Of Vulcans and Holiday Wishes

I'm pretty swamped with last minute Christmas-type stuff, so I thought I would let an old friend speak for me this week. Therefore, here you go!

So from all of us here at STB (basically me, my wife Laurie, and Alex the Wonder Dog...oh yeah, and the cats Pepper and Becky...) we wish you the merriest of Christmases and may all of your eggs be well nogged...

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

She Canna Take Any More Cap'in!!!

At this time of year, these words often spring to mind. I guess being of Scottish heritage myself, I've always been fond of Montgomery Scott (aka "Scotty"). If you doubt how tough he was, just remind yourself that he was the only guy in a red shirt that never died. Ok, I ripped that off from a Facebook meme, but its true! My daughter, Jessica, (who is also of Scottish heritage- go figure) gave me this for my birthday:

He stands guard in my office reminding me that even though it may seem that "she canna take any more...." she always did. And if push comes to shove, its always nice to have a phaser.

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Modern History

Sometimes its very easy to get so focused on the past that one actually misses the world going on at the present. I often lament the fact that NASA has become a shadow of what it used to be; starved of funding by a short sighted administration in Washington, and unfocused in its mission (at least compared to the 1960's). However, there is hope. An event happened a few days ago that got relatively little time in the 24 hour news cycle, but it was a significant leap forward in man's exploration of space. For your viewing pleasure, I give you Orion...

http://youtu.be/hOHvCWCv5pk

Yes, Virginia, there is hope.

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

And you know what Thanksgiving means.....Christmas decorating! And you know what Christmas decorating means....Space related ornaments!!! So, since I'm kinda swamped with this job, I'll just give you a pre-tree taste! Here ya go!

From left to right we have:

The moon (ok, not an ornament, but I like it)
An LEM
The Galileo 7 (complete with Spock's voice!)
The Solar System
The Space Shuttle
A GI Joe Astronaut
The Enterprise
Marvin the Martian
A Klingon Bird of Prey (Nothing says "Peace on Earth" like a Klingon attack!)
A night sky globe (again, not an ornament...sue me)

So, there you have it. In moments they will all be on the tree and almost impossible to find! Well, I gotta get back to work!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

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!