Rocket launches

[jaybreak]

My son and I launched his model rocket three times last weekend. Video is here. Despite the heat and the sun making it difficult to see where it was sometimes, the lack of wind made it a good day for launching.

Speaking of the sun, I mention in the video that I thought I was damaging the phone camera by aiming it straight at the sun. I don't know much about phone cameras so that might not be an issue at all. However, I am surprised how well it maintained the picture while direct sunlight was hitting it.

[Ed Hurst]

Ah, the old Estes Alpha. I did that stuff for years, starting in my adolescence, sometimes off and on, up through my son's adolescence. It's not that I lost interest, but that other things crowded it out. Lots of fun.

[jaybreak]

Definitely lots of fun. I learned not to be stingy with the superglue. If I'm not sure there's enough on there, that means there needs to be more on there.

[davew9804]

Great fun with your son... Brings back memories for me as I had several Estes rockets when I was his age and a bit older. Moved from rockets to RC planes. That didn't last long as I was not good at the controls and crashed a few too many times. It was hard to watch hours of work be destroyed in seconds during a crash.

[jaybreak]

It was hard to watch hours of work be destroyed in seconds during a crash.

For this latest rocket I bought a different kind of glue. Normally we used Duco Cement, which I use to glue just about everything else. This time I used Gorilla Glue, and that seemed to make a good difference in helping it stay together.