The Thrifty Rocketeer

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... Well just tonight, after receiving some bad news, I was on-line with an older Rocketeer.  It was a zoom call and I could see the rocket kit he was working on. Something about the lines looked familiar, and I swear that I have seen or handled one of the support parts in my hand, though I swear I have never ordered nor possessed the kit.  There's just something about that kit that bugs me. Now, I suspect that I have written about this in the past, so I'm likely to be covering familiar ground here. It was a Jihad rocket kit, produced by Semroc, and part of at least three "goonies" that were made tongue-in-cheek, with a heavy dose of sarcasm. The one that I DID have and built, was a Kamikaze goonie, complete with a Japanese pilot decal and a rising sun flag for the fins.  I thought it might be in a little bad taste when I bought it, but it was nothing compared to the Jihad. Now the Jihad looks a lot like my Japanese version, except

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... We've all done it... Asked to borrow something from another at a club launch site... Perhaps the term "Moocher" is too strong, as it definitely has a negative connotation to it. However, the situation at the launch site often dictates that you sometimes need to borrow something to accomplish your task...ready to launch. One of my first experiences was when I had a friction fit motor inserted in a rocket and found that after launch, it had scooted too far up into the body tube... I could not reach it, and could not extract it. I was stumped...and so I turned and asked a more experienced rocketeer what he suggested. We have a name for this type of advisor in Amateur Radio... he's an "Elmer".  It's an affectionate term for a senior advisor or kindly experienced senior member who teaches or instructs those below him.   And I think the term works here as well. He turned and rummaged around in his tackle box for a few m

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues.... A couple of Star Trek topics for this week's topics. First, I was saddened to learn of the passing of Nichelle Nichols, the actress that originally portrayed "Lt. Ohura" on the original Star Trek series.  She was a pioneer in so many ways, and also became a great spokeswoman/recruiter for NASA in her later years.  She will be missed. And that's as a good a jumping off point for my next topic as any. Perhaps you have already noticed that Estes has adopted a new typeface or font for all packaging.  I first saw this modern slanted font on packages of D12-5  when they started stocking them at HL a year or so ago. While I love the modern look to the font, I have to state for the record that I hate with a passion the fact that they are using them for motor blister packs...specifically the 5.  To my eye, the 5 looks like an S. Oh, I know what you're going to say....that anyone familiar with motors will immediately know that an S