Guess the Mystery Rocket!

[Tau Zero]

See if you can identify this original design from the single clue offered by this charming young lady below (my youngest daughter Emma, who loves ballet and the Barbie movies, and who turns 8 next month).

Extra points if you include a link to articles or webpages outside this thread. :p ;) :D


Cheers,

--Jay

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

That's a Barbie Dream Rocket if I ever saw one.

[Leo]

That's a Barbie Dream Rocket if I ever saw one.

Hihihihi :D

[snaquin]

Is it a Barbies 5340 Thunder Roc? Soon to be painted Barbie pink with cool metal flakes?

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/nostalgia/82cen16.html

.

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Now I know what Jay does with the PM's I send him. He prints them off and uses them as rocket masking material.
Geez, can she spare some of that hair for a guy whose head stays cold from September to April? ;) :D

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Well? We're waiting.

[Tau Zero]

Is it a Barbies 5340 Thunder Roc? Soon to be painted Barbie pink with cool metal flakes?Pink with metal flakes? That *is* cool!


Now I know what Jay does with the PM's I send him. He prints them off and uses them as rocket masking material. :o Well, it seemed like a wise use of resources... *at the time.* :eek:


Geez, can she spare some of that hair for a guy whose head stays cold from September to April?Dunno. I'll ask.
It's really fine, though, and tends to built up static electricity pretty easily for that "flyaway look."


Well? We're waiting.Sorry. I had to hit that exposed fin with a second coat of silver, and then I noticed I'd accidentally gotten some silver overspray :eek: (my masking techniques could use some improvement, apparently :mad: ) on the other two black fins, and I just got done respraying that.

So I hate to prolong your agonized suspense, but I'll need to let the paint dry at least another 24 hours before pulling all of the masking tape off.

In the meantime, any more guesses? (I bet Craig M. knows.) ;) :D


Thanks for your patience,

--Jay

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Dunno. I'll ask.
It's really fine, though, and tends to built up static electricity pretty easily for that "flyaway look."



Never mind. Mine's already flown away once. I can't face it again. ;)

[CPMcGraw]

In the meantime, any more guesses? (I bet Craig M. knows.) ;) :D


Thanks for your patience,

--Jay

Craig M. knows, but is staying quiet this time...:D :D :D

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

How do we know you know? :rolleyes:

[CPMcGraw]

How do we know you know? :rolleyes:

Because Jay knows I know. :rolleyes:

[Tau Zero]

Craig M. knows, but is staying quiet this time...:D :D :D
How do we know you know? :rolleyes:
Because Jay knows I know. :rolleyes:Okay, thank you all for playing!

Craig's eye was sharp enough to identify the fin shape, Steve was good-natured enough to play along, and Bill... was just plain silly, as we've all come to expect and love him for.

And now... the masking tape comes off to reveal... [insert gasps of amazement, accompanied by forehead slapping here] ...the Prometheus!


(Is it just me, or does that first photo look *really* dark? --Okay, it's *amazing* what a difference a 75 watt bulb makes, as you can see in the second picture.)


Cheers,

--Jay

[CPMcGraw]

Okay, thank you all for playing!

And for everyone, the PDF for this model is almost ready to send up to BARCLONE. That's another reason I didn't want to say anything...:D

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

Okay, thank you all for playing!

Craig's eye was sharp enough to identify the fin shape, Steve was good-natured enough to play along, and Bill... was just plain silly, as we've all come to expect and love him for.

And now... the masking tape comes off to reveal... [insert gasps of amazement, accompanied by forehead slapping here]


(Is it just me, or does that first photo look *really* dark? --Okay, it's *amazing* what a difference a 75 watt bulb makes, as you can see in the second picture.)


Cheers,

--Jay


I knew it. :rolleyes:
This was actually going to be a guess, but I couldn't think of the name at the time. A few minutes after my last post on Sunday night, I went upstairs and threw up, which I've pretty much been doing ever since.

So, when does it fly?

[snaquin]

I was also going to guess that it might be one of my favorite F7 steam machines the FSI Orbit from the fin pattern, and now that I see it well it does sort of resemble the Orbit - from the neck down ..... :cool:

Thanks Jay, the suspense was about to kill me :D

{I slapped my forehead and still nothing happened} I've never seen that design before.

[Doug Sams]

I was also going to guess that it might be one of my favorite F7 steam machines the FSI Orbit <snip> I had an Orbit, NIB, but gave it to a club member. He's into Cobras and has several of them. I find the Orbit to be like a poor man's Cobra (IMHO). Plus, a cluster of 3 or 4 T motors will fit in it. So I thought he would appreciate it much more than I would.

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/nostalgia/77fsi10.html

He later gave me a K-40 Midget, opened but in the bag, complete with "Free Kit" sticker. I thought it was a great trade :)

I have an FSI Echo-I which has been flown and retired. Buzz McD gave me an EOS (IIRC), NIB. Twice now I've headed out to the rocket bench to start on it, but talked myself out of it, choosing instead to work on "finishing" some others :) But I do want to build it. I'm a sucker for transitions :)

Doug

[A Fish Named Wallyum]

I had an Orbit, NIB, but gave it to a club member. He's into Cobras and has several of them. I find the Orbit to be like a poor man's Cobra (IMHO). Plus, a cluster of 3 or 4 T motors will fit in it. So I thought he would appreciate it much more than I would.

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/nostalgia/77fsi10.html



This was one of the catalogs that comprised my lost "couch stash". It arrived on the same day as my first Centuri catalog on a day that I was off school due to snow. Quite a contrast, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. With Estes being readily available, and Centuri a known commodity, FSI seemed very little league, like a company run out of someones garage. The whole mail order thing really blew me away. I knew MY dad would never have written a check for me to buy rockets. He was still p.o.'d that I had given up on baseball. :rolleyes:

[snaquin]

I had an Orbit, NIB, but gave it to a club member. He's into Cobras and has several of them. I find the Orbit to be like a poor man's Cobra (IMHO). Plus, a cluster of 3 or 4 T motors will fit in it. So I thought he would appreciate it much more than I would.

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/rockets/nostalgia/77fsi10.html

He later gave me a K-40 Midget, opened but in the bag, complete with "Free Kit" sticker. I thought it was a great trade :)

I have an FSI Echo-I which has been flown and retired. Buzz McD gave me an EOS (IIRC), NIB. Twice now I've headed out to the rocket bench to start on it, but talked myself out of it, choosing instead to work on "finishing" some others :) But I do want to build it. I'm a sucker for transitions :)

Doug

Closest I got to an original K-40 Midget was at the Hub Hobby store in New Orleans that had a built and decorated one on display inside the glass case since I was a kid. Hurricane Katrina covered the store with about 7 feet of water and took out ALL the vintage Estes kits they had on display. I always wanted one of those ..... and yes Doug you got the sweet end of that trade :D

I had two Echo-I kits. I ruined one when I tried an E5-0 in the booster and a D18-6 in the upper stage. That combination was actually recommended for the Stargazer but needless to say not a very good combo for the Echo-I. :(

[Doug Sams]

This was one of the catalogs that comprised my lost "couch stash". It arrived on the same day as my first Centuri catalog on a day that I was off school due to snow. Quite a contrast, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. With Estes being readily available, and Centuri a known commodity, FSI seemed very little league, like a company run out of someones garage. I've made a similar observation from perusing the files at ninfinger. In fact, when I was a kid, Estes held such a high position in my mind that I was blinded from reality. I recall seeing some Centuri kits on the peghooks at the hobby shop (in Louisville, Dixie Manor shopping center, circa 1970) and thinking they were cheap. How can some paper tubes and balsa compare with my beautiful Estes, easily forgetting how the Estes kits looked when they arrived at the house :) I've learned that's a pretty basic human idiosyncracy. If you think something's good, you'll only see the good, and if you think something's bad, you'll only see the bad. What's the opposite of objective? <vbg>

Anyway, looking at the FSI stuff at ninfinger, I see two key mistakes in their marketing strategy. They failed to offer updated catalogs. I'm sure that when Estes and Centuri rolled out the full color catalogs, it was a huge challenge to keep step, but sending out the same old catalog year after year was bad. Hand marking it to cross out OOP items made it even worse. Secondly, the odd size motors worked against them. You can be proprietary when you have the dominant market share; let everybody else come to you. But when you're the little guy, you gotta play by the other guys' rules. 24mm, not 21. 29mm, not 27. When they finally accepted this, it was too late.

Still, that said, I can't help but wonder how they might have faired if Lonny Reese wasn't killed in the car wreck.

Doug

[JRThro]

Anyway, looking at the FSI stuff at ninfinger, I see two key mistakes in their marketing strategy. They failed to offer updated catalogs. I'm sure that when Estes and Centuri rolled out the full color catalogs, it was a huge challenge to keep step, but sending out the same old catalog year after year was bad. Hand marking it to cross out OOP items made it even worse. Secondly, the odd size motors worked against them. You can be proprietary when you have the dominant market share; let everybody else come to you. But when you're the little guy, you gotta play by the other guys' rules. 24mm, not 21. 29mm, not 27. When they finally accepted this, it was too late.

Still, that said, I can't help but wonder how they might have faired if Lonny Reese wasn't killed in the car wreck.

DougMan, there's a lot of model rocket history that I don't know! (Like, pretty much all of it.) ;)

[Doug Sams]

Man, there's a lot of model rocket history that I don't know! (Like, pretty much all of it.) ;)John, I didn't know about them either, and, if I'd seen a catalog or noticed a Boy's Life ad back then, I would likely have reacted the same, thinking they were wannabes and not fully legit, thus missing out anyway.

But through the miracle of the web, and courtesy of Sven, we get to at least learn about what we missed. While I regret having missed it, I still think these are the best of times, and give thanks for that everyday :)

I won't ever get to burn one of FSI's E or F booster motors (well...maybe one, I think I have one at the house :) ) but I got a new toy at the house I've been dabbling with which will let me build staging timers. An AT F39 with my timer ought to work as well (or maybe better) than an FSI F100.

Doug

[Tau Zero]

Thanks Jay, the suspense was about to kill me :D {I slapped my forehead and still nothing happened} I've never seen that design before.That's because you may have missed a word in the following sentence:

"See if you can identify this original design"

...as well as the YORF Projects thread named "And then there was light..."

22 May 2005
http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=173&page=1

02 Jan 2006
http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showpost.php?p=5160&postcount=48

15 Jan 2006
http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showpost.php?p=5443&postcount=58

16 Jan 2006
http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showpost.php?p=5455&postcount=63


I was also going to guess that it might be one of my favorite F7 steam machines the FSI Orbit from the fin pattern, and now that I see it well it does sort of resemble the Orbit - from the neck down ..... :cool: Hmm, yeah. Although I admit there was some vaguely Shroxian (Icarusian?) influence - from the neck up:

http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=673

Also note the images below, all copyright of Shrox.


Thanks, and cheers,

--Jay

[snaquin]

Yep, I missed "original design" and the RockSim and parts posts in the project threads.

Well I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a Thunder Roc, unless your daughter was standing on a ladder when that photo was taken ;)

Cool design :)

[Tau Zero]

Well I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a Thunder Roc, unless your daughter was standing on a ladder when that photo was taken ;)(chuckling) Nope, you were right with *that* one. ;) :D


Cool design :)Thanks! Here's one for you. :cool: Enjoy!

http://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=712


Cheers,

--Jay