Rocket Hobbyists Dropping Hobby

Wired ^ | June 25, 2004 | Daniel Terdiman

[nw_akston]

For a country that constantly nags about how we aren't getting kids in science and engineering, we sure are taking a lot of steps to ensure that kids will never have any interest. After all, it's often hobbies like this that really get the kids interested, but it's getting to the point where it is practically not worth the effort. We've been seeing the dividends of the "safe society" for quite a while now, and this is just another thing that is just going to hurt us more in the near future. Too bad we can't get the "safety brigade" to see the disaster that they have created...

[humblegunner]

Liberal "safety" will turn us into ignorant morons sooner rather than later... It is killing the very essence of this amazing country.

Best line I ever heard on a rocket thread PING!

[Ichneumon]

Yeah, they should should be licensed and registered. This isn't stuff that you'd want some drunk teenagers doinking with.

Yeah, we wouldn't want nuts like this free to experiment with who knows what:

[Mulder]

This country is becoming more and more like the Soviet Union every day.

[Mulder]

It is killing the very essence of this amazing country.

Yep. This country is going to be a really miserable place in a couple more decades.

[baltodog]

Actually, that particular rocket is liquid-fueled. As was my Titan II.

And yes, Robert Goddard was kicked out of Massachusetts for too many rocket accidents.

[Mulder]

Yeah, they should should be licensed and registered

The feminized control-freaks will be the end of this country.

Can you imagine what would have happened if the ATF, EPA, and OSHA had been around when Ben Franklin was doing his lightning (and other experiments)?

'Ol Ben would have either wound up dead or in jail.

[baltodog]

How much of these components do you play with? Have you ever mixed A into B and come up with solid fuel? How do you store it? Would you want your nieghbor to store it in a box in his garage, or in a flame-proof locker?

This is heading into the realm of common sense.

No regulation of this stuff, and the first time some 12-year-old blows himself up or burns off his arms, the entire industry will be sued into oblivion.

[Libertina]

Death by safety...

[Mulder]

How much of these components do you play with?

None yet, but it sounds like a real fun hobby. The fact that the feds want to ban it makes it even more appealing to me.

Have you ever mixed A into B and come up with solid fuel?

No I haven't, but it sounds like a lot of fun, and an excellent mental exercise to get the right mix for optimun performance. I suspect that such factors as temperature, elevation, etc.... must all be factored into the equation.

Would you want your nieghbor to store it in a box in his garage, or in a flame-proof locker?

I really don't care. Somehow this country survived for 200 years without a bunch of bureaucrats telling people what they can do on their own property.

If my house is damaged because of how a theoretical neighbor stores it, my insurance will cover it. And if I'm damaged, well, Freedom isn't Free. I'd rather die a Free man than live as a slave.

No regulation of this stuff, and the first time some 12-year-old blows himself up or burns off his arms, the entire industry will be sued into oblivion

There was little or no regulation for nearly 200 years, and somehow most folks made it past the age of 12.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Now Muttly want model rocket railroad.

No problem.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

My rockets used to blow up. I then figured out that they wouldn't if I stopped filling them with gunpowder scavenged from fireworks and gluing the nose cone on.

[PoorMuttly]

"Now Muttly want model rocket railroad."

Great beginning. Now could the train be rocket powered..?

[Nik Naym]

You guys are mixing apples and oranges.

What is regulated is the storage of manufactured rocket motors and propellant. Model and what is called "High Power" rocketry does NOT include making your own motors. Making your own motors is "Amateur Rocketry", a whole different animal. Now, composite propellant rocket motors DO NOT explode. They are damn difficult to even get to light in the first place. There is NO danger of them "blowing up" and regulating them as explosives is just plain stupid.

I can have 5 gallons of gas in my garage, but I can't have a rocket motor with more than 62.5 GRAMS of propellant? This is absurd.

If I DO want to store such motors, then I must get an expensive permit from the BATF, and then I must have an expensive magazine to store them in, and most ominous, I must give the BATF (and thus, the FedGov) permission to enter ANY part of my property at ANY time, with no warrant or reason. I need to give up my rights under the constitution to get a permit. Do you guys really think that is right and just?

Nik

[Fester Chugabrew]

Now could the train be rocket powered..?

Not only so, but the train itself can be a rocket.

[PoorMuttly]

Muttly want!

[July 4th]

My rockets used to blow up. I then figured out that they wouldn't if I stopped filling them with gunpowder scavenged from fireworks and gluing the nose cone on.

Yep! That was a lot of fun. The parachute charge would ignite what ever you'd stuffed down into the rocket. Fireworks, ammunition reloading supplies, etc. And to think...I was doing that only 12 years ago or so, ordering huge rocket engines through the mail.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

...This country is becoming more and more like the Soviet Union every day...

Even Stalin let Kytushin play with his rockets.

[eno_]

Yeah, they should should be licensed and registered. This isn't stuff that you'd want some drunk teenagers doinking with.

Got any evidence drunk teenagers ever did, or even wanted to? There are a billion intrusive nannyisms that could be justified on the same grounds. For example, shape skis enable 45 year olds like me to ski like 20 year old racers and are the fountain of youth for my knees. I COULD end up on the rocks at 50mph. Ban them? License them? Helmet law? What about the cheeeeeeldren?

The ATF is one of the most intrusive jackbooted incompetent band of boobs we've got. Would YOU choose to submit to their inspection?

[Cultural Jihad]

If I wanted to build another [one], I would and tell the ATF to KMA and come and try to take it away from me.

At least I will DIE A FREE MAN instead of an enslaved coward.

My, isn't talk cheap. Needless to say, the cop-out is you conveniently don't want to build another one, eh?