I've been a BAR (Born Again Rocketeer) since early 1995, when I started
reading the rec.models.rockets newsgroup
on Usenet. After reading there for a few months, I started getting inspired,
and bought and built a kit. In doing so, I discovered a few important things.
First, it's much easier to afford rockets and motors when you're an adult,
with a full-time job, than it is when you're in the seventh or eighth grade
and getting twenty-five or fifty cents a week allowance. Second, building
radio control and free-flight model airplanes for a few years will hone
your modeling skills to the point where rockets are much easier than they
were twenty-plus years ago. Third, rockets are just as much of a kick as
they ever were, but there are even bigger (and more expensive) ones now
than there were in 1972, and bigger, louder, faster rockets are that much
more fun to watch. Finally, there's a great deal to be said for the catalyzing
influence of communicating with other rocket enthusiasts -- and there are
a great bunch of them with Usenet access.
My first flight after returning to the hobby was on January 7, 1996
-- almost twenty-three years after my last flight in eighth grade. That
flight was with the same model design as the last one: a Big Bertha.
I fly at least once a month, and generally update these logs within two
weeks after the launches.
An Estes Pegasus (Kit #806) -- rocket glider conversion now abandoned,
I should be able to finish this sometime soon.
A reconstruction of an Estes Star Rider, thanks to a nose cone supplied
by Mark Scheevel.
Three Mosquito kits, destined to become Pixels.
A Seattle Rocket Works Nike-Smoke (1/30 scale, 13mm motor).
An Edmonds Aerospace Arcie RC boost glider, likely to lose some dihedral,
gain aileron area and differential, and acquire a second control channel
for elevator.
A clone of an Estes Omega (the old Cineroc carrier), thanks to fin
templates and tube dimensions supplied by Kurt Schachner.
The Maggot -- so called because it goes through a metamorphosis to
make a bottle fly (yes, I know, but I couldn't help myself). This will
be a 2-stage Oddroc built from three plastic soda bottles -- a 2-liter
for the booster (neck down), and two 20-ounce, grafted together, for the
upper stage (neck up).
Stellar Wind -- my own design for a 29mm mount rocket, likely also
flyable on 24mm motors. It'll have a boat-tail, a large ring-fin (cut from
a LOC 7.51" tube coupler), and may require a custom nose cone from Balsa
Machining Service due to the odd diameter.
A Klingberg Wing 2-meter R/C sailplane, which may grow a rocket pod for
use with the 32mm R/C RMS from Aerotech.
An Alpha kit won as a prize in local contests.
An Estes Magnum, also won as a prize -- first place in A Parachute Duration!
An Estes Optima, original kit -- likely to get a 29mm motor conversion
and a fourth fin (to maintain stability with heavier motors).
An Estes Grey Hawk, original kit.
The Launch Pad Bullpup 12-D, won as a door prize at National Sport Launch
1998.
A Seattle Rocket Works SLAT/s, their Fun Scale version of a Supersonic
Low Altitude Target from the 1970s.
A North Coast Rocketry (by Estes) Bomarc, structurally complete but lacking
launch lug, seam filling, finish, and recovery system. Built as a
Beta test of the instructions, supplied free by North Coast Rocketry.
A LOC Viper IV, won as a prize in rec.models.rockets Descon 7 design contest,
for my Luna 2-18 Express design; being converted to an interchangeable
motor mount and used as a test bed for my zipless piston ejection system.