a website for those who got back into model rocketry as adults
BORN AGAIN ROCKETEER

links on this site:
my rockets - rocketcopters - dragonroc - noncombustion rocketry - cloning resources
night rockets - aerial photos - homemade rocket - multi-staging - no launch pad

links to other sites:
old rocket catalogs - kit list
rocket plans - part names - nose cone list
rocket parts - reproduction decals - forum

When I was a kid, in the 1980s, I would set an alarm and get up before sunrise. In the summer. I'd drag my parents out into the dew-soaked field at Highland Elementary School. Hoping the wind would hold off. This would be the culmination of many hours that I would spend building model rockets in preparation for the launch day. In those days, Estes still sold model rocket kits, parts, and even engines, by mail order. Not having much money, I was always competing in their Design of the Month Contest to win free supplies. It was just the thing for a creative young mind, needing to construct and experiment.

As I was going into college, I flew some rockets with my nephew, but after that I got distracted by other things. I totally quit building rockets for several years. After a while, I was working as an environmental educator. I would go around to different schools and teach stream ecology lessons, and sometimes I would give workshops for classroom teachers.

Although it wasn't really part of the mission statement, one day I decided it would be fun to do a workshop on flight. After all, as a child I had learned a lot of science and math from studying rockets. It's very educational! I didn't even have any equipment at that point, so I went to the local hobby shop and bought a new starter set. It came with a neat rocket called "Code Red" which was my reintroduction to model rocketry.

Later I started a business to make and sell ornithopter kits. This is another type of flying device that flies by flapping wings. But my hobby is rockets. I've basically resumed the same lines of experimentation that I began when I was younger: rocket helicopters, light-up rockets, and interesting staging methods. You can read more about these at the links on this site.

One new interest was made possible by the internet. In the Estes technical reports I read as a child, I would see pictures of exotic three-stagers and rocket gliders that weren't in the catalog. They dated back to before my involvement in the hobby. Now the old catalogs and plans are available online, and I've "cloned" several of these old kits.

Nathan Chronister (contact)
 

National Geographic couldn't find a
good launch vehicle for their Camroc.