The Super Viper Rides Again!

This week I didn't have much, so I'm just going to publish a couple of pictures of my Super Viper from the DARS Classic X. I was thrilled (and surprised) that the Viper took first place in the Classic Death Match! Speaking of "death," I had to fly her to grab the spot and she smacked down pretty hard when the plastic shock cord retainer on the nose cone snapped. One wing and a cannon were broken off, and the decals were a little shredded. The wing and cannon have been repaired, the decals are awaiting replacement.

So for your viewing pleasure:

My wife had an interesting observation. A lot of rockets are red and white...Who knew? This is the Death Match  section of the table,,, You can see why I was surprised that I won. The competition was fierce!

So there you have it! Hopefully she will be flying again soon. I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to Gary Briggs who has done a fantastic job of organizing and running the Classic for so many years...Sa...Lute!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

My Odyssey Odyssey.....

This week's post is a follow up on a post done a while back, in which I bravely told about a project that I was planning. Usually I don't do things like that because, let's face it, there might be a pretty good chance that it ain't gonna happen. In this case, I had done exactly nothing on the project except dream about it, but I put it all out there anyway... I said I was going to clone my old Estes Odyssey!

Fortunately, I actually followed through! I purchased an Estes Dark Energy kit off of eBay (if you can't find it on eBay, you probably made it up). I then ordered the decal set from Gordon at Excelsior Rocketry (Gordon is a cloner's best friend...and does great upscale decals too!) Both arrived in a couple of days and I was in the Odyssey business!

Here are the pictures from my venture:

Well, there she is! She took third place at the DARS Classic Classic, which is pretty good considering the competition! She still hadn't flown, but I hope to fly her soon!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Model Rocketry in 1958

We in the model rocket hobby have become very used to certain conventions in the field. For example, it is taken for granted that model rockets are built around some sort of "body tube," that there is some form of recovery system involved, and that professionally made solid fuel motors will be used. It is also well known that model rocketry is extremely safe and at least fairly sane.

In 1958, however, very little could be assumed about the hobby. Although G. Harry Stine had already founded the National Association of Rocketry in 1957, his way of doing things was not really "standard" yet. In my "old model airplane magazine stash" I found a magazine that drives this point home pretty well.

Rather than go on and on about the magazine, I have included the two articles it contains here. One is on rocketry safety, and the other is plans for a two stage model. So, for your reading pleasure, I give you:

So there you have it! Just think we could have been making rockets out of balsa frames and powering them with underpowered motors with 50% reliability! It kind of makes you appreciate G. Harry all the more..  (not to mention Orville Carlisle!)

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

A Pretty Cool Find...

A while back I posted about several hundred model airplane magazines that I bought in two lots at an auction. At the time I said that I would go through them all and if I found any rocket stuff, I would post it here. Well, as it turns out, my wife Laurie actually found a couple of cool ones!

Subject for your approval this week is the September 1956 edition of "Flying Models." This is the cover:

Its a great shot of the Disneyland Flight Circle! When the magazine came out, Disneyland had only been open for 13 months. The picture was, therefore, taken before the park was a year old. At that point, there was relatively little in Tomorrowland. The Flight Circle filled in real estate that needed something interesting, and gave the park some additional income (it was leased to Cox for them to promote their products). Of course, I think the most interesting item in the shot is that handsome 80 foot tall item in the background. Yep, the TWA Moonliner....WITH the Rocket to the Moon show building behind it! Wow!!!!

I was really hoping that there would be a great article inside the magazine, but alas, no such luck. All the magazine had to say about the cover was:

Oh well. Its still a great find! Oh, and just in case anyone is wondering about the back of the magazine; here ya go:

So that's about it for this week. I have more stuff to put on from those magazines, but that can wait for future posts (one thing you learn real quick in blogging is to not use all of your material up at once!)

So until next time, fly 'em fast and high!