The demise of Vaughn Brothers Rocketry got me to thinking. How is it that a company with such a complete line of high quality kits and ground equipment could pass away without so much as a ripple on RMR?
We argue about all kinds of inane things. We flame ourselves to death and roast certain regulars on a daily (if not hourly) basis but VB just slips away in the night without so much as a fare-thee-well. I am amazed to say the least. Am I the only one who ever built their kits? Am I the only one with a Quadcon controller? For those of you who never got the chance to use one let me tell you what you missed. Four independent lanes that could be safed or set hot in any combination. Self-contained power system or external hook ups for your car, nicad pack, gel cell whatever. All metal case, toggle switches and great graphics. There was an up-grade possible that used a relay and telephone cable to put the power out at the pad if you wanted. In short, it was really great equipment that was built to last. Mine is 8 years young and still very strong. My VB HP launch pad is simplicity and functionality combined with REAL steel. The only thing that's going to outlast this bad boy is my Rocket Vision pad and it cost twice as much.
Vaughn Brothers kits were an exercise in straight foreword engineering. Ask anyone who ever built and flew a VB Extreme and he/she will tell you that there simply was no other minimum diameter rocket that was so easy to build, so sturdy and so high performance. What made it even better was that it came in so many power varieties; 24mm, 29mm, 38mm and 54mm. Each kit in all of the power variations came with payload bays and the wiring harness needed for an altimeter deployment system if desired. The recovery systems were all sewn ripstop. Shoot, even the basic materials were such that obtaining a beautiful finish took a minimum of time.
Some of their kits were just plain cool. I built three of the Lil' Wildthings. Imagine a two foot tall rocket with an 18mm core motor surrounded by eight 13mm boosters and guided by 6 G10 fins. This was and is a very fun rocket to fly that permits a number of different flight configurations. The Spudnik was just way to much fun as well. A Styrofoam ball formed the rocket with four dowels for guidance. Simplicity and elegance. Geez, it really looked like an 1950s satellite and it would stay within a school yard even on a windy day with an AT 18mm D or E motor!
Blobo, BoB ( Ballistic or Bust ), these were great rockets too. Was I the only one building these? Say it ain't so gang!