We all have our favorite kits. Most of us have childhood memories of our favorite kits we could not afford. But what is your favorite year or just the peek time for this hobby?

__________________
craftsman, builder of exotics

I predict that most people will peg the golden age as the years around when the hobby.

I'd like to note that virtually every kit you could ever buy is available now, or can be easily cloned.

While we all miss certain motors, the selection these days is surprisingly good, especially at the high end.

Digital cameras beat Cineroc and Camroc hands-down.

We're in the golden age!

When was the golden age of model rocketry? Why, my friend, we are in it now. Our victory earlier this year in the BATFE lawsuit should have dispelled any remaining doubt about that.

But to answer your question, my involvement in the hobby during its "classic" years was from 1967-71. Looking back on that period, I feel the most nostalgic for the year 1969, for a whole host of reasons. You can probably guess what some of those reasons are.

When I restarted my rocketry hobby in 2004, in a Rip Van Winkle sort of way I expected almost everything to be the same as it was in 1971. I was perplexed, bedazzled, confused, disappointed and thrilled by what I found, though. My predominant feeling since then, though, has been sustained exhilaration, and that shows no sign of ending anytime soon. Every time I look around and think that things couldn't possibly be better, some new and thrilling development pops up. The only thing that is really lacking now (and its a big one) is numbers, as in, the number of people who are flying model rockets now. But while I realize that the number of model rocketeers are down in the USA from where they once were, I also think that worldwide, there are more people enjoying this hobby now than there ever were at anytime in its history. Losses in the US over the years have been balanced by gains nearly everywhere else during that same period. I don't know this for a fact, but I strongly suspect that it is true.

MarkII

__________________
SAM # 0011

I must wholeheartedly agree. I cannot think of any OOP (Out Of Production) rocket kit that I cannot acquire either as a complete reproduction kit or in a "piecewise" way from several different vendors.

A case in point: While I was never a Cub Scout or a Boy Scout, I have always liked the Akela-1 (see: http://www.oldrocketplans.com/centu...654/cen1654.htm ), which is physically identical to the Centuri Viking (see: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/ca...81/81cen34.html ), from which the Estes Viking is derived. I bought the laser-cut fiber fins and the properly-sized body tubes, launch lugs, motor thrust rings, and nose cones (in balsa) from Semroc, two cast-resin reproduction nose cones from Sirius Rocketry, and the 8-rocket Akela-1 decal sheet from Excelsior Rocketry.

Even if my heart was set on reproducing a rocket that has a lot of molded plastic parts (such as the MPC Moon-Go, for example), I could have precision-turned and laser-cut parts and decals custom-made by any number of small vendors.

Some people may gripe that we no longer have B14 or B8 motors or A8 or A10 booster motors, but having 95% of a full bale of hay is a cause for celebration, not lamentation!

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

For me it's the Scout, the first Estes kit and then the Omega two stage and the Cineroc.

I have buitlt and lost many rockets over the past 45 years, and while many would be a favorite of mine, it would be hard to narrow it down. But the above would be my first choces.

The rockets of yesteryears were great because you had to "build" them, lots of balsa, not like today, plastic and molded parts.

With the Estes Classic Series, hopefully, they will be getting back to that. It might not be on schedule, but, I think it will be worth the wait. Can't wait for their Saturn V also.

1988 for me. My dad had just gotten back into the hobby I had never heard of or seen a "flying modle rocket" before but once I shot my first one I was addicted. Of course I was 4 years old in 1988. I built my first rocket in 1995 it was the mini engine ninja. I lost interest in the hobbyaround 2002. by that time I was into composite rockets however estes pretty much cut production down to about 5 rocket kits and the rest were RTF. The last rocket I built up until this month was in 2003. My dads favorite rocket was the Ram Jet. We lost it in the early 90s. So in 03 when he got back from Iraq I suprissed him by getting a New still in the pack never built Ram Jet. We built it together and after that I pretty much was done with the hobby. UNTIL now. I am working on an upscale of the Ram Jet. Guess I picked a hell of a way to get back into the hobby. I plan on building quite a few rockets now I wan to build what I call "the complete NASA run. thats Mercury Atlas, Saturn 1B, Saturn V, Space Shuttle, and Nasa's new rocket. and also want to design one and perhaps an upscale of super big bertha in there. Just a few ideas I have.

As others have already said, this is the golden age.

What he said. . .

__________________
A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets. But high above the quiet streets on the 12th floor of the Acme Building, one man is still trying to find the answers to life's persistent questions. Guy Noir, Private Eye.

Fox Valley Rocketeers: http://www.foxvalleyrocketeers.org

Depends on the person's perspective of course. I flew my first model rocket when I was 12, on October 17, 1968. It was the Astron Scout. I drifted away @1971, when I "discovered" other interests - cars, girls, etc, just like most of us. Back into it 1978-1982, then a major career change, then back for good from 1987. I never really got out of the hobby, even though I might not have been flying. All this to say, I'm not sure I can define what was my favorite era. I might be able to better define what, in my opinion was the low point. I think that might have been the mid-70's. I wasn't flying much if at all, but in that period a number of manufacturers bailed out [MPC, AVI, etc] and the kits and designs just seem to get "dumbed down". Inflation in that time period took it's toll, too, as well as the decline of interest in the space program.

I think many people consider "the golden age" as that time period when they they first started in the hobby - it was all new. I could say the '68-'71 time period for me, but in a real sense, the period from 1987 to the present has been much more interesting and exciting. The founding of our club, SPAAR in '88, the onset of the HPR age, the advances in ACPC motors, electronics, etc.

OK, I've babbled on long enough. My favorite kit? In my heart, the old Astron Scout because it was my first [sounding maudlin here?], so the "Golden Scout" project last year was really cool to me. But the old Estes Saturn 1B is up there too. It graced the cover of the 1968 Estes catalog, the first catalog I ever had [and read from cover to cover a zillion times]. However, due to the price, $9.95, I could never afford one! It was almost like the girl you had a crush on but could never have. Ironically, I have several unbuilt SEMREC Saturn 1B kits in my stash, and one is actually about 95% built - and I started it 2 years ago! Go figure. OK, sorry for putting way too much thought into this.....

__________________
Got a Caribbean soul I can barely control.....

I was in third grade (1975) when I got my first rocket. An X-15 starter set (the good one). I bought (well, my grangfather did) it at the Kennedy Space Center Gift shop. We were there to see Deke Slayton take the last Apollo into space for the ASTP. That whole experience and the next five to ten years cemented it for me as far as rocketry goes. Most all of the clones I've made, and plan to make, are from that time. My kids and now my wife are all hooked. Is this a great hobby or what?