A Little Christmas Bonus

 

Last Monday night, Mrs. BFTP and I finished putting up the last of the Christmas lights on the house.  I stepped outside to snap a quick picture of the whole affair.

I didn't notice until after I went back inside and pulled up the pic that the image included a little extra bit of coolness.

That bright object appearing in the background sky is the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction. 

I had forgotten all about the event, so after viewing this pic, I grabbed my little 60mm refractor telescope and 25mm Kellner eyepiece and had a good look-see of the planetary pair.  It was quite a treat seeing the two planets in the same telescopic field along with Titan and the Galilean moons of Jupiter...

Merry Christmas From The BlastFromThePast Blog!

 ...and a happy, prosperous, healthy 2021.

Stay safe !

The BlastFromThePast Shop Has Been Invaded...

...by Christmas!!

Yep, it's that time of year again when the normal model rocketry activities are swept aside in favor of breaking out the the many large totes full of Christmas light strings from storage that need to be sorted, tested, inventoried, inspected, repaired, staged, and installed.

Over the past 40-odd years, I have accumulated a LOT of lights!  Many strings date back to 1980, and still work, but not without some small amount of repairs and TLC to be done annually.  

The lion's share of the strings are incandescent, but I have been in the gradual process of switching over to LED in the past few years.  Less current draw and IMO easier to maintain.

We are definitely not the Griswolds in terms of light displays, nor do I have a penchant for the dazzling (garrish?) computer driven / music synced affairs often seen on the 'extreme lighting' shows, but I still put up a hefty amount of lights.  Somewhere in the 8,000 - 10,000 individual mini-bulb range.  I've never counted. 

And I've not tripped any of the 15 amp breakers.    Yet.

All I know is that I typically spend at least three weekends on the install, and quite a bit more time in the basement la-BOR-atory repairing mal-functioning strings and modifying others for special custom applications.  The scope of this work tends to take over the entire workshop. 

Perhaps I should start another blog sub-page on the subject of outdoor Christmas lighting.  I certainly have enough material to effectively do so.

Anyway, model rocket projects will be resumed once the Great Mini Bulb Frenzy is over.

Cheers!

Launch Lug Standoffs

 

 On most of my recent LPR model builds I have adopted the practice of mounting the launch lugs on short standoffs rather than gluing them directly to the body tubes.

The primary reason for doing this is the added height makes for the formation of smoother and better looking lug/tube glue fillets. It eliminates those unsightly bumps and gaps in the joints that usually require multiple applications of glue to fill.

The standoff for a standard 1/8 lug are made from 1/8 inch wide strip of 1/16 balsa cut to lug length.  The ends can be rounded over if desired.

Sure, the added height may increase launch lug interference drag by a small amount, but this might be compensated for by the presence of a smoother fillet.

Anyway, these are after all, sport models, where optimizing for flight performance is not the primary concern.

Another small advantage of the standoff - the effects of the inherent slop in the fit between lug and launch rod causing the latter to contact the rocket airframe during liftoff are greatly minimized. I'm not sure how much this would effect the model's initial flight path in terms of rod tip-off and/or angle of attack.  Perhaps there has been some past investigation in this area that I haven't yet encountered.  Also, the effect wouldn't be as large with models using two widely spaced lugs versus a single longer lug.  Again, we're talking sport models. At the least this build technique might help to prevent the launch rod from marring the model's finish on the launch lug side during liftoff.  

It Is.......ALIVE ! ! !

 The Steampunk Protostar, that is.

This morning, the long-suffering project has once again been extracted from it's dark, dreary vault (project cabinet) located in the furthest forlorn reaches of the mysterious LaBORatory (basement shop)....

"Time to fetch the...COUGH... Protostar.... Heh, heh....hee heee..  HACK..HACK...HA-GUAAARK !!"

The model was sequestered away last Spring when the Covid-19 thing hit, literally putting my rocketry involvement in lock-down, alongside most everything else.

When things picked back up in July, building activities favored a number of other rocket projects.  The Protostar remained in the cabinet.

Now, the partially completed bird is back on the bench.

This time around, I'm going to take a wee page out of Chris Michielssen's book and not put up any further build posts until the model is completely finished. This way, if the project gets bogged down again, there won't  be the long delays between posts.

If all goes as planned, I hope to get the model completed by the end of the year.

Incidently, I don't really have a hunchback or a hunchbacked assistant......

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!

Orbital Transport Update...

  

Finally, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (not that of an oncoming train) on this project.

Two weeks ago, both sections of the model received their finish coats of gloss white spray, top surfaces only.

I am determined to go with a radically different color scheme from the usual all-white.

The intervening time has been spent brush-painting the undersides of the vehicles.

The booster gets a 1:4 mix of black and white to get a nice grey color, while the orbiter wing gets a black covering.

After this, some creative masking and painting of the nose cones are in order.

Finally, some silver trim on the ram jet tubes and other details will be applied.

Stay tuned...

 

Back In The Day, Part 33 - A Very Funky Citation Patriot

 As I was writing yesterday's post about the newly built Citation Patriot, I was reminded that, somewhere in my photo files, I had a picture of one of the original Patriots that a Skywatchers/ROMAR member had flown at a sport meet in Colorado Springs sometime around 1975 or so.

I found that photo.  Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?

Yep, you got it.....the fins were glued on wrong!

Apparently, this model must have been built by a younger member or a visitor.  

One who wasn't versed in the 'grain runs with the leading edge' rule of model rocket building.

My question is:  Where was the acting club RSO for this one?

Fortunately, I don't remember the outcome of this flight....

BAR Fleet #128 - Citation Patriot

Source: Estes Industries

Kit # 000652

Sport Model - Single stage 

18mm motor type

Diameter: 41.5mm

Length: 65.5cm

Empty weight: 89.2g

Nose: 4 caliber tangent olive

Fins: (3) modified tapered swept.

Color Scheme: white, black, with gold, red, and blue trim.

Date completed: September 24, 2020

A Classic Estes Model Rocket

The new Patriot kit was a Christmas present last year from one of my daughters, but I just now got around to building it.  Even though I greatly admired the rocket back in the old days, one was never built as part of the fleet.

This model was a lot of fun to build.  The original intent was to install a 24mm motor mount, however, since the lion's share of my flying is done on smaller fields, I stuck with the stock 18mm version.  I still anticipate that it will be a kick to fly on B and C motors, perhaps taking a keychain cam along for the occasional ride.

One item of note: while most of the model was painted with spray enamel, the single black fin was brush painted with gloss black acrylic.  It takes a really close examination to detect any difference in the two finishes!

I am increasingly becoming a fan of brush painting model rockets, and will likely be choosing that method for other upcoming builds.

I highly anticipating seeing this Patriot in flight!

Yet Another Shop Project

 Having on hand a second surplus cabinet shelf identical to the one used for the laptop workbench, I came up with another rocket-building application:

With the addition of a couple of 1x3 poplar boards screwed to opposite bottom edges, the shelf became a dandy project surface for the BlastFromThePast La-BOR-atory microscope!

The table surface is at the right height to place objects at the bottom of the instrument's focusing range.

The addition of a clamp-on desk lamp completes the project.

I now have a great work surface on which to perform precision marking and cutting operations for several upcoming scale and plastic conversion projects.

The fixture will also be useful for other purposes as well - examining tiny details and variations on collectable postage stamps and coins, tiny electronics soldering tasks, and one of my favorites - extracting those irritatingly minute wood and metal slivers that I seem to consistently and painfully get stuck in my fingers!

With grand-kiddos around quite often, the microscope will likely get pressed into service to look closely at such things as dead bugs and slides containing pond water complete with all the little critters swimming therein.

But, mostly, it's for rocket stuff....

A Minor Hobby Lobby Gripe...

 Don't get me wrong here - I am generally very happy that Hobby Lobby stores carry Estes model rocket products, and that I have a local store here in Castle Rock, Colorado a mere mile and a half from my home.

I like that there are rocket kits exclusive to HL that are unavailable elsewhere.

My concern is with the greatly reduced selection of motor types available.

It is understandable that, with the new order of things between Estes and Hobby Lobby, an attempt is made to match motor types with the selection of kits hanging on the nearby pegs.  

This is all well and good, and the most commonly used motor types: A8-3, B6- 4, and C6-X are readily available.  

But I have noticed the disappearance of several motor types that I have been accustomed to purchasing frequently at Hobby Lobby in the past: 1/2A -2T, A10-3T, A10-0T, and any of the other 18mm zero delay booster motors smaller than a C6.

In my opinion, it would be nice to see a more rounded selection of motors on the peg board at Hobby Lobby.

Besides the types mentioned above, it would be cool to also have a D12-0, D12-7, the little 1/4A mini, and maybe even the new C5s.

We'll wait and see as things unfold.

Gripe over.....

Rocket Building Mobility

Last weekend, a little time was spent in the BlastFromThePast shop in order to build a quick rocket building accessory:

This is a small portable laptop 'workbench' made from a surplus cabinet shelf.

This project was driven by desire to work on model rockets somewhere else around the house apart from the deep, dark, and mysterious basement la-BOR-atory. 

With this device, I can hang out in the living room with the Missus while she's watching her movies/TV shows, work on models while keeping an eye on the football games, or enjoy the outdoors on the back deck.

The 15x18 workspace includes sides and tool compartments made from Home Depot paint stir sticks, a plastic small-parts container, and a removable stop on the front of the panel to keep things from falling off.  The tool holder features a block of hard foam in which to stick frequently used modeling tools.

With this workspace, I've been able to perform many model building operations including fin cutting, model marking and assembly, brush painting, decaling, parachute construction - anything that doesn't require sanding or use of stinky paints/glues, or is otherwise messy.

Gotta keep Mrs. BFTP happy, you know.

Aside from building rockets, the work board has been useful as well for LEGO building and tinkering with other small projects.

It's quite surprising to see how much can be accomplished on such a compact workspace.

The best aspect, though, is the added time for rocket building that the device affords.

Glider Trimming Day!

 Today's weather forecast showed nearly non-existant wind conditions, making it a great time to get out to a park and trim the newly built Wasp for glide.

So, lunchtime was spent on the grassy expanse of Redstone Park in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.  The park is only a two minute drive from my workplace.

Armed with the Wasp and a chunk of trim clay, it took a dozen or so tosses to get it to glide beautifully.  I couldn't get it high enough to see exactly what its turn radius is - that may have to wait for adjustment after a maiden flight under power.

Nevertheless, all indicators point to a well-performing boost/glider.

I suspect the real challenge for this model will be avoiding another fly-away loss!

Walking In A Winter Wonderland...

 ...on September 8th !!

Just two days ago, temps were kissing 100 degrees around here.

Today - freezing and snow!

We tied a record low for September 7th yesterday that dates back to 1962.  Today we could break a September 8th low temperature record that goes back to the 1800s.

Anyway I don't  mind the snow.  It's much better than the pall of smoke and ashes from all of the nearby mountain wildfires still burning out of control.

Back In The Day, Part 32 - The Old Fleet Wasp

 Having just finished a build of a Wasp boost/glider, I decide to dust off the large binder containing the ancient archives of my 'old fleet' days.

A Wasp was one of my earlier glider models, built at a time when I was still but a neophyte rocketeer.

The records show a total of seven flights on the bird, none of which were particularly successful.  Written commentaries described the model's glide performance with such terms as 'flip', 'flop', 'flutter', and 'stall'.

At least the word 'prang' was never employed. 

I do recall that old number 29 would glide very nicely during hand launch tosses, but never worked properly under rocket power.

Again, in those days, I didn't know a heck of a lot about glider construction and trimming.

The Wasp was likely built without any negative incidence on the horizontal stab, plus I strongly suspect that the main wing panels were warped.  Add to this the fact that the glider was finished with spray enamel paint.

With all of that going against it, the poor bird didn't stand a chance at transitioning into a good glide.

Boost phase was no problem, since I built the pop pod longer than what the plans called out.  Boost CG was well ahead of the glider wings, making the model very stable.

A short anecdote involving my Wasp B/G was written up in a sport meet report published in a 1975 issue of the Skywatchers/ROMAR club newsletter.

Members of the Rapihawks Rocket Club of Colorado Springs were guest visitors to this particular Skywatchers meet.   

Dr. Warren Layfield and I both happened to be off to the side of the launch pad area lobbing gliders around  to adjust the trim.  Mine, of course, was the Wasp.  A little friendly discussion ensued about whose glider would perform better.  A small competition was in the making....

Unfortunately, both of us chickened out from flying our gliders under power because of windy conditions that had begun to pick up.  We agreed to pursue the dispute another day.

Warren, if you are reading this, the challenge is still on....

BAR Fleet #129 - Wasp B/G

Model Name: Wasp

Model Type: Front engine boost glider.

Designed by Marc McReynolds.  Published in Model Rocketry Magazine, Dec. 1970.

Motor Type: 18mm

Glider length: 26.7cm

Wing Span: 20.3cm

Glider weight: 8.6g

Pod length: 15.8cm

Pod diameter: 19mm

Pod weight: 6.0g

Overall model length: 35.9cm

Overall weight: 14.6g

Color scheme: Yellow and black with silver trim.

Completion date: September 7, 2020

A 50 Year Old Boost/Glider Design

The Wasp B/G is built from the plans published in the December 1970 issue of Model Rocketry Magazine.  This is my second build of the model, the first being rendered back in 1974, fleet #29.

The bird was designed for small-field boost/glider flying using 1/2A motors.  An unusual feature of the glider is the use of 1/32" balsa stock for the rudder and horizontal stabilizer.  The thin stock can be used because of the low aspect ratio of these parts.  The model employs the standard pop-pod design popular in the late 60s-early 70s.

Since the model is named the "Wasp", I deemed it appropriate to color it to look like the insect. The glider portion was rendered with yellow and black permanent markers applied over a light coat of Duplicolor white primer.  The pod is brush painted with acrylic hobby paint.

The nose used on this version of the Wasp isn't exactly that called out in the plans.  I just happened to have a conical one rattling around in the spare parts box that could be pressed into service. It will work quite nicely.

This re-build of one of my "old fleet" boost/gliders is a welcome new addition to the growing BAR collection.

Here are more pictures:

Back In The Day, Part 31 - Those Old Hobby Shops

In the 1970s and early 80s, the city of Colorado Springs was blessed to have several good hobby shops stocked with model rocket goodies.
I rarely had to buy rocket kits, motors, or supplies via mail order simply because we could get it all from the local brick and mortar establishments.
Such places as Custom Hobbies, Ru-Jan Party and Hobby, Levine's, Miniature World, and Hobby Hub carried everything a respectable rocketeer of that era needed.
Besides the abundant products of the popular Estes and Centuri lines, we even had access to Flight Systems, Inc. And Competition Model Rockets products right off the shelf at a couple of the local stores.
That means in a single afternoon of driving about town, one could pick up that new  Cineroc here, and a Laser-X kit there.
 Across town could be found a CMR dual egg capsule and a Manta boost/glider kit for that upcoming contest.
Oh, and maybe pick up a couple F100 motors a few miles further down the road, for that big bird at home on the workbench.
Ahh, them was the good ol' days.....

Ditch The Decor??

 Last night, I read an interesting thread in the Model Rocketry History category of Ye Olde Rocketry Forum.

The late Mike Dorffler, long-time Estes R&D designer, lamented about how many decor schemes of his kit designs were 'hi-jacked' by company management or marketing, and converted into ridiculous alternate versions.

This got me to thinking (a quite dangerous prospect at best).

Firing up the ol' PC, I pulled up PDFs of Estes catalogs from the past 30 years. Sure enough, a large number of models offered in the catalog pages possess downright gaudy and gimmicky decoration schemes.  The vast majority of these rocket models are 3/4FNC birds populating starter sets and the beginners' skill level pages, clearly targeting the younger crowd, who apparently are drawn to that sort of thing.

But then, I began examining the birds with a different perspective: looking past the overly bright decor and concentrating on the overall physical design of the models themselves.  I found that many of the designs are quite aesthetically pleasing in their own right.  Nice fin shapes, nose sections, transitions, etc.

If painted and decaled in a more traditional manner, while trashing the oftentimes garish and oversized kit name markings, many of these models could be made much more attractive - at least to a grumpy old curmudgeon such as myself...

Binge-Building At The Blastfromthepast Shop!

 Even though I have not been doing any model rocket flying as of late, things have certainly not been idle in the work shop.

The Viking re-build is complete: those flimsy card stock fins have been ripped off and replaced with sturdier basswood versions.  A little brushed-on yellow paint finished things up nicely.

The Orbital Transport received its first primer coat yesterday.

A small boost/glider project is ready for finishing.

Finally, a Citation Patriot is built and ready for primer.

Even more kits and gliders are in the build queue, as well as more progress on the Protostar.

Stay tuned....

Orbital Transport Update

 I finished up building the Orbiter glider today.  Next operation entails touching up random small gaps and grain.  I expect to get both parts of the model in primer this weekend.

Fun build!

Orbital Transport Build Update

As promised in an earlier post, here is the first update of my current scratch-built OT project.

This morning, I glued on the forward canard pieces, the final two of the twenty-eight balsa parts on the booster rocket.

That's a lot of cutting, shaping, sealing, sanding, gluing, and filleting!

Aside from the huge amount of balsa parts, there are the four ram jet tubes, three launch lug pieces, two standoffs, the main tube, and the motor mount to deal with.

Back in the day, Estes gave this model a rating of Skill Level 4.

I prefer to rate it as 'Patience Level 4" instead.

Anyway, all that is left for the booster is to round off a few more fin edges, fill and sand a few gaps and residual balsa grain areas, and shoot some primer.

The parts for the orbiter glider are all cut out and ready for assembly next week. 

I greatly look forward to finishing this build and getting an Orbital Transport into the fleet.

Back In The Day, Part 30 - HOTROC-2

On August 22-23, 1981, 15 NAR rocketeers from around the Mountain States converged on Colorado Springs, Colorado to compete in the second annual Heart Of The Rockies model rocket contest.

By this time, ROMAR had grown to include enough members to renew its section charter, so HOTROC-2 could be flown as a Regional meet.  The WARP section of Utah was represented by Randall Redd and Gary Price, and COSMIC of Denver was represented by Steve Sande and Ken Tanaka.  

Once again, I served as Contest Director. 

Weather was ideal for most of the meet except for the interruption of a nearby severe thunderstorm on the afternoon of the first day.  We later learned that this storm had been accompanied by a tornado warning!

Events flown at the contest included:

Class B Parachute Duration

Class C Eggloft Duration

Class D Super-Roc Duration

Class A Helicopter Duration

Class C Boost/Glide

Sport Scale

The range set-up and organization was similar to the previous year's, i.e., an eight station Misfire Alley system. 

Here are some pics and other stuff that remain in my old archives from this fun event:

Randall Redd of Utah preps his B motor parachute duration entry.  PD saw several flights topping the six minute range:

The Official HOTROC- 2 jacket patch:

Me and my Class C Eggloft bird:

Contestant Tadd Jensen prepares to launch his egglofter:

Steve Sande readies his Class D Super-Roc entry:

ROMAR member Glade Gordon at Super-Roc safety check:

Liftoff of Tadd Jensen' Super-Roc:

HOTROC-2 Press Release published in the local newspaper:

Front cover of the official HOTROC-2 programme handed out to range visitors:

Me posing with my USS Explorer cluster demo model.  It flew successfully on a D12-5 with 2 B6-0 motors in the outboard fin pods:

Glade Gordon launches his  Class C B/G.  His efforts were to no avail, however, as Paul Heward took the event with a time far above all other entries:

Finally, a group shot of most of the HOTROC-2 contestants holding some of their rockets. 
Far left, ROMAR's Glade Gordon poses with an upscale Laser-X and an FSI Black Brant II.
Third from left is Randall Redd with his winning Helicopter Duration bird. He posted a combined time of 2:22, which was quite excellent for the newly introduced event. Second from right is Gary Price from Utah, overall meet champion. 

All in all, HOTROC-2 was a very enjoyable, relaxed model rocket contest featuring a lot of great flights, demo launches, and comradeship.  

As the participants were leaving the field, plans were already being aired about HOTROC-3 the following year.