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4-H Fair Results July 14, 2010

Justin, the kid next door who got me back into rocketry, and Jaclyn, his sister, are 4-H members; I'm their Project Leader for Aerospace, which in my book means rocketry. This year, Justin showed one rocket at the Knox County, Missouri Fair: His "Bomb," a rocket he designed with OpenRocket to look like, well, a bomb. Jaclyn showed two rockets, a Semroc Saki and an Estes Crossbow SST.

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4-H Launch July 3, 2010

The weather forecast said that the next week would be unsuitable for launching; so, despite 12-20 mph breezes and a cloudy sky, I decided it was time for our 4-H club launch. This year, Sam wasn't able to participate, so the group consisted of Jaclyn and Justin. My daughter Taylor and I also launched some rockets.

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Back Yard Launch June 24, 2010

For about the first time this year, launching conditions were perfect this afternoon. So, I launched a few in the back yard with Taylor (my daughter) pushing the button and helping to retrieve them. Sorry, no pictures this time.

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SPARC Launch August 22, 2009

Once again, I joined the SPARC guys in St. Peters, Missouri for their regular monthly launch. They were launching at the soccer field this time, so we drew some spectators, which was pretty cool.

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Back Yard Launch July 19, 2009

The wind quieted somewhat suddenly Sunday evening, and my thoughts turned naturally to rockets. Four kids (my daughter and three neighbor boys) were in the yard, so I got four low fliers together along with my handmade controller and my modified Estes stand, and headed out to the back yard.

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Mo' Skeeter July 9, 2009

At our 4-H Club Launch on the 9th of July, I got to launch the Mo' Skeeter for the first (and presently only) time.

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4-H Launch July 9, 2009

My first launch of the year happened to be our 4-H club launch. I had three project members present: Sam, Jaclyn, and Justin. It's Justin's third year doing 4-H Aerospace, but the first for Jaclyn and Sam.

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SPARC Launch September 28, 2008

Some time back (like, last year), Troy (akpilot) issued an open invitation to me to attend one of his club's launches. I finally got the chance yesterday.

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Celestial Navigator September 3, 2008

This will be my first truly homebrew design. I've always been a kitbasher; even my beautiful (and sadly missing) Dawn Star was bashed from a Patriot and a Baby Bertha. About the only original rocket in my fleet is my Phoenix, which was more an accident than a planned design.

That ends now. I've just received notice that my parts order has shipped from Semroc, including two 9.5" ST-10 tubes, an 18" ST-7 tube, an 18mm engine mount for the ST-10, appropriate centering rings to allow me to mate the ST-7 to the two ST-10's, and a medium-length ogive cone to cap it off.

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A Perfect Day September 7, 2008

The weather this morning was beautiful, and the weather forecast was for more of the same all day long. Partly cloudy, temperature in the 70's and 5-10MPH breezes all day. I knew better than to believe that last... I've learned that, in Missouri, you prep your rockets when there is a breeze, and often there will be none when you start to actually launch; but start prepping when there is no breeze, and a stiff one will blow up on you. But this is a good thing, I thought, as I wandered out into the light breeze.

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Labor Day September 1, 2008

My daughter Taylor and I launched a very few rockets in the back yard tonight, starting around 7:30pm; thus, we had about half an hour of useful daylight left. Mainly, I wanted to test my new miniature X-24 Bug (3/4 scale, 13mm power, all paper except for the bulkhead) and try out my over 20 year old Centuri Flying Saucer. I also launched Taylor's Gauchito. Rather than dragging out the four-way stand, I used an Estes stand (modded with a ceramic tile launch deflector) and my wooden launch controller. It was about 85°F and apparently windless.

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Sunday Evening Rocketry July 13, 2008

After waiting seemingly forever for (a) decent weather and (b) all the hay and wheat to be mowed, we finally got our chance. Taylor, Justin, Jaclyn, and I all got in some launches, and for the most part we were very satisfied. All of my rockets which got launched had never been launched before.

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New Centurion -- Completed! July 7, 2008

I have built a rocket which I call the "New Centurion." It's inspired by the classic Centuri Centurion, which had an innovative (for the time) ejection baffle system. My New Centurion has an offset-tube baffle, breaks at the midline (just above the baffle), and features three interchangeable engine mounts (1x18mm, 2x18mm, 1x24mm D/E).

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Launch Stand

Well, it's done! Today I took five pieces of 2x6 lumber scrap, ripped them down to 2x4, then cut the four leg pieces to 30" length. The top board happened to be just under 53" long, and I left it that length; with a bit more than 5" on each end to hold the leg brackets, I was able to space the tilt and swivels 14" apart. Click here to read more...  

Pharos I: Fantasy Scale Rocket February 7, 2008

   Here's my latest creation: Pharos I, a "fantasy scale" rocket.

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Cyclone -- Assembly Complete January 17, 2007

Tonight I finished assembling my Cyclone, and I'm quite happy with it despite one glaring error.

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My Old Photos Now Online August 21, 2007

Well, here they are... the pictures that, had I any sense, I'd never allow to be seen. The pictures that graced the pages of my last 4-H Model Rocketry project book.

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Cloudy But Calm August 19, 2007

This afternoon was cloudy but fairly calm, with breezes of around 5 MPH or so. Justin and I decided to launch a few of our rockets, including some of mine that had never been launched as well as a few that hadn't been up recently.

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New Online Tool -- Centering Ring Generator May 25, 2007

I've created an online centering ring generator tool. It creates 150 dpi PNG images, which can be downloaded and printed. Click here to try it out.   

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Last Updated 07/15/2010