Trading Cards

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...

An opportunity has come my way to possibly write instructions for a future model rocket kit.

This has started me thinking about which instructions I have enjoyed the most, and just how many (40+) rocket kits I have assembled over the last seven years.  I broke out my 3-ring binder where I had filed virtually all the printed instructions from over the years. (Thank goodness I saw the handwriting on the wall, when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to remember which motors were required for which rocket.  I started a binder to collect the instructions for easy reference.)

About this time, I also discovered the Estes Rockets were going through a phase where they were designing a small trading-card size summary for the rocket motors that were required for each model. You would find the dotted line printed on the card stock and cut out the card, so that it would fit in your pocket, in the launch box, or be saved.


It was a brilliant move, and I don't know why they have moved away from doing that.

In my case, I recognized that the cards needed to be assembled in one easy to locate binder, and so I borrowed an old Pokemon card album from my son.  His need for boxes and boxes of Pokemon and Magic cards far out-stripped the cheap album that I had found for pennies at a reuse thrift store.  So I liberated it, with his permission.


Now, as I started counting up just how many rockets I have built ~40!~ , I came across it, still tucked inside the larger 3-ring binder, and it still has the cards I've saved.  In fact, I loved the idea of this card album so much, that whenever I buy a rocket kit that DOESN'T have a card printed, I make my own.

I take out a credit card from my wallet, and lay it on the card stock or box, turning it this way or that, trying to get it to cover the short list of recommended motors and a significant portion of the artwork. Then I trace around the credit card with a pencil, making an indent on the card stock to cut along.   The idea is that if I have painted my rocket in the recommended color scheme, I might recognize which rocket this trading card was taken from. 

Very quickly I realized that I should take a sharpie marker and just write the name of the rocket on the card. Since the glossy surface of the card doesn't accept the ink well, this is usually on the back side.  Storing just one card per pocket in the album, I can read the card from either side and get what I need to know.

This simple method of saving and storing rocketry information has helped to keep me sane.

This is the Thrifty Rocketeer saying, "Save your card stock: You never know when you'll need to reference it!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The End of the Line

Image
 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... Well, for years, the state of the model rocket industry relied upon plans and patterns that were photocopied or printed out, and then applied to standard sheets of balsa to be cut out. Eventually, the various parts for various sized rockets were packaged in groups or blister packs, and sold at hobby shops across the nation.  The emphasis was on home brew or building a rocket to specifications and plans. Eventually, entire kits were pre-packaged, with all the parts that one would need.  And then, laser cut shapes, fins or parts were already pre-cut, doing away with the need for most of the patterns and tracing. So what happened to all those bags and bister packs of parts of rockets?  That is, a baggie of various nose cones... or connectors... or transitions or more ?   Many of  those packages remain at your local mom and pop hobby store, just waiting for someone to come in and buy some of their pegboard stock....
Read more

sleeping with the enemy

Image
 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...
Read more

Death of a Hobby

Image
 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... No, this is not a column about how Model Rocketry is a dying hobby.  It's actually about another sister hobby that sometimes overlaps into Rocketry. I'm talking about Amateur Radio. Just this last weekend, our local Ham Radio club held a "swap meet" which is commonly called a Hamfest.  These gatherings to buy and sell used equipment, parts and visit old friends typically happen just once a year and in the absence of the late Radio Shack, is one of the only places to find parts and electronic elements. There is also testing held to advance to higher licenses. The admission varies depending on the club, their overhead, expense of renting the hall or venue, and the number of tables that they can sell to area vendors who will drive across state with their wares to set up for the half day show. It's not uncommon for amateur radio operators to drive across state to attend, pay admission and get a single entry into the door prize ...
Read more