"jminer" (jminer)
06/07/2019 at 15:40 • Filed to: None
3
14|
"jminer" (jminer)
06/07/2019 at 15:40 • Filed to: None | 3
| 14 |
I used to be pretty big into model rockets when I was younger and hadn’t touched them in years. I had a conversation with a coworker that pretty seriously builds them with his kids and it got my interest piqued again.
So I started researching and the tech has come a ways from 10 years ago and it’s (now that I’m a working professional) surprisingly cheap. I was at Microcenter yesterday picking up a couple SSDs for a project and found back in the hobby section that they carried a handful of Estes rockets and supplies!
This rocket should be a quick simple build and if it goes well that’ll get me interested and excited to build more! Last I checked the weather also looks good this weekend so I might try to fire it off in the next couple days.
user314
> jminer
06/07/2019 at 15:45 |
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Nice! I too have fond memories of getting Estes rockets stuck in trees, and can’t wait to pass on the interest to my nephews once they’re older.
Sovande
> jminer
06/07/2019 at 15:48 |
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The Mosquito! I remember being a little kid and shooting these off at the local park. Since there were a lot trees we couldn't use parachutes, so we always got these. Cheap and fun! Last summer I got my son into shooting them off too. Great way to spend a day!
jimz
> jminer
06/07/2019 at 15:49 |
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I did the Mosquito when I was a kid. Used the smallest 1/2A engine they had. Pushed the button, it went “ffftt” and disappeared up into the sky, and I said “welp, never seeing that one again.”
few days later a kid down the street found it flattened in a parking lot.
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jminer
> user314
06/07/2019 at 15:50 |
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I probably lost 1/2 of the rockets I built when I was younger. Looking into it though ignition systems and multi-engine machines have gotten really cool.
I had fired off multi-stage rockets before, but now you can fire multiple engines simultaneously that’s just awesome!
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jminer
> Sovande
06/07/2019 at 15:51 |
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That’s what I thought, it’s super cheap and should be a blast to fire a few times. I’m going to paint it the brightest color of spray paint I have in hopes of recovering it...
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jminer
> jimz
06/07/2019 at 15:53 |
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The store I was at didn’t have any 1/4 or 1/2 A engines so I’ve got full A3 engines, this thing it going to go high!
Alfalfa
> jminer
06/07/2019 at 15:56 |
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I was amazed at first at how cheap they were as an adult, then I remembered that I did in fact support this hobby at age 12 by mowing the neighbor's lawn for $15 a week.
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jminer
> Alfalfa
06/07/2019 at 16:07 |
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I was think the same. I had to do a lot of manual labor as a kid for this and control line planes. That fact that I can buy a rocket kit + engines for less than I spend on a lunch out when I’m at work is insane!
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jimz
> Sovande
06/07/2019 at 16:42 |
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they also had the ones which were slightly larger but could still use streamers instead of chutes.
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Sovande
> jimz
06/07/2019 at 17:14 |
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Yep! We got a couple of those too. A lot of them now have plastic parts that clip together. They aren't as cool as the ones you actually have to measure and make with the balsa fins, but it's nice to be able to fix them with a little super glue and send them up again.
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jimz
> Sovande
06/07/2019 at 19:29 |
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I think one of the last ones we built was the (big) Saturn V. it took so long to build I didn’t dare actually fly it, it ended up looking that good. IIRC it needed 3 or 4 parachutes.
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Sovande
> jimz
06/07/2019 at 19:51 |
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That makes me jealous. I never had the patience to make them look good or paint them. I didn't understand the concept of delayed gratification.
I did like taping the nose cones on the ones that had gotten beaten up and watching them blow up when the chute charge went off.
glemon
> jminer
06/08/2019 at 02:01 |
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I took a class in middle school, introduction to aeronautics or something like that. Built my first Estes rocket. Spent a lot of time, it was beautiful, never had flown one, seemed bigger than the othrr kids rockeys so I got a bigger engine (C when it was supposed to be a B or vice versa). It went higher than all the other kid's rockets, and, of course, despite a search party of enthusiastic adolescents scouring the neighborhood across the street from the school, was never seen again.
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jminer
> glemon
06/08/2019 at 13:43 |
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That’s a fun story. I’ve probably lo st 1/2 the rockets that I’ve built ov er the years.
There's a reason most are made of cardboard and balsa so they stay cheap and are replaceable.