Launch Report - 18 January, 1998

NIRA Building Session at Bob Kaplow's

On Sunday afternoon, January 18th, four Wisconsinites staged a raid on the NIRA building session being held a Bob Kaplow's residence in Illinois. The four involved were Mark Smieska (who drove the get-away vehicle), Steve Koszuta, Kurt Schachner and Al Rognlie - all dual members of WOOSH and NIRA.

We arrived a little after two in the afternoon and repaired to Bob's workshop/hobbyshop in the basement. What a nice setup! Along one wall is a workbench with drill press and bench sander, several work tables, one with a bandsaw, and STORAGE! He's got bits and pieces, tubes, motors, and STUFF neatly stored all around the basement -- not to mention his hoard of kits. About two dozen members of NIRA were working on various projects for the new year.

Bob Wiersbe & son - an Estes X-Ray
Gary Miller - NCR Patriot (as shown off at the January NIRA meeting <G>)
Rick Kramer - NCR kit (Phantom 4000?)
Johnathon (superman) Charboneau - NCR Bomarc
the Guziks - a Launch Pad Nike Ajax and a LOC Aura
Mark bundick - sound recorder (with Ric Gaff)and fiberglassed BT for a new Atlas Centaur.
Tom - a convie boost glider (Flat Cat?)
Norm Heyen - turning some 1/8" plywood into swiss cheese for bulkheads.
Pierre Miller - scratchbuilt Mercury capsule for an Atlas. The capsule was coming along nicely, building up the corregations from thin plastic strips.
I brought along an Estes Commanche kit (to work on), a modified Estes Turbo-Copter to launch and an Astron Mike mini-Saucer (from the tri-pack), an Apogee micro-V2 kit and an Edmonds Deltie kit to show off. I'm very impressed with the laser-cut parts in these kits. I also delivered a mini-Saucer kit from Astron Mike for Bob.

The group determined that the weather was acceptable (a little below freezing but a very light breeze), so Bob pulled out a launch pad and controller and we got together some models to launch in the back yard.

Steve Smith - America on A8-5 (from a blue tube dated 8/20/69)
Bob Kaplow - Estes Invader on A10-3T
Bill & Ed Thiel - 4FNC
Al Rognlie - modified Estes Turbo-Copter on A8-3
Bob Wiersbe - Estes X-Ray on 1/2A3-4T

All models were successfully recovered. Mine (the Turbo-Copter) was the only one that didn't return directly to the back yard. It landed on the roof of Bob's garage - just about directly above his car <G>. We snagged the shock cord with an extendable branch trimmer and slid the model off the roof.

After the launch, we went back down to the basement for more building, browsing and talk. What with all the wandering around talking and checking what others were doing, I only got four of the Commanche's fins sanded <G>.

At the close of the building session, a dozen or so builders repaired to the Texas BBQ ( a couple miles north of Bob's place) for dinner and more talk -- wrapped around some delicious ribs.

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Last Updated:	9 February 1998
Author:	Alan Rognlie
Email:	arrognli@execpc.com
© Copyright 1997, 1998 unless otherwise noted, all images are copyright © 1997, 1998 by Jeanne Rognlie - all rights reserved