The Thrifty Rocketeer

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues.... It's been a little while since last I wrote an entry, but there's a couple of good reasons why. First, we've been coming out of the pandemic, and life has gotten more hectic. Second, I've been loading up a secondary blog about Hobby Tips in honor of the late Henry Boltinoff who drew probably four dozen strips or more over a four year period for DC Comics in the mid-1960s. Third, I've been conducting some club rocket launches on my own and trying to dip my toe into higher power with a little success. So, as I've been driving back and forth to work, I've noticed something bright orange laying in the green of the median on the highway.  Each day I noticed it and make a note to check it out the next pass after dark... but of course, I forget... until today. At first I thought it might have been a parachute from a rocket.   And then perhaps a red plastic sheet from the nearby Lowe's lumber department.  But then I thou...

 The Thirfty Rocketeer blog continues... It wasn't long ago that I stumbled upon a cartoon that had run in a 1966 comic book. The format was of a hobby shop where "Cap" (a rotund fellow who looked a lot like Mr. Wilson of Denis the Menace fame), answered questions and gave hobby tips to young boys. This particular comic stressed the need to read all the instructions thoroughly, as it was the most common problem that Cap ran into when solving problems. I shared this on Facebook, and the first response from one of my former co-workers who shared a love of rocketry caught me off-guard. I had to read it twice before I got it. It said,  "What are these instructions of which you speak..." That explained a lot right there...

   The Thrifty Rocketeer bog continues... Well, it all started simply enough several years ago, when I was flipping through the clearance section of an on-line rocket supplier retailer. I was looking for a bargain, and my eye noticed several cheap prices for what turned out to be water-slide decal sheets.  The first was a Dr. Sues influenced head shot with the name "SAM-3" in big bold lettering.  I took a moment to reflect on what else could be spelled from these letters, when I realized you could turn the 3 into an "E".  I then took those four letters into a Jumbo-solver app and didn't really get anywhere. So I returned to  the hunt. Shortly, I came across another sheet that was part of the Infinity rocket, with very modern, stylized printing like you would see on the bottom of your printed checks.  The Value read "PSC 473" along with some other design elements. Again, I started turning this over in my  mind's eye, and realized you coul...