Back in the Day, Part 2 - A Poem By Me About Super-Rocs!

Documentation Is Everything

One of the very first things I did at the outset of BAR-dom in early 2016 was to peruse through the notebooks full of flight records and photographs from the old 1973-1984 model rocket fleet.

It became quickly apparent that I had done an appallingly poor job of documenting my model rocketry activities back in the old days.  Flight logs were spotty and incomplete, photographs or drawings of many models were not in existence, and some models did not even have recorded descriptions of what type of rocket they were.

For several months, I sifted through all of this material while writing up descriptive pages about the models on the PC.  This was a very painstaking, slow process, at best.

The flight logs I had on hand consisted of spiral notebooks that contained little more than hand scrawled notes of launch dates, engines / recovery systems used, and a short blurb about the flight performance. Notebooks for three of the years of my involvement in model rocketry were completely missing.

Perhaps the most helpful documentation I kept were yearly lists of my current collection, with tick-marks next to the model names and numbers denoting how many flights each model made that year.  Models that had been lost or destroyed had a brief notation and date.

Information of some undocumented flight were gleaned from the pages of the newsletter of the club to which I belonged, which luckily carried write-ups about club launches.

Other bits of flight information were found on the backs of award ribbons I had won at various contests.

Since I didn’t own a decent camera until around 1979, there were very few photographs of my earlier models.

Despite all of this, I now have a very organized notebook of ‘old fleet’ documentation with as much information and illustrations of each model that could be found. 

Things are much different now in the BAR era, thanks to technology. 

Any number of images and videos can be taken of the new model fleet using the cel phone camera.  Contrast this to the old days when we had to snap pictures of our rockets with film cameras, and wait for film processing, not knowing if our photos were going to be any good or not.

Computers and printers now make for an easy task of writing up nice flight logs and data spreadsheets.

With all of these tools, the BlastFromThePast documentation process is much more organized and comprehensive.  There will now be plenty of data and historical info on hand for this cat!

I now produce good write-ups complete with lots of illustrations for each model in my collection as soon as it is built.  These are essentially the ones that get published here on the blog.

Comprehensive flight logs are kept for each and every launch, and include an accompanying photograph.  These logs document all of the mission data like date, location, time, weather conditions, launch details, etc.  Here is a sample:

A less formal editorial-style ‘article’ is also written up for each launch session.  These are the ones that appear as “Launch Dates” in this blog.

I also keep a running spreadsheet of engine inventories.

The only thing I still do the old school way is a yearly hand-written model list with the launch ‘tick-marks’….

Launch Date: 30 March, 2017

Today’s weather forecast for the front range of Colorado called for temperatures in the low sixties and minimal wind, being the only nice day between Spring snow storms.  I deemed it necessary to get in a ‘rocket fix’ while the conditions were so favorable.

                The soccer fields at Dove valley were in excellent shape when I arrived at around 11:30 a.m.  Temperature was at 61 degrees and winds held around 5-7 mph.  The conditions were very clear with some high cloud cover.

                The first model to be prepped and off the pad was, of course, the Hornet.  The bird turned in yet another pristine flight on an A3-4T engine, with recovery via 1.75” x 24” crepe streamer.  The model took a little bit of a hard landing around 50 feet from the pad, breaking one of its fins off.  A minor fix.

Next up was the Rock-A-Chute Mark II clone on an A10-3T engine.  Again, the model was launched from its specially built ‘retro’ launch pad consisting of a 5/16” wood dowel rod stuck in a board.

To my chagrin, I found that my range box was lacking the usual roll of masking tape and clothespins. 

Darn it, I was using both items for some workbench builds the other day….

Since the engine is friction fit, I had to put on my McGyver hat…

I found a good work-around when I discovered that the white tape strips on the ignit…I mean, starters, would serve adequately as engine friction tape.   The absence of a clothespin meant that I had to bend a paper clip around the launch rod to hold the Mark II off the blast deflector.

All worked fine and the model lifted off perfectly, reached altitude, and deployed its 15” square red parachute for a slow, steady descent.

The next vehicle to go on the pad was an experimental two-stage affair.  The test booster employed air gap staging, and the second stage consisted of the Centuri Star Trooper.  The distance between the two engines is identical to that of a BT-20 based WAC-Corporal and Tiny Tim tandem which is on my future build list.  I wanted to to see if the staging would work using simpler models before attempting to build the more involved scaler.

It didn’t.

The A10-0T was simply too far away to ignite the upper stage.   The ‘flight’ was rather comical as the finless booster was taped to the launch rod.  After first stage ignition, the trooper got ‘boosted’ about two-thirds of the way up the rod, only to slide back down.

Oh, well….It was worth a try…..

After that, I stuck an igniter…I mean, starter… into the Trooper’s 1/2A3-4T engine to send it aloft for a single-stage flight.   The model boosted high and straight, only to not deploy its streamer.  Upon recovery, I found that the engine had ejected, the nose cone had come off, but the wadding, streamer, and shock cord were still inside the body.  The model came down pretty quickly, but sustained no damage.  Apparently, I had not used quite enough of the igniter…I mean, starter…tape to properly friction fit the engine.

With that done, I decided not to push my luck any further. Settling for one perfect flight and one broken fin, it was time to pack up and head home. 

Back In The Day, Part 1

This is kind of a long post, so please bear with me.  It is an exciting(?) account of my initial introduction and involvement in this wonderful hobby of Space Modeling....

INTRODUCING: MODEL ROCKETRY

My first ever exposure to the hobby of model rocketry happened in 1969.  I was a nerdy 13 year old, going through all the usual difficulties of the time for guys in their early teens.  I happened to be buddies with the kid who lived across the street, Marc K.

 I perceived Marc as being even nerdier than myself.  He was very science minded and focused on everything he did. His father was a colonel in the Air Force, so, naturally Marc always had the adequate monetary resources for funding his various hobby interests.  Model rocketry was one of them.

One hot afternoon in August of 1969, Marc invited me to come along with he and his dad to go see a model rocket contest being held that week on the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy. This event was called NARAM-11, a national annual championship meet attended by model rocket enthusiasts from across the country.

I was instantly smitten by seeing all of these really cool, colorful model rockets, and watching them ascend to astounding heights, deploy a bright parachute, and drift back to the ground.

I had put together many plastic static display models over the years, but had never encountered anything like these model rockets. They actual did something...they flew, just like real rockets!  They didn’t get built just to sit on a shelf and collect dust.

 I didn’t know it at the time, but I was watching some of the biggest names associated with the hobby  – many of them pioneers of model rocketry that I would later read about in the hobby magazines, and a few that I would actually get to meet later on.

I also became familiar with the names of Estes Industries and Centuri Engineering, the two most prominent rocket manufacturers present at the event.   I obtained copies of their 1969 product catalogs from their vendor booths as well as the official program of NARAM-11.  I still have these.

Keeping in mind that 1969 was the height of the Apollo Space Program, culminating with men landing on the moon that year, a hobby that involved working model rockets was bound to be all the rage.

Following the visit to NARAM-11, I went home with all of that intriguing reading material in hand.  I pored over the pages of those catalogs, marveling at all of the cool rocket kits being offered – from tiny featherweight models all the way up to the mighty Saturn V !!  I digested all of the technical sections in the catalogs, describing how the models were constructed, the engines that made them go, how they flew, and were recovered.  Marc also lent me his copies of Model Rocketry Magazine.

Hooked!

In those days, I didn’t have an allowance or any other form of monetary income to permit me to purchase model rockets, so I had to be content with accompanying Marc to participate in launching his models.  At home, I even went as far as to construct my own parachutes out of plastic bread bags.  I recall many evenings spent out in the street in front of my house, rolling up these home-made ‘chutes, tossing them into the air as high as I could, using metal washers as the weights suspended under them, constantly tweaking and making adjustments to optimize their performance.  This may all sound goofy, but the exercise proved to be very valuable experience for what was to come….

MODEL ROCKET BABY STEPS

Fast forward to 1973.  By this time I was a nerdy high school junior, going through all of the usual difficulties of the time for guys in their upper teens.  Only now, I held a part-time job and could afford to spend some money on model rockets (and Uriah Heep albums!).

Accompanied by Marc K., I visited a hobby shop in Colorado Springs called Jack Aycock’s Custom Hobbies.  This store catered mostly to the R/C airplane crowd, but Jack carried a respectable supply of model rockets and accessories.  To me, it was like being in a candy store!  Atop one of the shelves stood an already built model rocket – an Estes ‘Mini-Brute’ Hornet that one of the store employees had put together.  Marc suggested that I buy that model and use it to get my feet wet with launching a rocket.  I followed his advice and bought the rocket for around $1.50, along with an Estes Mosquito kit, an older Starblazer kit, and some engines.   I still have that Hornet.

SKYWATCHERS / ROMAR

Once I had built some models of my own and had some rocket-flying experience under my belt, it was time to take the next step.   Marc invited me to come along with him to a meeting of a local model rocket club that was just being organized – The Skywatchers Rocket Club.

Initially, this group consisted of about five or six members, mostly guys in their late twenties or older. The core of the club consisted of Lester and Barb Coburn, Glade and Lillian Gordon, and Frank Gee.  Marc and I joined the club and began participating in launch meets, public demonstration launches at shopping centers, and meetings.  Since I had taken some advanced English and Creative Writing classes in high school, I was appointed as the editor of the club’s newsletter, The Cosmic Steppingstone.  I remained in that role on and off over the next ten years, up until the club ceased to exist in 1984.

In early 1974, the Skywatchers gained sanction as an NAR section, the Rocky Mountain Association of Rocketry (ROMAR), Section # 331.    At the same time, I became an NAR member myself (#25180). 

Things literally ‘took off’ at this point.  Bill Roe, one of the founding pioneers of the hobby, generously donated to the club most of the launch and range equipment that had been used by the Peak City NAR section in the 1960s.  This consisted of launch racks, a central launch controller, communications and PA systems, and tracking theodolites.   The Skywatchers/ROMAR club at this time was using a large empty field on Airport Road roughly ¾ of a mile east of Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs. It’s ironic that the second home I later owned was part of a residential area built on the site of the down-range area of this very same flying field!  I often wondered if the remains of some of my old long-lost model rockets were unearthed by the construction crews.

 I recall one Sunday shortly after obtaining all of that range equipment, all of us club members spent a day at the field and, instead of flying rockets, trenched in permanent phone lines connecting the designated launch area and the tracking station locations.

Once things were set up and organized, Skywatchers/ROMAR began holding regular launches every other Sunday.  Interspersed with sport meets were some of the club’s first NAR-sanctioned contests and organized demonstration launches at local shopping centers and parks.  At that time, ROMAR interacted with a couple of other front range clubs:  a group in Pueblo (PAR) led by Lloyd Armstrong, and the “Rapirhawks”, another Colorado Springs club led by Warren Layfield.  (At this writing, Warren is still active as ‘Senior Advisor’ in a modern Colorado Springs club – COSROCS).

Up until mid-1974, club meetings were held in the back room at Jack Aycock’s Custom Hobbies store.  Not long afterward, Jack retired and sold the shop, so ROMAR was left to find another meeting place.  This happened in the form of being able to use the Hillside Community Center on South Wahsatch St. in Colorado Springs.

THE EARLY DAYS

As for my own rocketry activity, I began small with the building of an Estes Mosquito kit.  This tiny rocket was promptly lost after its first flight, a common problem with Mosquitos!   

I did happen to find the model a couple of days after its flight.  It was sitting in the middle of a motorcycle trail adjacent to the launch field – crushed to smithereens!  Not even the nose cone was salvageable.

To this day, the Mosquito kit is still being produced by Estes, and modern-era model rocketeers consider it a sort of ‘right-of-passage’ to fly one of these diminutive birds and actually recover it afterwards.   I built three of them in my previous rocketry career, and yet another is on the docket for the post-2015 BAR era!  I should know better, but they are fun little rockets!

My second rocket was an Estes Starblazer – the older K-31 kit that was originally designed for ‘Short’ engines, then converted to fly on ‘Mini’ engines when those first came out. This one was a fun rocket to launch, but was eventually lost at the infamous Limon demo (read more about that later).

After a couple more small Estes kits, I got into building birds of my own design.  This was all driven by club competition, which became a major facet of my rocket building activity.  I’ve never counted, but I would wager that well over 60% of the model rockets I built between 1973 and 1983 were for competition purposes. The vast majority of them were custom designed.

It wasn’t long before I was trying out all aspects of model rocketry in addition to competition:  multi-staging, clustering, D-Engine models, aerial photography (Cineroc and AstroCam), boost/gliders, egg-lofting, helicopter recovery, sci-fi models, and even a couple of scale birds.  The two most prominent of these were both Centuri Engineering kits: an IQSY tomahawk and an Apollo Little Joe II.

I also began ordering and building kits from rocket manufacturers other than Estes – namely MPC (Model Products Corporation), CMR (Competition Model Rockets), and MRI.  Strangely enough, I never built or owned a rocket from Flight Systems, Inc. (FSI).  This company was known for its higher powered E and F class engines and kits.  Other members of the Skywatchers club flew these, and they were very impressive models and engines!

I think my all-time favorite model in the collection was an MPC kit – the Lunar Patrol.  This interesting bird consisted of a core booster that carried two detachable delta-wing gliders. Once these were trimmed for efficient glide, the model was very fun to watch – the entire model boosting straight and high, the gliders detaching at ejection, and the booster wafting down on its parachute, while the gliders wheeled around overhead.  Actually, the original booster was destroyed on its first launch attempt by a defective engine, so I re-designed a replacement version that was flown several times.  I wish I still had that rocket.  A plan to build a BAR clone of the Lunar Patrol is definitely on the upcoming schedule.

There were a couple of other model rockets in the old collection that stand out as being some of my favorites to fly.

Remember the Mosquito?  Prompted by a contest event called Maxi-Scale, I ended up building a 3X sized version of the little bird.  Maxi-Scale was where one would take an existing rocket kit and build a larger ‘scale’ rendition of it.

Powered by a mighty D engine, the ‘Skeeter Eeter’ would scream skyward to a very respectable altitude, and come down on a streamer.  The first version of a Skeeter Eeter was lost at the Limon Demo, so a second was later built, this one using standard 18mm engines.  Even on lower impulse power, it was still a very impressive performer.

Another of my favorite models was the Estes A-20 Demon, a kit model designed to fly on a D engine as well. The Demon was a very attractive rocket which never failed to turn in an impressive flight.

Stay tuned for Part 2......

BAR Rocket Fleet - #108 Generic E2X

Estes Industries Kit

Kit #: 2008
Type:  Sport Model

Stages:  Single
Engine Type:  Standard 18mm
Recovery:  Parachute or Streamer

Length:  13.5” (343mm)
Diameter:  .980”  (24.9mm)
Weight Empty:  22.7gm
Nose Cone:  Tangent Ogive, 2.75 Cal.
Fin Type: Clipped Delta, Plastic Fin Can
Number of Fins:  4

Color Scheme: White with black trim

Date Completed: 8 Dec. 2016

The Generic E2X is an Estes kit from the company’s “Easy -to- Assemble’ line of model rockets.  The kit comes with a plastic fin can and nose cone, a plastic nose cone, and stick-on decals.

Built On A Whim….

My two young grand-kids and I have recently embarked on a ‘Classified Top-Security’ project being conducted in a ‘Secret Laboratory’ located deep in the basement of the BlastFromThePast home.  Not even their grandma, whom they are convinced was a real live Ninja in her past, is aware of this covert activity.

As this adventure will involve model rockets, a trip to the local Hobby Lobby was in order to scope out the store’s offering of Estes kits for a ‘Materials Procurement’ mission.

 Since the young-‘uns enjoy doing crafty-type activities, and making things, the idea was to avoid anything out-of-the-box RTF.  

Hmm, an ‘Easy-To-Assemble’ kit to get them started, perhaps…

That’s when I noticed a couple of Generic E2X kits hanging on the pegs.  I had read about these somewhere online and how they made excellent project rockets for school science classes and scout troops.

Why not?   I grabbed one and headed toward the checkout line, clutching a recently printed 40%-off coupon in my sweaty palm.

In the intervening time, I’ve had that un-opened kit sitting in front of me while I’ve worked on my other rocket projects.  

Last Friday, as I was sanding the fins on one of these birds, after the 3^rd application of filler, I thought to myself, “Man, it would be nice to do a build for a change that didn’t require hours of filling and sanding.”

That’s when my eyes lit on the Generic E2X kit.   It beckoned to me.

“No, geek, don’t do it…remember? You bought that for the grandkids!”

Nevertheless, there is just something irresistible about a pristine model rocket kit just sitting there, waiting to be opened and built.  Even if it is a beginner’s E2X.   Temptation got the better of me, and I found myself reaching for the bag and a nearby X-Acto knife. 

Face it, I’m just a rocket geek.

I’ll go buy a couple more for the kiddoes.

For the next half hour, I reveled in putting this little model together, justifying my activity with the reasoning that, by building one first, I could identify any areas of construction where the grand-kids might experience difficulty.  

…that’s a lame-0 excuse…..

And, yes, it was kind of fun having a no-brainer model rocket with a plastic fin can that didn’t require endless filling and sanding! 

Still, being a consummate quality nerd, I couldn’t stand the thought of adding a model rocket to my collection that didn’t have the spiral seams filled on the body tube and launch lug.  Makes no nevermind if it’s a simple E2X or a Skill Level 5 builder’s kit, those seams are getting hidden!  So, yes, I did set to work with filler and sandpaper on this one, after all.

Also, no rocket gets added to my fleet without a proper primer and paint job. 

Which brings us to the final decor…

Estes calls this one ‘Generic’, and in all respects it is a common, run-of-the-mill 4FNC design.

But, when I hear the word ‘generic’, it conjures up recollections of the early 80s when generic foodstuffs first hit the grocery store shelves.  Back then, one could find an entire aisle of groceries in plain black and white containers that featured no more than a brief description of what was inside. In those days, there weren’t even any store-branded generics – it was all the general non-descript stuff.

I looked at the stick-on decals that came with the Generic E2X kit.  In my opinion, these looked a little too fancy-shmancy to be classified as ‘generic’.  And, wait a minute…those are ‘NASA’ and ‘Estes’ logo decals…and a small one that looks suspiciously like the old Estes Aerospace Club logo!  Those are all forms of branding, and don’t even approach being generic!

I tossed the decal sheet aside.

“Not on MY generic rocket”, I declared.

Instead, out came the trusty old Dymo labeler to make my own ‘proper’ generic markings….

A plain white overall paint job and a couple of black band decals later and I now have a bona-fide generic model rocket, in the old-school sense of the word. 

Can’t wait to get this one out to the launch field…..

BAR Rocket Fleet - #107 Carlisle Mark II 'Rock-A-Chute'

Sport Model
 Scratch-built per published plans 

In Model Rocketry Magazine, May 1970

Designed by: Orville Carlisle

Single Stage
13mm Engines
Parachute Recovery
Length:  9.50”  241mm
Diameter (BT-50):  .98”  24.89mm
Weight empty:  .80oz.    22.7gm

Fins: (3) Tapered
Nose Cone: Cylindrical, Rounded

Launch Lug for 1/4” to 5/16” wooden dowel rod

Color Scheme: 
Main Body and 2 fins - White
Nose Cone and 1 fin Bright Red
Checkerboard Roll Pattern –  Black & White Estes Decal
Model Number – Dry Transfer Decals
Lettering:  Dymo Clear Labels
Finish: Pledge w/Future / Simple Green
(Gloss Sauce)

Completion Date:  2016, August 26th

A Thing of Beauty….A Butt-Ugly Model Rocket….

Being a consummate history buff, I am interested in all things old, historic, and antique.
And, now that I am a full-fledged BAR, it is only fitting that I should build and fly a rendition of the Carlisle Rock-A-Chute Mark II model rocket, the one that got the hobby really rollin’ back in the day. 

Working mainly from the plans published in the May, 1970 issue of Model Rocketry Magazine, in the “Old Rocketeer” column, I built this version of the Mark II from modern BT-50 tubing. 

This is such a far cry from all the other model rockets I’ve ever constructed. 

Back in the seventies, being a ‘cool’ 20-something young man, I would only build models that were sleek, drag-efficient, high performance contest grade (and a number of not-quite-so-pretty boost/gliders, too).  

No butt-ugly rockets for this cat! 

I recall seeing the Carlisle Mark II article back in that era, but I never gave it more than a passing glance, thinking “Why would I ever waste my time building such a horrible thing as this? “
Even Mr. Stine reflected this in his article, describing the MII as “Brutish and draggy, compared to today’s (1970) super-sophisticated standards”.

Time passed and my perspectives on life, the universe, and everything also changed significantly. I have since acquired a keen interest in historical things, and some of the old ways of doing stuff.  My other major hobby is woodworking, where I have completely eschewed power tools and embraced “Neanderthalism”, using only antique and vintage hand tools.

In returning to the ranks of model rocketeers, I have carried this appreciation for all things historical right smack dab on to center stage of my BAR ventures. 

Hence, the driving need to build my own Carlisle Rock-A-Chute Mark II.

In addition to this particular model, my near-future build list also includes a Carlisle Mark I, a Mark II ½, a Dirty Bird, an MMI-style Aerobee-Hi, an MMI Arcon clone, and repros of the first model rockets from the earliest Estes and Centuri catalogs.

Anyway, back to the Mark II……

Since the crayon sharpeners that Orville used originally for nose cones are pretty scarce these days, I turned my own nose cone out of balsa on the wood lathe.  On this version, I made the decision to exclude the finger grip ‘ribs’ that were on the originals.  Lazy? Deemed un-necessary? Contributors to overall ugliness?  Take your pick.   Plus, they are not emphasized in the Stine article.

For the engine mount, I used a standard BT-5 type mount for Estes mini-engines, except that the centering rings are fashioned out of pine – sort of a nod to the original models.  The rings were hand-cut from one of those paint stir sticks obtained from Home Depot’s paint desk.  (An article for later discussion:  those paint stir sticks are high on my list of the most wonderful things ever invented.  I can’t even begin to count the various uses I’ve found for them, both on my model rocket work bench, and in my woodshop.  They even come in handy for stirring paint!  Best part is that they’re free for the purloining…er…. asking!)

The Mark II’s BIG UGLY LAUNCHING LUG is made of a 1/2A3-2T mini-engine casing, though it’s a full half-inch shorter than the “Rock-A-Chute” engine casing affixed to the prototype models.  Fittingly, the casing I am using on my model is the very engine that powered my first BAR launch on July 13^th,   2016!  I intend to launch the Mark II using a 1/4” wood dowel launch rod, just like Orville did with the originals.  You know how difficult it is to find a STRAIGHT ¼ x 36 inch dowel these days?

Of course, the launcher for this rocket cannot be the spiffy camera-tripod affair that I use for my other models.  Nope – it’s gotta be a piece of scrap wood with a hole for the dowel launch rod bored somewhere near center.  Fashioned with a handsaw, a smoothing plane, and an antique hand drill, of course…

Oh, and I must not forget the blast deflector cut out from a piece of roof flashing!

I do draw the line at using a fuse or Jetex wick to launch this thing, so I will be employing a more modern electric launch control system and modern igni…I mean, ‘starters’.  I am, however, toying with the idea of building a controller made from an old doorbell button, some cloth insulated lamp cord, and a couple of paper clips – just for history’s sake. 

Back to the model itself….

Of course, the shock cord MUST be nothing short of a piece of elastic tied into a big knot and threaded through a hole in the body tube.  Butt ugly…..

My other major deviation from the originals is the exclusion of the paper fin reinforcement and staples.  I don’t feel that these additions are necessary to the inherent strength of the fin construction, plus they add extra ‘ugliness’ to the finished model….I did, after all, promise my significant other that, on this go-around, I would refrain from building ugly model rockets.  The Mark II is already dangerously borderline.

One other item of note is the ‘Rock-a-Chute’ Logo. I used a DYMO label with clear backing to make a reasonable facsimile.  The labeler model I use has an option for an ‘arrow’ shaped box around the lettering, except that both ends point away from the lettering. Not like the original, but close enough.

A 15” square cut from a dollar store sheet plastic (RED) table cloth is just the ticket to fashion a reproduction of the type of parachute used on the early Mark IIs.

I do believe everything is now officially Golden….

It’s time to don my nerdy 50s clothing; plaid button-down shirt, pleated, cuffed high-water pants, loafers, bright white socks, and perhaps wrap a little white tape around the corner of my reading glasses, and head off to the flying field to re-create my own interpretation of what it might have been like to be one of those late-1950s model rocketry pioneers.

A Little Mark II History…..

The Rock-A-Chute Mark II was developed in 1957 by Orville Carlisle, a shoe salesman of Norfolk, Virginia. Carlisle was also a pyrotechnic hobbyist, and invented a method of producing hand-made solid propellant black powder rocket engines which consisted of a thrust charge, delay charge, and ejection charge. He built small model rockets made of paper, wood, and plastic to go with his engines.

At the time, the space race between the United States and Russia was in full swing, and many young people were attempting to build their own rockets, constructing them out of metal pipes, metal fins, and every concoction of explosive material to propel them.  Many of these experiments resulted in serious injury and death to the participants.   A professional rocket engineer, G. Harry Stine, was working at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico at the time, and published articles about the dangers of these ‘basement bombers’ and their hazardous rocketry activities.  Carlisle read one of these articles and wrote to Stine, saying that he had developed a small rocket that might provide the solution to this ‘youth rocketry problem’.   Carlisle sent some of his Mark II models and some engines to Stine, who was able to conduct test flights.  He was impressed, and also agreed that this was indeed the solution to the youth rocketry problem.  Stine subsequently went on to found his own model rocket manufacturing company (Model Missiles, Inc.), as well as starting what became the National Association of Rocketry.  Carlisle and Stine were NAR member #s 1 and 2.  Even though the Mark II is not Carlisle’s first design, the model stands in history as the one that started the hobby of model rocketry as we know it today.

BAR Rocket Fleet - #106 Star Trooper

Sport Model

Scratch-built per published plans for

Centuri Engineering Kit # KM-3
Single Stage
13mm Engines
Streamer Recovery

Length:  8.125”  (206.3mm)

Diameter (BT-5):  .544”   (13.82mm)

Weight empty:  .3 oz. 

Fins: (3) Raked, Inverted

Nose Cone: Parabolic

Launch Lugs for standard 1/8” rod.

Color Scheme: 

Fins, Nose Cone and lower body - Model Master Pearl Yellow

Upper Body – Testors Gloss Green

Trim:  Lower band – Chrome Trim Monokote

Roll Pattern – Estes Decal

Model Number – Dymo label, clear

Finish: Pledge w/Future / Simple Green

(Gloss Sauce)

Completion Date:  2016, August 22^nd

The Star Trooper is constructed according to the original Centuri Engineering kit plans / instructions. This model is built to the long-tube version option, with the body tube (Estes BT-5) fashioned from a single length, rather than two-piece as shown in the plans.

The recovery system also deviates from the plans in that it uses a standard forward shock cord mount and front deployment of the streamer.

The nose cone used is an Estes PNC-5A from the company’s current PNC-5 nose cone pack.   Initially plans called for turning a balsa nose cone for this model, but it was found that the PNC-5A was a mere 1/8 inch shorter than the original kit nose cone, so that was deemed ‘close enough’.

The current Estes re-make of the Star Trooper uses an even shorter nose cone.

Because the Star Trooper is intended to be used for sport flying, the fins were not air-foiled to high-performance specs, rather they were finished with leading and trailing edges rounded.

The model also carries a small amount of clay weight in the tip of the nose cone to provide a little bit more momentum during flight coasting phase.

The classic yellow and green color scheme was chosen for this model, even though some rocketeers point out that it looks too ‘John Deere-esque’.  The chrome trim and white roll pattern help to somewhat alleviate that issue.

No attempt was made to duplicate the decals of the original kit, as they are small and somewhat complex.  I did not have access to the proper printing equipment to make exact copy decals.