A Fish Named Wallyum
09-18-2005, 08:49 PM
First of all, no pics, so let's get that card on the table right away. Fact is, I'd completely forgotten about this until my brother reminded me tonight. When we first started in 1977, we each found a tube and built a rocket out of scrap balsa, bread bags, and rubber bands scrounged from the mailman. Mine was a "beauty" called the Phantom Cruiser. Dave was apparently more aerodynamically ambitious and decided to give the X-15 from the Estes catalog a shot.
The big launch took place at NKU on the same day that the rest of our neighborhood flew for the first time. Apparently the only thing we did right on the X-15 was paint it black with model dope. Dave had carved the nose cone out of a piece of wood and "winged" the fin design so that it looked like a somewhat short version of the X-16 that Estes kitted later. The launch lug was a drinking straw. To be honest, we really thought it would fly. After all, it was based on a rocket from the catalog, and those always flew fine. Right???
As far as I can tell, the launch had to be on the C6-5 that I've never been able to account for. (That doesn't matter much, but it conveniently fills a hole in my books.) First we prepped the motor, unraveling a Black Cat, removing the wick, and packing the powder carefully into place with the end of a match. Then the X-15 was loaded onto our club rod, (a straightened coathanger in an upright 2 x 2, mounted on a piece of plywood,) and the wick lit. The result was predictable as the rocket began an end-over-end trajectory that took it into the dry weeds that bordered the parking lot, again with predictable results. Fire.
Now that I think of it, the fire was probably what ended Dave's days in rocketry. There was no wind, so the fire didn't spread and we were able to stomp it out, but it pretty much snuffed the flame of desire for pursuing the hobby. He's 40 now, and I think I can safely say that the day will never come when the term BAR means anything more than a place to belly up to on game day. :cool: ;)
The big launch took place at NKU on the same day that the rest of our neighborhood flew for the first time. Apparently the only thing we did right on the X-15 was paint it black with model dope. Dave had carved the nose cone out of a piece of wood and "winged" the fin design so that it looked like a somewhat short version of the X-16 that Estes kitted later. The launch lug was a drinking straw. To be honest, we really thought it would fly. After all, it was based on a rocket from the catalog, and those always flew fine. Right???
As far as I can tell, the launch had to be on the C6-5 that I've never been able to account for. (That doesn't matter much, but it conveniently fills a hole in my books.) First we prepped the motor, unraveling a Black Cat, removing the wick, and packing the powder carefully into place with the end of a match. Then the X-15 was loaded onto our club rod, (a straightened coathanger in an upright 2 x 2, mounted on a piece of plywood,) and the wick lit. The result was predictable as the rocket began an end-over-end trajectory that took it into the dry weeds that bordered the parking lot, again with predictable results. Fire.
Now that I think of it, the fire was probably what ended Dave's days in rocketry. There was no wind, so the fire didn't spread and we were able to stomp it out, but it pretty much snuffed the flame of desire for pursuing the hobby. He's 40 now, and I think I can safely say that the day will never come when the term BAR means anything more than a place to belly up to on game day. :cool: ;)