I received a call from my wife while at work this evening. We had a fire. It was contained to the bedroom, but that's where my Thunder Roc, Vulcan, and X-24 clones were as well as my Mini X-15, Snitch and the unkown name Estes mini engine orange RTF "Buck Rogers" type rockets. Also lost were my second computer and most of my clothes and old comics. All I have left is the still under construction "Big Daddy", which was in another room. Thankfully, I hadn't built much of a collection yet as a BAR. But it still sucks. What damage the fire didn't do, the firemen did. They knocked around my RC planes in another room and totaled them both also. I guess I won't be flying ANYTHING any time soon.

I'm just glad my 8 year old orange tabby Sohki is OK. He was the only one home at the time.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
John Lance Ladd
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
Grovers Mill, NJ
Established 1938
lladd.netau.net

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear that, Lance. I hope everything works out ok with insurance and all. I'm glad no one got hurt.

__________________
Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
Ye Olde Rocket Forum
WOOSH NAR Section #558

I second Scott's sympathy, Lance. Loosing a collection, even a small one, hurts. But those things can easily be replaced. Your cat, though, is another member of the family. Give him a good hug and a tickle...

Craig "Unashamed cat lover..." McGraw

Sorry about the loss Lance. Just glad everyone is OK and most of your house as well. I hope everything works out with your rebuilding. I finally broke down and took photos of all of my built and unbuilt kits for insurance purposes. Beats trying to remember everything.

__________________
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

Thanks to you all for your support. I really appreciate it. Looking forward, I guess the only two that are irreplaceable are the two older Estes molded plastic rockets. The only reason I still had them from my earlier years in rocketry was that they were small and tough. They're actually still both in one piece, but they look like Fliskit's ACME Spitfire now (without it's stability though. ) That X-15 from the starter set would really get up 'n' go on a A10-3T too. BTW, I'll post a picture of the "orange Buck Roger's type" rocket as soon as I can in hopes that someone might help me recall it's name. It should have one for a proper "burial".

__________________
John Lance Ladd
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
Grovers Mill, NJ
Established 1938
lladd.netau.net

The name of the orange Buck-Rogers-type plastic rocket is Moon Dog. I happened across the old packaging for this ARTF while cleaning out all the cabinets and drawers. I always liked the look of it - it will be missed.

__________________
John Lance Ladd
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
Grovers Mill, NJ
Established 1938
lladd.netau.net

It hasn't been OOP for long. You can still find it in some hobby shops and they're on eBay all the time at reasonable prices. It was my sons first rocket when he was 2 or 3.

__________________
Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
Ye Olde Rocket Forum
WOOSH NAR Section #558

Here's the photo I was going to post to see if anyone could help me remember the name before I found the packaging. Looks like something Wile E. Coyote or Duck Dodgers just got done with.


No joy so far. I don't have many hobby shops in the neighborhood, and google-ing only turned up an image for it. (A very small one at that.)

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
John Lance Ladd
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems
Grovers Mill, NJ
Established 1938
lladd.netau.net

I'd try flying it myself.

Try these places to see if they still have one:

http://www.performancehobbies.com/rkestes.htm

http://www.discounthobbycenter.com/...body_estes.html

http://www.a2zhobbies.com/pichtml/Est1839.html

http://www.rchobbyworld.com/estes.html

__________________
Scott D. Hansen
Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe - Your One Stop BAR Shoppe!
Ye Olde Rocket Plans - OOP Rocket Plans From 38 Companies!
Ye Olde Rocket Forum
WOOSH NAR Section #558

To keep a little humor around, why not take those remains and build a Loony Toons diorama around it? Martian surface, or the moon... Add Daffy, or Wille E. (or even Porky in his space suit) to complete the scene.

If you could find some of those small plastic toy figures, like the ones they have on Boomerang (Cartoon Network), you could make a really convincing display.

And it saves having to bear the frustration of trashing the model...


Craig McGraw