For some reason (and this post will probably make it worse), social media have been slamming me with ads for model rockets. Maybe they’re digging way, way back into our commercial history, because I was last personally into them back in junior high — the early ’70s. I do have to admit, though, that these latest models look pretty sweet and tempt me into trying.
I’d probably face the same problem I did in junior high, though: I’d scrimp and save to buy a model to fuss over, and then I’d have no money to buy the engines you need to launch them. There were also all these accessories you needed, like an ignition system and a launch pad, and I couldn’t afford that, either.
Oh, well. Just mentioning this ancient interest means that Big Brother will helpfully dig up all kinds of pretty pictures of spaceships to sprinkle into my mentions. That works for me! Especially if they displace all the crappy ads for insrnce and fnerl services and mle enhncem*nt services I usually get.
Dude! I’m 45 and I just put together an Estes two-stager that I intend to launch as soon as I get engines. I also play tabletop RPGs and miniature wargames.
Don’t be ashamed of wanting to have fun (provided you’re not hurting anyone) and don’t let our uptight, workaholic culture put age limits on your fun.
I got hours of entertainment from the water version. No engines, just a water filled rocket and a pump. Good times…
Remember: don’t fire them horizontally, you might hit a cop.
I’m in my mid-late 30s, and mine just bombards me with dodgy dating sites (“still single at 37?” sod off with that, you know it’s true and always has been!) and cheap Turkish hair transplant surgeons. Because it knows I have a crippling body dysmorphia centred around the fact I am losing some of my hair (well, I’m on medication to stop it getting worse now) and will do anything to stop that and reverse the hand of time. Thing is, it’s had an effect, and I’m now looking into such surgeries as a solution to my problems.
Damn you toxic combination of hormones, gay male beauty culture and capitalism!
Hey! I just checked out the Estes website and it looks like you can buy a launching kit that includes a rocket, a launch pad, and ignition system for thirty dollars. Temptation away!
BTW: My brother and I had no problem with the cost (we made our own launch pad and used fuses for launching!!!!), Our biggest problem was retrieving the rockets in one piece after launch.
I started getting bombarded with ads for Epoch Times. I’m an atheist. I got bombarded wit Nutraslim ads last month. I’m anorexic. Recently I’ve been getting gun ads. I’m white. These targeted ads are a real pain in the ass.
Oh, I’m not at all ashamed by my nerdy tendencies — I think model rockets are neat-o, and have attended some of the kids’ rocket launches at the local school. I just know I’d be too distracted by work and a million other interests to give it the attention it deserves.
Right now I’m also really tempted by FPV drones, although those are far more expensive and time-consuming than model rockets and even further out of my reach.
If there are FPV model rockets, don’t tell me, I don’t want that much temptation.
Estes toys and their black powder motors. Pshaw.
I left the hobby years ago when the new owners of our local launch field decided we were done when new ATF requirements made high-power rocketry a bit harder to deal with. I gaze at my dusty LOC Caliber-ISP, propped up in the corner of the room with its reloadable G motor, and I weep. How I miss the smell of burning ammonium percholate in the morning.
Oh who am I kidding. I quit because I can’t afford it anymore.
Commercial rockets and engines? Pah!! I used to make my own solid fuel (until the accident and reason I have a seein’ eye and a not-frightenin’-younguns-or-bein’-mistaken-for-Polyphemus eye). Humph! Kids today! Get off my lawn!!!
@2 Have you tried Mintos and Coke as fuel ?
Ah yes. Model rockets, and wire-controlled aerocraft. Didn’t do too much of the former, but built one my own — from scratch, not a kit — of the later, as part of my metal shop class. (Several others did too, as I recall, the design was by(?) the instructor.)
Wait what is that? A Colonial Viper Mark VII? Sign me up!
TIP: Search for flower seeds and you will get pretty ads. I found this out by accident, but am very glad I did. :)
Do what I did, get the engines and the launcher and never mind the rockets. Just strap engines to stuff you make/find yourself and see what happens!
In college we seriously got into Estes rockets. I was a model builder since childhood (still do, working on a De Havilland Mosquito B. Mk IX right now) and a buddy was an aerospace engineering major, so we did a lot of aerodynamic experimentation. Some of it was enlightening, some got us chased around by a crazed little 1400 degree flame bent on our destruction.
Ah, memories…. Harking back to 1974 or 75, when I flew from Pennsylvania to California with a 30″ model rocket and and an “E” engine (!) in my carry-on bag. Yes, they had x-ray machines back then, but I guess my teenage self didn’t appear to be a threat. Simpler times.
Model rocketry was one of the few passions my father actually supported. I should get back into that.