Roger's Model Rocket Page

Back in the '70s I was hanging around my local hobby shop where I noticed some kits hanging on the wall. The kits were for building rockets out of paper tubes and some balsa. The coolest part was that these rockets could actually fly. You could get these little engines and a launcher and you could launch your rocket hundreds of feet into the air. Well, I was hooked. My friends and I built and flew ( and lost ) many rockets for a while there. But after a certain age it just wasn't cool to be playing with toy rockets so I kinda dropped out for awhile. Now however, I've gotten back into rocketry. I was pleasantly surprised to find that rocketry is still going strong and that there is a name for big kids like me, "Born Again Rocketeer" or BAR for short.

Looking through my collection of rockets, one might divine that I like to clone the classics of yesteryear. In quite a few cases, those clones are slightly upscaled. In fact, I like to create upscale clones so often that I wrote a little tool to help me calculate the proper conversion factors.

The Fleet ( 45 )

Active

Big Daddy	Black Brant II	Big Dawg	Big Bertha

Gemini DC	Super Shot	Silver Comet	Bull Pup 12D

Ovilofter	Python	Astron Cobra	Astron Ranger

Pathfinder	Big Bertha 24	Fat Boy	Initiator

Flying Saucer 24	Der Red Max	Arreaux	Der V-3

Morningstar	Super Ranger	Cheetah	Optima

Big Daddy 29	HL-20

Retired/Lost/Destroyed

Twister (AKA Tornado)	Der Huge Red Max

In Progress/Planned

Executioner	Sky-Hi	Big Blue Bird of Paradise	Colossus

Long John Silver	Alpha Epsilon	Long Shot	Mustang

Goblin 2X	Super Baby Bertha	Baby Bertha	Cherokee-DD

Flying Saucer 38	Goblin	V2	Forté

Launches ( 16 )

27 February 2000	(4 flights)
		My first rocket launch in 15 years! We launched at my daughter's school. Kinda cramped so I tried to recall from memory which motors would be best for which rockets based on the wind. Big Dawg landed in a tree. The homeowner volunteered to climb up and retrieve it. Twister almost ended up on the roof of the school. So much for my memory.
25 March 2000	(8 flights)
		Since the old school yard was a little small, Hannah and I headed out to Old Settler's Park in Round Rock for our next launch. Plenty of room here. Black Brant II, Big Bertha, and Gemini DC made their maiden flights.
09 April 2000	(7 flights)
		Maiden voyage for Big Daddy.
22 April 2000	(3 flights)
		I was attempting to capture the launch of my daughter's Black Brant II on film. Silly me. To say that this thing leaves the pad in a hurry is a HUGE understatment. This is the last I saw of it. Someone else said that they saw it at ejection, "Way up there". Even with a spill hole in the 18" chute it went downwind fast. I searched for it for about 45 minutes but never found it. Luckily, another rocketeer searching for his rocket spotted it almost a mile from the pad. Ted returned it the next weekend. Thanks Ted!
29 April 2000	(7 flights)
		Perfect flight as usual for ol' Bertha. I had reefed the chute a little because of the wind so naturally it landed on the only piece of hard-packed ground in the area. Dinged one of the fins a little.
20 May 2000	(9 flights)
		Perfect day to fly. Nice and calm. The maiden voyages of my new Silver Comet and Bull Pup 12D went off without a hitch.
18 June 2000	(2 flights)
		AARG Rockamole Regional Contest. A wet and soggy day for my first ever contest entry and the maiden voyage of my Ovilofter I placed third as a non-NAR participant in the C Eggloft Duration event with a time of 1'41". Also managed to send up Python between showers.
2 July 2000	(8 flights)
		Kinda windy to be launching but I couldn't wait to try out my two-stage Bullpup, Pathfinder, and Astron Cobra. I was challenged to a drag race of my Astron Ranger but after loading the engines and igniters discovered that I had never installed a shock cord. Oh well, maybe next time.
8 July 2000	(12 flights)
		Finally managed to launch my Ranger. Very impressive lift-off! Almost launched the whole fleet today. The only one that got left out was my virgin Initiator.
5 July 2003	(5 flights)
		My first launch in three years. I finally made it out to the Sunflower Ranch with the whole family in tow. Launched my Big Bertha 24 on it's maiden voyage. Very nice flight! Both the Ranger and the Cobra managed to only light one engine and awed the crowd with less than spectacular crashes. I thought the day was turning better after Big Bertha turned in it's usual standard flight. But then things went south when Big Daddy arced over the cornfield, never to be seen again. I looked for it for about forty minutes. I even recovered someone elses rocket and they in turn helped me search. But no joy. UPDATE! Big Daddy has been found! Carl had to return to the field the next day to look his cellphone and recovered Big Daddy as well as his phone. Thanks Carl!
9 August 2003	(11 flights)
	Photo by Steve Rogers	My first trip out to the Hutto Hippodrome. I set up two pads and proceeded to work my way through the fleet. I managed to get in a few maiden voyages. Among them was my new Art Applewhite 24mm Flying Saucer, a Quest HL-20, my Der Red Max clone, and finally, my Initiator on a F20-4W. The Initiator flight was the largest size motor I have launched to date, and I must say, if I wasn't hooked before, I am now! My Estes launch controller that I converted to 12v external power worked great. The high intensity LED that I installed in place of the bulb works perfectly, even in direct sunlight.
4 October 2003	(3 flights)
		I upped the ante by launching my Initiator on a G35-4W. My largest motor to date. Next was my Arreaux on a F20-4W. Lastly, I launched Bigger Dawg ( Der V3 ) on a 3 D12-5 cluster.
7 February 2004	(6 flights)
		Turned out to be a beautiful day at the Hutto Hippodrome. A cold start but warmed up nicely. The winds were a little gusty but died down quickly. I made the first launch of the day. I had my first Crapperhead failure to go along with my first RMS launch! Luckily, I was able to borrow a REAL ignitor to get my Python under way. I followed that with a 29mm RMS in my Initiator. The next flight was the largest cluster I have ever launche, 4 E9-6s in my Super Ranger. I followed that with more launches of my Broadsword, Cheetah, and Initiator again.