The Thrifty Rocketeer

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues.... So, it started as I was driving into work and spotted a flash of red in the median of the divided highway. I craned my neck as I went past, and recognized it as a red plastic flag laying among the green grass in the median. A new Lumber yard/hardware store has opened just recently, and I had been seeing a number of these red flags along  the highway as I drove past... apparently being blown off from an extended load out of a pick-up truck leaving from  the adjacent lumber yard.  The increase in wind and velocity had either worked it free, or ripped it off the stapple. After a week of seeing this laying in the median, I decided it was time to do something about it. I would stop. It was the hottest day of the summer, with heat index over 100 on the day I decided to stop.  So I pulled into the median  and made a quick dash for the flag. I got back in and made sure the A/C was on full as I pulled out in traffic. Yes, I ...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... One thing that escaped me when first entering this hobby, was the need for additional plastic parachutes for your fleet of rockets.   I naively thought that since one came with each kit,   I was good to go for good... forever. Let me burst the newcomers' bubble right now... There are such things as rocket eating trees, thorn bushes, sharp objects and sun-fading weakening plastic in our world.  Never mind that we're working with hot gases to push our payload and chute out of the body tube.  The risk of damage to a thin plastic chute is almost inescapable.  Sooner or later, you're going to melt, rip or tear your plastic chute. And while some limited damage can be avoided or dealt with...you will eventually need to replace a plastic parachute. Most all rocketeers worth their salt have constructed a thin plastic chute on their own. It's almost a rite of passage for the hobby.  And it teaches you some basi...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I would share a real world observation here. Now, the Thrifty Rocketeer is all about saving money, doing things cheaper and saving a few steps. But it occurs to me that there have been some "False Economy" moves over the last several years that run counter to your natural inclination.  Or counter-intuitive. Case in point:  As we head into the  Thanksgiving season, everyone in America is beginning to shop for their meal supplies including cooking aides, consumables and food stuff. Recently somewhere, there's been a suggestion made to the average housewife that she can save a lot of money by not buying paper towels. Now, at first, this may seem to make sense, as most of us grab a towel for a spill or to wipe off glue, or oil or something. And then we toss it away into the trash...never to be seen again. A number of years ago, manufacturer got smart and started adding perforati...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog pauses for a rocket review... OK, I gotta admit that I wasn't very impressed from the start...but I bought the kit off the rack at Hobby Lobby anyway. Someone else had posted pics of their flight on Facebook and I thought it looked interesting as an "Advanced" rocket kit. So I sought it out. First, at $14.99 I thought it was a little pricy. Gone are the days of the HL discount. You got to catch them on clearance if you want any sort of a price break. Mine was full price. I was a bit surprised to discover the Epic II was only an 18 mm rocket, and a two stage at that, but I bought it. Right from the unbagging, I was concerned. The sheet of balsa fins was thin... easily the thinnest that I have ever seen . I tried to get the laser cut fins out with an Exacto knife helping me, and I STILL snapped the flashing around the fins. Not the FINS, mind you, but just the flashing. This warned me that I was going to have to be extremely careful...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... It's something that I fell into quite by accident, but thought that I would share with you. I was packing up a load of low power rockets that I had completed and flown to be shown at a public exhibit.  Our club was preparing to sell entry level kits for cost at an airshow.  I wanted to include both a square of sand paper and a bottle of wood glue to show prospective parental supervision what additional tools might be needed to assemble the simple "MyBoid" rocket. At the It same time, I saw someone post on Facebook their successful build and launch of an Epic II rocket kit. I knew that my local HL had two on the pegboard, and so, since it was a middle skill level kit, I thought I'd buy one and whip it together quickly. I got the kit, and opened it while on my lunch break. I also had in my possession, a roll of adhesive 220 grit sandpaper. The intent was for it to be adhered to the flat short plane that I had purchased earlier......

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues.... Have I ever told you that you should save your scrap balsa ?  You know, the extra flashing that's left over these days when a laser cut fin or rudder or other part is cut for you? Yeah, sure I have. So much that you're sick of hearing me say it.  But today, I'm going to tell you a story of WHY you should do that. Did you know that back in the day, Estes Rockets and other companies used to send you a sheet of balsa on which you laid out your pattern for your rocket fins... struts...stabilizers...rudders...braces... everything!  This is back in the day before the internet... before laser cutters... before blown plastic nose cones... before so many of the modern conveniences that we take for granted. You used to have to lay out your traced patterns (nobody had access to scanners and photocopiers)  on the sheet of balsa with the grain oriented the right way, so that the piece had an internal strength to it, and wouldn't fra...