A point (about rockets) to ponder

Reece Talley · 2003-10-05T11:08:30+00:00

The demise of Vaughn Brothers Rocketry got me to thinking. How is it that acompany with such a complete line of high quality kits and ground equipmentcould pass away without so much as a ripple on RMR?We argue about all kinds of inane things. We flame ourselves to death androast certain regulars on a daily (if not hourly) basis but VB just slipsaway in the night without so much as a fare-thee-well. I am amazed to saythe least. Am I the only one who ever built their kits? Am I the only onewith a Quadcon controller? For those of you who never got the chance to useone let me tell you what you missed. Four independent lanes that could besafed or set hot in any combination. Self-contained power system or externalhook ups for your car, nicad pack, gel cell whatever. All metal case, toggleswitches and great graphics. There was an up-grade possible that used arelay and telephone cable to put the power out at the pad if you wanted. Inshort, it was really great equipment that was built to last. Mine is 8 yearsyoung and still very strong. My VB HP launch pad is simplicity andfunctionality combined with REAL steel. The only thing that's going tooutlast this bad boy is my Rocket Vision pad and it cost twice as much.Vaughn Brothers kits were an exercise in straight foreword engineering. Askanyone who ever built and flew a VB Extreme and he/she will tell you thatthere 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 camein so many power varieties; 24mm, 29mm, 38mm and 54mm. Each kit in all ofthe power variations came with payload bays and the wiring harness neededfor an altimeter deployment system if desired. The recovery systems were allsewn ripstop. Shoot, even the basic materials were such that obtaining abeautiful 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...

Oct 05, 2003 45 Replies

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Jerry Irvine 22 years ago

It would appear everything is in place for a BIG launch in February. We do need to buy and fabricate more equipment but we know what to produce, where to put it, on-site storage :) and even have a couple of range positions filled already. Something like this:

Saturday Time RSO LCO PM CC Vend

7am

9am

11am

1pm

3pm

Sunday Time RSO LCO PM CC Vend

7am

9am

11am

1pm

3pm

The plan is to have 24 pads deployed for Rocketfest01 with 24 spares on-site with a clear expansion plan if it gets big.

We expect to at least have available parking on either the site or the lake for at least the first two launches :)

Jerry

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Mfreptiles 22 years ago

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Jerry Irvine 22 years ago

The very last launch I hosted was "very busy". I expect this to grow into something similar.

I suppose I could hire a dedicated team of thugs just for removal of Rick McGee upon arrival :)

Jerry

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Jerry Irvine 22 years ago

Valentines Day.

Rocketfest 02 and higher will be better scheduled.

Jerry

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Art Upton 22 years ago

Ok, what date do I put in vacation for ?

/ArtU

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