The Thrifty Rocketeer

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues.... It's about time that this blog got back to it's mission...saving you money in this hobby. There are lots of flavors in the hobby to keep everyone satisfied. Some build scale model rockets... some build families of identical rockets, scaled up or down.. some build kits.... while other prefer scratch builds and experimental designs. Recently, I've stumbled onto a series of old Estes kit plans that apparently taught rocketeers to build their own rockets from plans... or to supplement their kits by cutting their own fins according to the plan. Many of these older rocket plans are hosted on various websites.  One is SpaceModeling.org    ,  where the webmaster makes the PDF files available for download, and just asks you for a donation to keep it going and to make it worth his while. I have downloaded two so far, and will be sending him a little something shortly. http://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/est2038.htm  B...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... This is an old Xmas memory, but bear with me, as it will pay off... In the early 1960s, my father's employer was a manufacturing company who held a big family Christmas party in December. One of the big draws was the appearance of Santa, who let each kid sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Xmas. A photographer hired by the company also would take flash photos of couples, families and the kids on Santa's lap. The occasion would be preserved in black and white 8 x10 prints. Unbeknownst to the children, the company had already taken a poll of exactly who was coming to the dinner/party, and the ages and gender of the kids.  Therefore, they knew exactly how many 7 year old boys, and 10 year old girls were coming.  And they could purchase presents that were appropriate for each age. Each wrapped present was marked "Boy 10" or "Girl 7" to be given to the correct aged kid. This being the early 1960s, everybody at...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer Blog continues... We've all had that little niggling feeling in the back of our mind, "What would I do if I were stopped by the cops?" Well, let me tell you about a recent experience. Once upon a time, I was driving home from a late afternoon/evening rocket launch and listening to a "book-on-tape" while driving.  It was getting late and the sun was setting. Now, my phone doesn't produce enough volume to be heard while laying on the seat, and I'm missing an audio cable to plug it into my car stereo... so I was holding it up, near but not against my ear. When suddenly in the gathering gloom, I see red and blue flashing lights in my rear view mirror. I checked my speedometer and I am relieved that I'm right on the speed limit, not having wandered above nor below at all.  I wonder if he saw my phone in my hand, but then the screen wasn't lit, and I wasn't talking to it...just driving down the expressway. The phone was turne...