At Last.. Time To Get Some Rocket Work Done

 The BlastFomThePast shop has recently  seen a lot of idle time in respect to building rockets.

There were just way too many other unrelated projects and activities vying for my time.

This past week, I was able to concentrate on the Mountaineer IV build.

All construction, filleting, and grain filling is now complete, and the bird is ready for primer.

The good news is that we have a big, fat high pressure cell sitting over Colorado, warming things up and keeping the nasty cold weather systems far to the north.

Good painting days ahead.

On another note, I am planning the first launch of the year  for this upcoming week.

Sadly, we have lost use of Dove Valley Park for an entire year.  It's closed down for a massive renovation and expansion project, not scheduled to re-open until next March.

So, all of us are thrashing about looking for other area parks in which to practice our craft. Most of what we have found is in the B6-4 range.

Perhaps this might prompt me to get down to more S.C.O.R.E. launches in Pueblo this year to fly the bigger stuff and gliders.

Anyway, as I am writing this post, I am also prowling about the deep, dark, and dank subterranean depths of my home (the basement shop), rummaging through various boxes and totes in search of the next rocket project.

Aha!....Here it is.....the Deltie Airshow model I started a little while back.

Now where did my modeling tools end up after my last shop re-organization frenzy???

Cheers!

So Close And Yet So Far...

I just returned from a week long trip to Maryland to visit a daughter, grandson, and son-in-law who is stationed at Fort Meade.

The last two days of our stay, Monday and Tuesday, were designated as sightseeing days.

The main thing on my bucket list was to visit Goddard Space Flight Center.

We learned that it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays...

No worries, we'll drive down to D.C. and visit the National Air and Space Museum.

After parking, we walked to the museum only to find a long line of people waiting outside. It was then that we learned that the museum operated on timed, pre-paid tickets, and that they were sold out for the day.....

Strike two.....

Next door to the Air and Space museum was the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art.

Boring... definitely not my cup o' tea.  That stuff could not even hold a candle to the aircraft and rockets I had come to DC expecting to see....

Ok, let's try the original old Smithsonian building!

After walking around most of the structure, we learned that it was closed for renovation....

Stee-rike three!

Ok, one last stab - we walked across the Capitol Mall to the National Natural History Museum...which WAS open.

Only problem here was that it was packed  wall-to-wall with people!

It became near impossible to jostle our way through the crowds just to get a glimpse of any one of the exhibits. Staying together as a group was even more difficult.

By this time, all of us adults were becoming somewhat irritated, and our 5-year old grandson was getting a bit grumpy....

We're outta here....

A Productive Day In The Shop.

As promised, I did manage to immerse myself into some rocketry projects yesterday.

The first order of business was to facilitate repairs on a couple of birds that got busted up last fall.

The first was the Rascal rocket glider. On its maiden flight, a hard landing broke the fuselage in three places. These are now glued back together and awaiting the application of a strengthening/reinforcement scheme.

In parallel, a new fin for the EAC Viper was fashioned, attached, sealed, and brush painted. I still have to do the masking and painting of the orange and purple areas, but the bird will soon be in shape to fly at the next launch session.

Intertwined with these projects, I also managed to glue on the fins of the Estes Omega sustainer stage. Note the cool LEGO-built cradle.

At the same time, I finished papering the booster fins, which will probably get attached today.

Oh, and the frosty trek to the mailbox paid off. The Estes catalog had indeed arrived!

I haven't sat down and perused it in detail yet, but I'll get to it later today, as well.

Cheers!

"All The Trees Are Brown...."

 "...And the skies are gray..."

                -The Mamas & The Papas

...and it's cold

....and it's icy....

...and there's snow all over the place.

I sorely need a rocket flying fix!

And, since I'm certainly not 'dreaming' of 'California', I might as well just shrug, quit griping, and submerge myself into the  BlastFromThePast basement LaBORatory and glue something up.

I've got more than a few projects in various stages of completion. Will post some progress pics later this week.

Maybe, later today I'll even don the fur parka and the mukluks, trudge out across the frozen tundra to the mail box, and see if the new 2023 Estes catalog has arrived yet.

It's That Time Of Year Again !

 It's hard to believe that it's 2023 already.

Truly, we must have been having fun because time has certainly flown.

As is my wont every January, I do my annual look-back at the previous year's model rocketry activity. So here goes:

I managed to log 43 flights in 2022 spread out over 8 launch sessions, 6 of which took place at Dove Valley Park in Centennial, Colorado.

One of these flights marked my 200th BAR-era launch.

Other highlights included my 1st BAR cluster launch, a launch of some rocket mail, and a few altimeter//vidcam tandem launches.

No models were damaged last year that required relegation to the dust bin, though a few were dinged up enough to earn a spot in the 'repair hangar'.

No models were lost !!

Oddly, the BlastFromThePast shop managed to introduce only four new models to the stable in 2022, three of which were already mostly completed holdovers from the 2021 binge build!

A substantial amount of progress was made on the 2022 binge build, but out of the nine models started, only one was finished and saw some air time.

The remainder of the birds are now part of the new 2022-23 semi-binge build!

So, here are my annual photos of the current flight-worthy fleet:

Let's not forget the birds awaiting repair:

And, finally the in-progress 2022-23 models:

Here's wishing you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year !!

Merry Christmas !!

 ...to you and yours!

Keep 'em flyin'!

2022 Binge Build, Part 7 - Update

 I thought it was high time that I should sit down and write an update post on the 2022 model rocket binge build. So here goes:

There is no update !

The truth is, I barely even touched a model rocket during the entire month of October, except perhaps to move a few parts and assemblies around to make room for other projects. I did manage to find the time to glue a couple of fins on the Deltie Airshow booster rocket. 

And then there was the model prep for the October 31 launch at Dove Valley.

There were actually several good reasons for this inactivity during October.

First, the initial two weeks were spent in Maryland to visit family there. I had hoped to make a side trip to visit Goddard while I was in the vicinity, but that didn't come to fruition.

In mid-month, I had a request from my oldest grandson to help him build a really cool slingshot he wanted.

So, the rockets got pushed aside and the BlastFromThePast shop transformed into woodworking mode.

I did happen to binge on one thing during the month - all of the new Star Wars series that hit Disney +.

As an aside, if any of you readers are SW fans, don't miss the Andor series. It's really good, in my opinion.

Here's a tip for watching this one - most of the actors speak in thick British, Irish, or Scottish accents, plus the audio level is very low through a lot of it. If you want to even begin to follow any of the dialogue, I strongly advise kicking on the closed-caption feature on your TV.

Anyway, back to rockets.

I seriously don't anticipate November to be much better in terms of getting a lot of work done on the build pile.  I've already started unpacking and testing the massive amount of Christmas lights for the annual outdoor decorating project, so the shop has again transformed into 'Electrical Central'.

So, it is quite likely that the current pile of rocket projects will become the "2022-23 Semi-Binge Build".

I'll let you know if I happen to find time to glue up a fin or two.

Perhaps even a launch lug.....