That's just a testament to their durability, though to be honest, that one has been retired after one other subsequent flight.

For those not in on the joke, that model had flown maybe 8-10 times, never a problem. Then I had one of those days...managed to sneak away for NSL one year but could only make it for one day, so packed and prepped about 30 models for a really busy day. Got there right when they opened, but launch equipment was buggered up, took a few hours before the range was live. Then I proceeded to destroy just about everything I'd brought. Stable rockets previously flown started flying like bats on crack. Ejection charge on a reload (stock red cap) fell off, and a gorgeous QModeling Mega Vega failed to deploy, shovel recovery.

The model pictured started off OK, then arced over and buzzed over vendor row. It pranged and flew itself directly into that trash dumpster, directly behind the Fliskits tent. One of my more memorable not-quite-by-the-book recoveries.

Mario wrote the book on construction, one of these days I'm going to write the book on destruction .