s picture is Martin Catt posing with my North Coast Rocketry Star Spangled G Bird! Actually, I think he was trying to keep it from falling over, since we were using VERY wimpy launch rods. (hey, mid power had just started to happen, we didn't know any better...) Anyway, this was the only flight of the SSGB, since it landed in a grove of trees and then vanished. (I still suspect those punks on the dirt bikes!...you know who you are!)

So what does that have to do with the Fourth of July? Well, not much really, but it was a really cool rocket, and that paint job was kinda tough, so I'm just showing her off.

So have a safe and happy 4th, and until next time, fly 'em fast and high!