Back In The Day, Part 34 - The Ru-Jan Demos.

 The Rocky Mountain Association of Rocketry/Skywatchers Rocket Club of Colorado Springs was featured in a series of annual Spring demonstration launches that spanned the group's entire eleven year existence. 

These large all-day events were sponsored by the Ru-Jan Party and Hobby Shop located in the Rustic Hills North Shopping Center on North Academy Boulevard, and were flown in the center's large parking lot. The store's owner, Tom Hemry, was a perennial supporter of the club.

One of the static displayy tables at the 1982 Ru-Jan demos.

The demo launches were always well-publicized in advance, and full club participation was always in effect.

The demos were conducted with a high level of organization and efficiency. Club members were assigned to various teams: model prep, model recovery, and crowd control.  In addition was the launch control officer who kept up a constant chatter and countdowns on the P.A., and controlled the launch panel. 

ROMAR/Skywatchers Club member Lester Coburn provides
launch commentary during Ru-Jan 1978.

A couple of other members served as PR representatives whose job was to man the display tables, answer spectators' questions, and hand out club and hobby information material.

ROMAR's Glade Gordon shows off an FSI Black Brant II to an interested guest at Ru-Jan 1982.

A Maxi Alpha and Cobra 1500 ready to WoW! the crowd at Ru-Jan 1978.

The display tables themselves held a large variety of models, representing all aspects of the hobby, and many different manufacturers' products.  Every club member brought along their best models to  showcase at these events.

A display table at Ru-Jan 1978 featuring a number of big birds.

The launches were usually conducted in regularly scheduled rounds of twelve models each - the number of rods on the launch racks.  Prepping of models for the next round would take place as the previous group was being launched.  Most of the demo birds flown were owned by the club for this express purpose, though individual club members could fly models from their personal collection provided they were proven designs.  I recall launching my MPC Lunar Patrol at several of these demos because it was a great 'crowd-pleaser' model.

An Estes Goblin caught at liftoff - Ru-Jan 1978.

An Estes Solar Sailer stands ready for ignition at Ru-Jan 1978.

Occasionally, a club member could even be talked into launching a Cineroc or Astrocam for the benefit of the spectators. The launch control officer would play these flights up big time, encouraging the crowd to say 'cheese' as the models lifted off.

Your humble blog author mans the P.A. and launch control panel at Ru-Jan 1982.

A Red Max streaks off the launch rack at Ru-Jan 1979.

Other popular models were, of course, the big Saturns and Estes Maxi-Brutes.

Needless to say these demo events drew a lot of spectators, and the club usually enjoyed a spike in new memberships following each one. The final two years of the demos (1982-83) we even enjoyed the presence of a local radio station broadcasting live from a mobile. The station DJ would put in a lot of on-air plugs for the event and conduct periodic interviews with club members. 

Here are some more photos:

Glade Gordon readies a demo bird for launch at Ru-Jan 1978.

Another display table loaded with club members' models - Ru-Jan 1982.

Rocket Away!....Lester Coburn launches a model while club member Dave Wright and a crowd of spectators looks on.  Ru-Jan 1978.

I've featured this photo on an earlier blog post, but it deserves to be included in this Ru-Jan demo post.  This is NAR pioneer Bill Roe visiting Ru-Jan 1978.

BlastFromThePast Workshop Update

 I haven't been doing a whole lot of posting here lately, so I thought it would be time to do a little catching up on several builds currently on the bench.

The Orbital Transport project is wrapping up - most of the detail painting and decal marking application is completed.  All that remains is the final detailing on the booster nose section. The model will then be ready for shooting the final clear coat followed by assembly of the shock cord system.   

At the same time, work is progressing on a far less complicated model - the 'Skeeter Eeter'.  This is a 3x upscale of the Estes Mosquito.  I built two of these back in 1974-1975, one being a 24mm version followed by another flying on 18mm motors.  This newest BAR version is a re-build of the 24mm iteration.

 'Mighty D Engines", folks ! 

The model is largely a Baby Bertha kit-bash albeit with a few added extra parts.  The Skeeter Eeter is nearly ready for primer at this point.

Yet another model in the works is a Quest Nike-K.  This one's going pretty quickly as there are no balsa parts to fill and sand. The model uses the standard Quest Nike plastic fin can, a plastic tube transition section, and a plastic nose.  Spiral seams on the body tubes have been filled and sanded, so all that is left is primer and paint operations.  I am currently in the process of brush painting this model. Each component gets painted prior to final assembly - a great way to avoid masking.

I still haven't been able to venture out for a flying session.  With all of the dryness and wind that has fueled all the wildfires along the Colorado front range, the entire state has been under a strict burn ban for the last several months.  Also, the high level of smoke haze from the fires has been such that it is quite unhealthy to spend much time outdoors.  

As I write, we are expecting the arrival of a cold front that will bring much needed snow to the high country.  It won't be enough to put out the immense fires, but it should help with establishing a moisture-laden perimeter to keep them from spreading further. 

Anyway, I will continue posting updates on these model builds as they continue to progress.

Check back often....

More Freebies !

 This weekend, I was again the lucky recipient of some more model rocketry gifts.

The first  was a surprise package from one of the forum members containing a FlightSketch altimeter!  I'm already in the process of building some ebays to get ready for some serious altitude and flight profile experiments with this unit.  The great thing about this compact device is that it fits in a BT-20 size tube and operates with a cel phone app via Bluetooth.  The app allows flight profiles to be uploaded to the device and/or the FlightSketch website.

The other item came from the friend in Colorado Springs who had given me his model rocket stash from the 1990s last year.

He is packing to move and found this:

An Estes Educator's Model Rocketry Manual from 1990.

The binder contains a 1990 Estes products catalog, an Educators' Products Catalog, an Educator's Guide written by Robert Cannon, and the September, 1990 issue of Estes Educator News.

This binder represents an interesting thirty year old bit of Estes history, and is a very welcome addition to the BFTP model rocketry library.

Thanks to the folks who kindly sent these items!

Cheers!