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Update: I swore off model rockets after a 1993 launch in my neighbor's yard, but a store in Dayton changed my mind last month
When I was 13, I launched an Estes Alpha III in my neighbor's backyard in 1993 and it went sideways into his shed roof, and I decided that day that rockets were not for me. Fast forward to last month, I walked into a hobby shop in Dayton while killing time before a work meeting, and the guy behind the counter had a whole wall of the old kits I remembered. He pulled down a Big Bertha and told me the new engines have a much shorter delay, and the fins are laser cut now instead of die cut, which was always the part I messed up as a kid. I bought it for $27, which felt like a lot until I remembered mowing four lawns to afford my first one. I built it over two weekends at my kitchen table, same as I did back then, and the wood glue smell brought everything back. I launched it at a school field near my house, and it came down maybe 40 feet from the pad, no drama at all. Now I have three more kits in my garage and I am already eyeing the Saturn V. Has anyone else gone back to a hobby they quit after one bad experience, and did the newer versions actually fix the problem or did you just get better at it?
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