The Pencil Box

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues....

It's no secret that I have a Hobby Lobby in the town that I work in, much, much closer than any hobby shop or other rocket part supplier.


So it should come as no surprise that I occasionally will swing by and see if anything new is on the wall hangers, or to pick up a couple packs of motors.

But recently, I've noticed a disturbing trend.

The last couple of times that I have shopped the rocket aisle at Hobby  Lobby, I have found a package of motors hanging on the pegboard, with the blister pack open.

No, we're not talking about a hole THROUGH the blister pack...we're talking about the plastic of the blister-pack  no longer attached to the cardboard.

You get what I'm getting at here?  Someone has slipped a fingernail or a knife-blade under the plastic and pried the package open.  But for what?

There is nothing missing from the package of motors.  All the motors themselves are still there, and the package appears full.  And the compartment that holds the igniters and plugs is still full. The adhesive around that compartment is still secure.

Now, the first time I saw this, I had assumed that that one package had somehow a weaker seal around the plastic and that it had flexed or popped open, though I had never seen this happen before.  I took it up to the manager and suggested that a wrap of magic mending tape (3M) would do a good job of resealing it and not be noticeable.

The next week, I spotted it hanging on the peg. She had stapled through the plastic to hold it shut. Oh well, that was fine.

The next week or so, I don't remember seeing it, and continued shopping.

But the following week, it happened again. 

A package had been slit or sprung open once again.  And once again, nothing was missing.  I was puzzled.  But I didn't say anything to the manager, but went about my shopping.

It was about two weeks later that I noticed the pack was still there on the hang peg, and still open to the air.  I didn't do anything but again note that all the parts were there, inside waiting to be purchased.

But on the way home, I mulled this over in my head.  Someone was opening packages, but not taking anything.  Why would they do that?  What could the possibly want with the motors that they would open the package?  Was it sabotage?  Were they doing something to the motors to make them not work? Every package of motors was the same.

Suddenly the lightbulb went off in my head, and I knew the answer.

  They were always the same value motor, and nothing was missing.  Nothing was being taken, and nothing was being purchased.

That's when I got it.

They were checking the date code on the motors inside those packages before buying them.

It's well known that Estes has a bad batch of motors out there, and that the defective batch will probably CATO or misfire.   The Date Code is something like J201220,  if memory serves.

Whoever is shopping this Hobby Lobby is aware of the problem and has been protecting himself by opening the package to check the day code.  If it's alright, he's buying the package.  But if it's not, he's putting it back on the shelf.

I nodded to myself with the realization of what was happening.

And I thought a bit about whether the motors would still be "good", with a slit to the open air.  I concluded that it couldn't be any worse than having some loose motors in your tackle box or your range box, somewhat exposed, but not openly exposed to moisture.

And then I saw something that appealed to me.

There was a small white cube setting in the clearance aisle marked down about 80% to just a couple bucks.  Now, considering the Masonite, the white paint and the glue job that was holding it together, I doubt that it was worth anything more than the bargain clearance price on two price stickers that were affixed.

I thought about it for a moment, and then realized it was a pencil cup.  That is, there were two large slots open to one end of the box, that would allow either 3"x5" cards or perhaps pens or pencils.  But they were also the right size to accept Estes motors. 

That is, in each of the two openings, I could fit either 4 or more free-standing motors on end and keep them together.  I thought about this for a moment and wondered where I would store this and how I might carry it out to the launch field.  And I cooled on the idea somewhat.

But it made me wonder, how do other rocketeers store their loose motors?  

This has been the Thrifty Rocketeer wondering, how do you store your motors?

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