Rockets in my Pockets
I was first introduced to model rocketry by the hatter,
who threw me in the at the metaphorical deep end by taking me to the International Rocketry Weekend in
Largs, way back in '97. I gleefully built myself a rocket from scavenged bits and pieces,
and ended up with a somewhat elliptical pink and black spirally painted rocket made of
plastic sheets. It flew sucessfully before finally blowing a hole in the side on its third
flight, and now rests in state on a bookshelf in my parents' house. Did I but know it, I was
smitten.
I returned again the following year, with rocket kits and paint and glue and an Estes Rocket
Designer's box, and stacks of balsa wood. I finished an Estes Silver Comet, which flew
beautifully and returned in one piece, and an Estes Quark, the diametric opposite in being
less than 8 inches long (instead of a good couple of feet). The Quark flew like a bird,
straight and true, straight up... whereupon it became true to form and proved the rocketry
adage that anything you spend time and effort making smooth, seamless and painted to
perfection will disappear forever. Undeterred, I built another tiny rocket, an Estes
Mosquito, which I didn't have time to fly in Largs.
Fast forward 7 years of my rockets gathering dust, while I drifted from not being able to
make the IRW, through apathy and forgetfulness, until the present day. One small but
excitable lad and his equally excitable father undid in a day the peace that time had
brought. Water bottle rockets and baking soda & vinegar just wasn't enough - the time had
come again for black powder and the distinctive Whooosh! of model rocket motors.
The cheap Ready To Fly rocket that we found was such a hit, that I've since spent a weekend
at Big EARS (where,
amongst others, I flew and finally lost the Mosquito!), became a fully paid up member of
UKRA, and will be making plans to go to the other major UK events this year. Sadly, other
plans mean an IRW comeback will have to wait until 2006.
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