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Aging Rockets Pt. 1

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... In almost every hobby, there is a turn-over in participants.  Some move away, some age out, some get married, some just loose interest. But the result is a constant supply of new blood.  New bodies to replace old ones.  And if the hobby is to survive, this is a requirement.  Hopefully, our hobby will continue to see new participants find their way here and thrive. It has been my experience that there is also an almost constant flow of used, older equipment that goes in the opposite direction.  That is, older hobbyists will donate or attempt to sell their older gear to younger fellas. In the case of rocketry, I have found a semi regular donation of older rockets, launchers, launch rods, motors or devices to be the case.  In some instances, as a rocketeer is moving up from low power to medium or high power, the lower power materials simply don't interest them any more.  Maybe the wife has told him to clean up the back room, or maybe he needs m
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Disaster in the Thrifty Household

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 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... Many times, I have written about my use of yellow glue from Elmer's and my preference for their needle-nose applicator/valve from the white glue bottle.  I routinely remove the chisel tip and replace it with the orange twist applicator instead. I don't know how many have followed me in doing this, but I hit a problem with it today. I was working on an Astron Explorer and used my usual tip and bottle of yellow wood glue to secure the motor mount assembly.  While it dried overnight, I moved on and began to mark and prepare to cut slots or ports in the three smaller tubes and two larger body tubes.  I also punched out the balsa fins, sanded the edges slightly, feathered the leading edge, and then sealed the balsa with sealant.  I set that aside to dry as well. As I completed all this and prepared to begin again with the assembly tonight, I discovered my "valve" on the needle nose applicator wasn't opening.  I could squeeze the
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The Zipperless Rocket

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OK, I've got a real good one for you this time. The name of the blog is The Thrifty Rocketeer , and I've got a great cost saving tip for you, provided that you use this method. Just bear with me... For years, rocketeers have been looking for an alternative to the Estes rubber-strip shock cord.  And some people advocate totally skipping it in favor of a hard Kelvar string segment. Some even advocate a combination hybrid of half Kevlar and half rubber shock cord. Well, I'm not going to debate that here.  What reared its head was the tendency for Kevlar string (or similar hard, thin cord) to pull a zipper down a cardboard tube when it snaps taut. The obvious solution is to either strengthen or pad the rim of the body tube, which is not practical, OR in some way, pad the string to spread the load and cushion the point where it bends over the body tube. Some people slip a short piece of rubbery insulated wire coating (like shrink tubing?) over the string and knot it into place.
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Sanding Filler

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 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... A recent posting on Facebook in a rocketry group asked the assembled multitude about a product that the rocketeer had purchased. It was a quart can of some powder called " Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty ." Now, I admit right up front that I am totally unfamiliar with this product and how it is normally used. However, the rocketeer had been considering it as a sandable filler for spiral grooves, dings, nicks and to even-out wood grain.   His concern was that it would be too hard to sand once cured. And that appears to be well founded.  The vast majority of responses agreed and warned against using the product in this manner. I know there are a lot of differing products for this application that have differing degrees of hardness. I've even used a few before giving up on trying to smooth my spiral grooves. This reminds me of a mistake that I made some 25 years ago.  It became apparent that my 3 year old so had been diving into h
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Striking a nerve

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 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues.... OK, this entry isn't going to be focusing on rocketry, per se, but instead reflects a reaction that  "just occurred." I think most people recognize that this blog is a bit of a personal entry that primarily focuses on how to save money, take short cuts, and share tips on how to enter and continue in this hobby.  Primarily. But this blog is not a political blog, and I will resist any attempts to drag it into the political arena.  Last week, someone took offense to my quoting or paraphrasing my daughter's distain for me shopping at HL. I don't think it comes as any surprise that the chain now has a reputation, deserved or not, of having an ultra conservative approach to their employees.  So be it. So when I use a line from her frequent tirades whenever I walk in with a shopping sack from said chain,  I'm trying to be clever without explaining the whole nine yards.  See, I don't care much about what his personal polit
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sleeping with the enemy

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 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... First thing I did when they put in a Hobby Lobby in my smaller metropolitan town, 40 miles away, was to grab an application to work there.  Now I know what you're thinking... "How could you?  Who would want to work for that conservative corporation?".. as my daughter would say.  And you'd be partially right. I saved the application and took note of the mailing address. Within the first month or so, most of the initial buying frenzy was over, having sold out of some things, but not everything.   But it seemed nothing new was getting restocked. So, I got on my word processor and wrote a letter to the store management, THANKING them for bringing the store to our isolated metro area. I pointed out that many of the items had sold through completely, and how much we had appreciated their stocking rockets. Then I also encouraged them to restock and consider expanding the display, pointing to the fact that as rocketeers grow older, the
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Cleaning House

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 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... Alright, I promise I won't keep harping on this, but I have a few things to share with regards the last posting about " The End of the Line " for a hobby department when a mom and pop hardware store closed up this month. First, to my great amazement, that single posting  has been the single most-viewed entry of this entire blog.    It's more than 25 times as much as I had expected. Unbelievable! Second, I've been sharing on Facebook the countdown to the store's closing, and encouraging my rocketry friends in the area to go score some supplies before it was too late.  I guess I either struck a nerve, or I have been succeeding in my efforts.   Third, there were some vintage model airplanes that hung from the rafters for years that were priced to sell. They were gone as of yesterday.  Someone went after them. Good for them! A good friend of mine who has been a vendor at area launches for years drove to see the store today
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