FlatCat Boost/Glider Build, Part 10 - Decorative Embellishments

To finish off the glider details, I hand drew a rendition of the famous FlatCat logo, along with the model's fleet number and my old NAR number.

Next, it's off to the park to do a little glide trimming....

NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 17 - Wrapping Things Up

Well, boys and girls,

This post pretty much completes the series on the NAR 60th Year Rocketeer Reunion.  I had nearly as much fun writing and putting together this material as I had attending the reunion. I hope you all found it informative and entertaining. 

There were at least 200 NAR model rocketeers present at this event. 

Many old-timers and many newcomers.  Past NAR presidents.  NARAM contest directors.  NARAM champions.  Model Rocketry Royalty.  Hobby innovators. Rocketeers who wrote many articles or were otherwise featured in the pages of Model Rocketry Magazine and the Model Rocketeer during the roaring heyday of the hobby when the Apollo program was the going thing in the late 60s-early 70s.  Model Rocket Manufacturers from companies defunct to new ones to ones that have been in existence from near the very beginning. Fliers of LPR...MPR...HPR.  Sport fliers.  Competition Fliers. Glider Fliers.  Scale Nuts.  Oddroc Fans (won't mention any names, Randall). 

Attendee NAR numbers ranged from 18, (Bob Kaplow) to 105584, (Dave Hutchinson).

A tremendous cross section of people who at some point in their lives got bit really hard by the 'Model Rocketry Bug', and never looked in the rearview mirror.  

The core of the hobby.

As NAR President John Hochheimer pointed out, "This is the last time this same group of people will all be together in the same room representing our great hobby!"

I felt extremely privileged to be there and somewhat in awe of the whole affair.

One last anecdote:

Nearing the closing moments of this highly enjoyable and inspiring event, I caught up with fellow blogger, Hans Chris Michielssen.

"Man, this was great! It's just like being a kid in a candy store!", I said.

"Yep", replied Chris, "I feel like I'm 13 again!"

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 16 - The Museum of Flight Silent Auction

The final presentation of the evening was given by Pat Fitzpatrick and Geoff Nunn on the subject of the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
Brief updates were discussed concerning the monumental task of sorting and cataloguing the vast amount of material, particularly the Stine, Estes, and Piester collections.

As a fund raising effort for the museum, some very neat items were donated for a silent auction held at the reunion.

The highlight piece was this set of the first three Estes Industries kits:  The Scout, Mark, and Space
Plane, donated by Vern and Gleda Estes.  The set is attractively mounted and framed and signed by Vern and Gleda.  (Sorry about the fuzzy photo).

Another item of interest was this famous first edition Estes catalog, # 261, the one that was stitched by Gleda on her sewing machine.  The frame includes a photo of that process.

This next item is one that any rocketeer would be thrilled to have hanging on the wall of their shop:
A canvas print of the box art for the Centuri Laser-X.  What a beautiful rendition!  This was donated by Lee Piester.

Several other canvas prints were up for auction at the event.  These were full color renditions of some famous early model rocket poster/box art, and others were of previous edition Handbook of Model Rocketry covers.  Unfortunately, the photo I took of them was too blurry to post here.

FlatCat Boost/ Glider Build, Part 9 - Makin' The Glider All 'Purty'

To start off with finishing the FlatCat, I hit it with a light coat of white sandable automotive primer. 
This is more for sealing the grain and providing a better surface after sanding for coloring the model with permanent markers. 
The trim weight cavity in the glider's nose made a perfect place to insert a dowel to hold the model for drying.

The FlatCat's primer coat is now dry, and all the surfaces get a finish sanding with 400-600 grit paper.

Now I can begin layout of my chosen décor pattern and applying the marker color coats:

YELLOW....

ORANGE....

 RED....

...and BLACK for the bottom side of the wings and horizontal stab.

The downside of coloring a wood model with markers is that it is nearly impossible to get neat, even color coverage.  There will always be marker streaks and mottling.  On a boost/glider, aesthetic appearance is the trade-off for having a light weight finish.  Still, it doesn't look too terrible.



Another Kit For The Build Pile....

I just picked this baby up at Hobby Lobby.

Back in the 'old fleet' days, I had a Nike-X that had been modified to fly as a two-stager: D12-0 in the booster, and 18mm upper stage.  Very nice flier.  This one I may build as a single stage D-engine bird.

When the FlatCat B/G is finished, this kit will be built alongside a couple other projects in progress - that Steampunk Protostar, an Orbital Transport, and a second FlatCat converted into a sliding wing Rocket Glider.

Plenty to keep this ol' fart busy through the end of the year.

NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 15 - One Final Display

The last item on the row of meeting room tables was my own small display of NARAM-11 ephemera.

 

 Included was an official meet program that was distributed to visitors to NARAM 11, a copy of the newspaper coverage article of the event in the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, and a stack of official NARAM 11 flight cards that I had received from Bill Roe back in the early 70s. (Bill was the CD of the meet). 

I gave away a flight card for free to any reunion attendee who wanted one.
(I still have half a dozen left if any of you blog readers wish to pm me at emitton777@gmail.com).

I also brought along for display my replica of the Carlisle Rock-A-Chute Mark II model rocket and launch pad complete with a wood dowel launch rod. These items are not vintage, actually being built in 2016.

An interesting note:  In the final hour of the reunion, I noted that someone had placed a brand new Semroc kit of the Rock-A-Chute Mark II against the wall behind the display.  It was a great mystery to me until I learned it had been put there by Randy Boadway of eRockets!  Thanks, Randy!

NAR 60 Year Reunion, Part 14 - Lee Piester at the Podium

The next member of model rocketry royalty to give a talk was Lee Piester, the man behind Centuri Engineering.

Lee gave a very interesting speech, relating the story of his conversion from amateur rocketry to model rocketry after visiting an early NARAM, his entrance into the model rocket manufacturing business with the founding of Centuri, and his friendly-rival relationship with Estes Industries.

One of the highlights of Lee's presentation was his showing an enlarged photo of the famous "Great Saturn V Duel" between he and Vern Estes. 

Betty Piester circulated through the meeting room with another copy of the photo so that everyone had a chance to see it up close.

Lee received the second long ovation of the evening as he stepped down from the platform.