#9: Chris Michielssen – Model Rocket Building!

Our guest, Chris Michielssen’s fantastic blog

I found Chris Michielssen’s blog, Model Rocket Building (which you can visit by CLICKING HERE) shortly after I got started in this hobby back in 2014, and in it I found a wealth of knowledge. Chris is a real craftsman. His blog lays out builds, usually from start to finish, and is full of tips and advice to get good looking builds. Just by visiting Model Rocket Building on a daily basis, my own builds quickly went from rough, beginner’s models to much more polished looking, because I was able to easily adopt some of his building techniques.

If you haven’t checked it out, you really ought to be reading Chris’ blog. Especially if you’re building a more challenging model – say, a Saturn V or Little Joe kit – Chris has probably already tackled it, and has hints for good building as well as traps to look out for.

In addition, Chris has his own line of model rockets, unique kits called “Odd’l Rockets,” featuring flying pigs, little green aliens, and some pretty cool looking fighter jet style kits, as well as some useful accessories and motor mount upgrades (thicker tubes for longer lasting and sturdier rockets). The website is HERE, and if you’d like to order some kits or accessories, you can do so at our show sponsor, eRockets.biz, by clicking HERE.

I first met Chris in person at NARCON 2019, which feels like ages ago, with all that’s gone on since then. He was such a great guy to talk to, and I’m thrilled he joined me on the podcast.

Detail of Chris’ Dr. Zooch Mercury Redstone – a very challenging build

By the way, if you’re wondering what happened to Field Notes 2020, Part 2… Well, there was just too much recorded material. Editing was taking far too long. This was supposed to be two nice little episodes for last Christmas and New Years, and here we are nearly halfway through 2021. The project was more ambitious for the time I had to devote to it.

But there are some nice little moments in there, I think, so look for bits of field recordings as Easter eggs at the end of future episodes.

The top two pictures are from Chris’ blog, and used with permission.