Although I have only been fooling with model rockets for a brief time, I can safely say that I'm hooked. For a man in his early 40's, initiating this sort of pastime may appear on the surface to be a wasteful endeavor. But I beg to differ and hopefully this little blog will help me prove my point.
You could say it all began for me as a child, standing in a hobby shop facing a wall filled with plastic car models, balsa wood gliders, erector sets and yes model rockets. Cars were a thing for me at that age. Regardless of the choices, and with pretty limited funds, cars won out time after time. Sure, I was enthralled by NASA and space exploration, but model rockets somehow seemed out of reach. Besides, none of my friends had models rockets, just Hot Wheels and the like. So I was content to collect diecast vehicles and put together car model kits by Revell, Monogram, AMT, MPC and others. I can recall many tragic attempts to get the finish just right and being undone by over-applying the spray-paint. Once, I attempted to remove a poor paint job off of the body of a '57 Chevy by submerging it in paint remover (cut me some slack - I was only 8 or 9) only to find the plastic had softened almost to the point of liquification within a couple of hours. I like to think that I learn from my mistakes.
Also as a child, I was a fireworks junkie. Although my father was fairly strict, he would allow my brothers, sister and me to purchase fireworks to our hearts content (with our own money of course) on family vacations. These would usually be purchased in Indiana and brought back to our home state of Illinois which had much more restrictive laws. So, for the entire month leading up to July 4th I could be found launching bottle rockets and blowing things up. Although I never really had any direct dealings with fireworks after reaching adulthood, my love for them has never faded.
Fast-forward to a mere 3 months ago and I found myself facing a wall not too dissimilar to the one in my hometown hobby shop so many years ago. Only this time I was with my 10-year-old daughter in a large chain craft store that happens to carry car model kits and model rocket kits. Scanning the wall I had a eureka moment. I thought to myself, "I like to build models AND I like fireworks!" Feeling flush after having earned a little extra money earlier that week, I decided to dive right in and buy a model rocket kit and some assorted engines. It was a kit by Estes that included two different rockets which I proceeded to build in an afternoon.
On the next clear day, I went to the nearest park and launched away. I more or less followed the directions and launched the first rocket with the smallest engine that I had and it went off without a hitch. Tingling with excitement, I threw caution to the wind and launched the second rocket (designed to go even higher than the first) with the largest engine that I had. It took off like... well like a rocket, going several times higher than the first. I asked my daughter to help me track it as its parachute carried it farther and farther away. We chased it over a creek, through a busy playground and past a picnicking family before realizing that we would have to give up. Despite our loss, I considered the afternoon a smashing success and immediately took to watching videos on my new-found hobby, quickly realizing that I could build these things from scratch. Since then, the building has been incessant.
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