Beware The Urchins !!!

 The past couple of weeks, things have been quite busy here in the BlastFromThePast workshop.

Substantial progress has been made on the Steampunk Protostar, as well as several other rocket-building projects.

This past Saturday, the Protostar was far enough along to shoot the primary color coat on the model's main airframe.   Weather conditions were ideal for outdoor spray painting, so around 9 a.m. I went out, armed with rattle cans, the Protostar, and a couple of body tube sections from other projects.

The painting operations went well and the completed parts were set outside the back garage door to begin the drying and out-gassing process.

Around noon, Mrs. BFTP and I were indoors hanging out in the living room when we started hearing loud banging noise on the wall.  

We ran outside to discover two neighbor kids lobbing river rocks toward our house,  some of the projectiles coming dangerously close to one of our windows.

We admonished the youngsters to 'cease and desist' with this activity, and went on to inform their parents of their actions.

It became painfully clear to me that the kids' target was not our house, but the freshly painted rockets sitting out there to dry!

They could see the models through the gaps in the privacy fence, and apparently decided it would be fun to throw rocks at them.

Fortunately, the kids were far too short to see over the fence, so the rocks were just lobbed in the hope of randomly hitting something. None of their shots hit a mark.

Things could have been far worse had they been able to see over the fence and take more careful, direct aim. Needless to say, I would have been somewhat irate if the Protostar had taken any hits. There are too many hours and too much work invested in this model to have it trashed in an instant by juvenile shenanigans.

So, lesson learned...

I will have to find another place in my back yard to put newly-painted model rockets where they can't be seen from neighboring yards and from the public sidewalk bordering one side of the property. Even six foot high privacy fences don't provide much protection.

It's a shame, really.....

Back In The Day, Part 40, The Original Skeeter Eeters

 Having recently completed the build of the Skeeter Eeter 3, I dug up a photo and some information about the original Skeeter Eeters built back in the Old Fleet days.

The first Skeeter Eeter, fleet number 45, was built in 1975.  Powered by D12 motors, the model was a great performer.  Flight records from the era indicate that the bird was flown three times.  Its last flight was at a model rocket demonstration event held in Limon, Colorado on June 26, 1976.  This demo took place in the middle of the crowded downtown area. Unfortunately, the SE was lost. I don't believe I ever took a photo of the model, and I don't even recall its color scheme.

In 1977, I built a second Skeeter Eeter . This one was constructed with a standard 18mm motor mount.  Even without D power, the model turned in impressive flights on C6 motors.

Skeeter Eeter 2 (fleet no. 63) was actually built with a specific purpose in mind:  The Skywatchers/ROMAR club conducted a contest meet in which one of the events was 'Maxi-Scale'.  This event called specifically for models that were actually upscales of other model rockets, whether they were kits or custom designs.  The upscale model was presented to the judges along with the original model. Models received points for correct scale, color scheme, degree of difficulty, and craftsmanship.  Of course the model had to make a qualified stable flight, as well.

Obviously, I chose a pretty easy subject to upscale. 

There are 4 documented flights for Skeeter Eeter 2, but there may have been more that simply were not recorded.

SE2's third flight on September 23, 1979 was notable in that it was flown on an AVI D6.5 motor.  True to the dubious nature of those motors, the ejection charge exploded, blowing the entire motor mount out the aft end of the model. Luckily, the airframe wasn't damaged, and the Skeeter Eeter 2 was successfully repaired to fly again another day..

Skeeter Eeter 2 went on to be my entry in the Open Spot Landing event at HOTROC-4 in August 1983.  It actually won 2nd place in D Division!

And, of course, here is the original Mosquito, fleet no. 65, also built in 1977:

The diminutive model was flown only once with a 1/4A motor on May 10, 1981.   Surprisingly, the bird was actually found and recovered, but was never flown again.

Both the Skeeter Eeter 2 and the Mosquito were sold in 1985, when I exited the hobby.