Videos

Joe Barnard sent me Signal Alpha, the first generation of the Signal Avionics thrust vectoring kit! Barnard Propulsion Systems: https://bps.space/ Joe's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILl8ozWuxnFYXIe2svjHhg Assembly video, Part 1: https://youtu.be/6Y8QiqOZZ3g Part 2: https://youtu.be/LcszVaBPc0I Part 3: https://youtu.be/iSJoDuZdcOU Part 4: https://youtu.be/0ykvmCi_UXs

A slow motion illustration of a gap staged model rocket's failure to ignite the upper stage. This can happen if the booster motor pressurizes the booster body tube when the motor's propellant burns through. There is a fraction of a second delay between the burnthrough of the lower stage motor…

Making a balsa bulkhead for the payload section on the Quest Superbird model rocket. The coupler/bulkhead from the kit wasn't great, so I made my own.

A very short clip, shot by Joe Barnard, from my upcoming, end-of-the-year slow motion launch compilation. Joe Barnard's rocketry website is Barnard Propulsion Systems, and can be found here: http://www.bps.space/

Cutting a tube coupler and centering ring shims, then gluing the shims onto the centering rings. The website for North Coast Rocketry, who makes a Kuhn Tube Cutter kit: http://northcoastrocketry.com/ The Kuhn Tube Cutter can be purchased either here: https://www.apogeerockets.com/Building_Supplies/Tools/Kuhn_Tube_Cutter Or here: http://www.erockets.biz/north-coast-rocketry-accessory-kuhn-tube-cutter-kit-800/ The BT-55 tube and the brown tube…

I figured out how to fix the centering ring problem on the Superbird model rocket, and realized I could easily convert it to a D-powered vehicle.

The centering rings for the Quest Superbird were way too small! Instead of 35mm rings, my kit included 30mm rings.

I recently discovered I make a noise at rocket launches.

Before beginning to build the Quest Superbird model rocket, I read the instructions - and found a few inconsistencies to watch out for.

Building the Superbird, by Quest Aerospace. Part 1 includes unbagging the kit and checking the parts.

This is the Estes Nike Smoke Pro Series II scale model Nike Smoke sounding rocket. I launched it for the first time in Berwick, Maine, on a G40-7 composite motor - a beautiful flight. The Jolly Logic Chute Release was set for 400 feet. The Nike Smoke was a NASA…

A high power rocket is like a model rocket, only bigger and more powerful. Model rocket engines, or motors, range from A through G. High power motors start with H. That means they have more than 160 Newton-seconds of total impulse. I successfully did my HPR L1 certification attempt on…

You can shape plywood high power rocket fins by hand, even without power tools. It's easy - though a little time-consuming. In this video, I'm turning my Estes Leviathan fins into airfoils with a simple hand sander. Some people feel that airfoiled fins reduce drag and allow a rocket to…

The Ivy Tech Rocket Kids launch a keychain spy camera on an Estes Patriarch with a B6-4 motor.

This is the Ceres B, a model rocket you can build, from the book Make: Rockets: Down-to-Earth Rocket Science, by Mike Westerfield. The rocket carries a hidden video camera payload, an altimeter, and a Jolly Logic Chute Release. This isn't an Estes kit - it's a rocket you can build…

First flight of a three-motor clustered model rocket. This was my first design.

At my last launch of the year, I had a few problems.

My Estes Partizon Pro Series II rocket flying for the first time, on a CTI F31 motor. After a day of my low power rockets suffering damage, it was nice to have a good flight.

I designed and built a rocket for a friend's grandson, but I didn't get to see it fly, until he sent me this video. This was a thank-you gift for donating to a Bloomington Playwrights Project fundraiser.

The Ivy Tech Rocket Kids launch Hank's Funky Fins - an Estes Viking with four fins, two of which are flipped around backwards. The rocket reaches a roughly-calculated altitude of about 260 feet.

September 26, 2015, the members of CMASS - the Central Massachusetts Spacemodeling Society - launch a piece of cake in honor of their former president, Bill Spadafora. The cake was served at the 13th Anniversary FlisKits Launch. Jim Flis speaks first.

The Quest Quadrunner, by Quest Aerospace, is a big, beautiful model rocket that flies on a cluster of four motors at once! Building it was a challenge, because when I did it, I had only been building rockets for a few months. You can see some of the troubles I…

Some members of the MIT Rocketry Team were present at my first NAR section launch. I got a good view of liftoff, and an even better view of recovery!