A Born Again Rocketeer is Back

After a long (~18 year!) hiatis, I've started building and launching model rockets again. Much of my original rocket fleet is still memorialized via the Internet Wayback Machine at:
http://web.archive.org/web/20091022073032/http://geocities.com/lhelseth/LarrysFleet.html and reposted here on LARRY'S FLEET.

I had a lot of kits purchased in the early 2000's waiting to build, including one that was partially built and set aside. I decided to first finish that rocket, then build a couple of kits to get back in the swing of things before moving on to some "scratch" built rockets (modified from legacy plans using available parts, hand cut fins, etc.).

  1. Estes Executioner - This was an Estes kit, model #1951, listed as a skill level 3, that was partially built in ~2004 (needed fins sanded & attached).  This is a 39" X 2.6" rocket that flies on 24 mm D12 or E9/E15 engines.  After glueing the through-the-wall fins and launch lugs, I filled the fins using carpenters wood filler thinned with water, using the same to fill the spiral in the body tube.  After sanding, I sprayed the rocket with primer and sanded when dry.  The finish coat was gray for the body, with black fins and a black nose cone.  I painted everything gray, waited for that to dry overnight, then covered the body with a bag and masked the body near the fins with Frog tape and painted the fins and nose cone black.  Here's the finished rocket:


  2. Next to build was an Estes Patriot 10th scale model rocket (Skill1, #2056, purchased in 2003).  Rocket simulation software says it should fly on 253’ on a B6-4 and 649' on a C6-5.  I built this following the kit's instructions, filling the fins, priming and painting white and red before applying decals:


  3. I also built (snapped together; no glue required!) a new Estes Astrocam rocket (Estes #007308).  This rocket has a digital video camera, and I've always wanted to capture video.  I had an earlier Astrocam that used a 110 film cartridge to capture pictures from apogee.  Check the Internet Wayback Machine for pictures of my kid's middle school from around 500' at http://web.archive.org/web/20091022045855/http://geocities.com/lhelseth/AstrocamPage.html and reposted on LARRY'S FLEET.
I also sanded and painted a semi-finished Estes Alpha that my daughter, Sarah, had started.  Here are the latest additions to Larry's Fleet, ready to launch (notice the slight difference in size with the Alpha, Astrocam, Patriot and Executioner shown left to right):


Projected altitudes were (using OpenRocket software):
  • Executioner: 377’ on a D12-3 or 694’ on a E9-4
  • Patriot:  253' on a B6-4  or 649' on a C6-5
  • Astrocam:  337’ on a B6-4 or 896’ on a C6-5
  • Alpha:  433’ on an  A8-5 or 844' on a B6-6
I'll post launch pictures and videos soon.

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