LUNAR'clips

Volume 2, Number 1 -- December, 1994

Newsletter of the Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry

New Name, New Look, New Editor, by Lynn Kissel
New LUNAR Message Center
Notes from the VEEP, by Jack Hagerty
An Inexpensive Hobby Tool, by Jack Hagerty
LUNAR Section Summary, by Jack Hagerty

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From the editor

New Name, New Look, New Editor

by Lynn Kissel, LUNAR #009

It's hard to believe, but here we are, into our third year as an organized rocket club. When I think back to those earlier days, I'm really amazed how much progress we've made.

Do you remember those early launches in Gardella Greens? The launch equipment was more primitive, but it was fun! Jeanne, Andrew and I had been flying by ourselves in and around Albuquerque through the 1980s. All my kits were from Estes, with balsa fins, painted outside the back door of the garage with a spray can. At that first club launch on Sep. 20, 1992, Andrew and I were assigned launch sequence numbers 007 and 008. I had brought a somewhat beat-up Big Bertha that had survived the 1990 move to Livermore. Mark Weiss was launch control officer, he added a personal comment over the loud speaker on each and every flight. As a veteran rocketeer, I confidently racked my "bird" which was sporting a C6-3 motor -- no fooling around; I went right to the biggest motor in my inventory. I'll never forget my horror when the 'chute failed to deploy; the resulting prang destroyed the kit -- Mark made some appropriate remark about the failings of the owner and went on to the next vehicle. I immediately went out and bought more kits and started building -- I haven't stopped yet, both building and having spectacular failures.

Our new LUNAR 'clips club newsletter is one of the ways we will communicate with one another and will help us shape how we feel about the club and ourselves. Every club member should consider contributing something to the newsletter. Even our youngest members can write a sentence or two describing some rocket related activity, insight or feeling. A rocket poem would be nice. I can key in your article, or better yet, give me the text on an IBM- compatible floppy, or send it to me by e-mail at lkissel@rml.com (account courtesy of Jack Hagerty). Make your mom proud, get your work published in the LUNAR 'clips!

Late-breaking news...

New LUNAR Message Center

The club has a new message center! Attendees at the December 15 meeting approved a motion by Warren Massey for the purchase of a new multifunction AT&T voice-mail system (at a substantial discount). Warren has also graciously volunteered the second phone line in his home for use with our new device.

Now you can call (510) 443-8705 to get a prerecorded informational message about the club. On launch days after 7 a.m., you can call the voice-mail center to determine the status of the launch; the informational message will be changed if the launch has been canceled.

You can also leave a message on the system; wait for the beep or press "1" to abort the informational message and start recording.

Notes from the VEEP

By Jack Hagerty, LUNAR Vice President

Death and you-know-what department - The LUNAR board of directors held a meeting on December 6th. All members were present except for Joe Ciccone, who must retire from the board after his term expires at the end of the year due to business complications. We all want to thank Joe for all his work in writing our bylaws and endless hours helping at launches, airshows and other special events. Also present at the board meeting was newsletter editor Lynn Kissel.

Of all the agenda items covered in the meeting (the complete agenda is available to anyone who is interested, just contact me and I'll send you a copy), one rather painful one must be communicated to the membership at large.

The Livermore Area Parks and Recreation District (LARPD), the city agency which operates the park that we launch from, decided on a massive fee increase for next year. They want to raise their minimum fee for any event from $25 (which we are currently paying) to $100! Through some high powered negotiating, LUNAR President Mark Weiss got that reduced to $50, but that's still a 100% increase over what we've been paying up 'til now.

The board discussed ways of meeting this huge increase in expenditure, including an across-the-board doubling of the dues and doubling the launch fees from $.25 to $.50. It was finally decided that we could meet the expense by not-quite- doubling the adult dues (from $8 to $15) while leaving the youth/junior/senior dues and launch fees alone. The "family plan" dues would still remain one adult at full price and all other members at half price.

As required by the bylaws, any dues increase must be voted on by the membership after a minimum 30 day advanced notice. With this newsletter as notice, we will, therefore, vote on the increase at the January 19th general meeting. If you have some suggestion on how to meet the LARPD fee increase without increasing dues, please come to the meeting and present your proposal! The 1995 dues (which would normally be due the beginning of January) will be delayed one month until after the vote.

Help Wanted -

As noted above, Joe Ciccone is leaving the board at the end of the year. This leaves an opening for someone who is willing to help direct our club during 1995. Actually, in point of fact, all of the positions are currently open to nomination prior to our election in January. The remaining board members, Mark Weiss (president), myself (VP), Kurt Peters (secretary) and Warren Massey (member-at-large) are willing to serve again in '95, but anyone is free to challenge their positions!

Better LARPD news -

LARPD is more than an evil, rent-increasing landlord. They have a great summer program for kids called Space Camp. This is a one week program to teach general science, astronomy and rocketry. In the past, LUNAR members have helped out by teaching the rocketry portion, as well as providing the launch support for flying the rockets built by the students.

For the 1995 Space Camp, Mark Weiss has suggested that LUNAR teach the entire 5 day class, which would allow much more than just a hand-holding model building session! There will be a meeting on Friday, February 3rd to discuss this project. Watch the next issue for an announcement of the time and place for this important meeting.

Rocketeer gift idea?

An Inexpensive Hobby Tool

By Jack Hagerty, LUNAR #002

Here's a great tool for you modelers looking for an inexpensive fabrication aid...

Last year one of the hottest toys at Xmas time was a little "machining center" which boasts of being a lathe, drill press, circular saw, drum and disc sander, jig saw and router. I first saw it right around Thanksgiving last year, but when I went back to get one for [ahem] my son, a couple weeks later they were gone. Really gone. Everywhere.

In early November this year, I was at Costco and saw that they had them again, stacked to the rafters! Not wanting to repeat my mistake I snatched one immediately.

Those of you with real drill presses, Dremmel lathes and sanders don't have anything to worry about since this *is* just a toy; so don't go expecting any fine machining capability. The "ways" are just plastic rod and the prime mover is a little permanent magnet DC motor (it uses 4 "D" cells). On the other hand, it *is* designed (as the box says) to cut "real wood." You and I know it as balsa, but it could probably also handle bass and thin hobby ply. It would also (scale modelers take note) be ideal for shaping plastic detail parts, like those made with your toy vacuum former you got last year...

OK, I've saved the best for last. The going price for this thing is only $16.99 at Costco, which means in the low $20 range at regular retailers. At the LUNAR meeting in November (a build meeting) a members already had one and fired it up, so I can attest to its ability to form balsa. If you're going to use it seriously, though, I'd recommend getting a 6 volt battery replacement module and wiring it in.

LUNAR Section Summary

by Jack Hagerty NAR #55105, LUNAR #002

[The following is a summary of our activities which I sent to both the NAR (Sport Rocketry) and Tripoli (High Power Rocketry) magazines. It should appear in the "Section Activities" and "Section Soundings" columns, respectively. We're reprinting it here for those of you that don't belong to either organization - JH]

An attempt was made to hold two launches per month during the months of June, July and August, but it was determined to be too hard on the volunteer staff who must set up the considerable amount of equipment that this large club provides to its 200+ members (12 pads and nearly 1,000 ft of safety ribbon). The lower attendance (less than 100 flights per launch) didn't warrant continuing the dual monthly launches next year.

Speaking of equipment, LUNAR had an equipment upgrade in August. In keeping with their policy of providing only first class facilities, all of the steel launch rods were replaced by stainless steel. Not only were the 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" rods replaced, but 3/8" and 1/2" rods were added to their stock for the "quick change" socketed pads. LUNAR pays for this by charging a 25 cent "equipment maintenance" fee for each launch. This fee also allows for the frequent replacement of micro clips and AeroTech clips on the launch wires. The new rods are necessary due to the large number of composite motors being flown from the Livermore site which were corroding the plain steel rods. All of LUNAR's launch and tracking equipment was designed and built by member Warren Massey who is an engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

LUNAR Vice President Jack Hagerty was able to promote model rocketry by appearing on the Community Access television program "Everything Local" in early September. Jack brought several models, including his NARAM prize winning Titan IIIB, to illustrate his interview, which was carried in cities throughout the San Francisco East Bay Area.

The busy Summer was concluded by a demonstration at the Livermore "Wings for Charity" airshow, the only remaining airshow in the San Francisco Bay Area. In front of a crowd of several thousand people, over two dozen models were flown during the one hour show. They ranged from small black powder models such as the Estes Mercury Redstone and Patriot (the latter autographed by Vern himself at NARAM 34), through many mid-power launches such as a North Coast Patriot on a G80, up to some true HPR flights including Pius Morozumi's "Observer" 35mm camera rocket which flew on an H150 and finishing with Stan Bachelor's scratchbuilt 1/6 scale Corporal which was lofted on an I220 with two air started F's. The highlight of the show, however, was Chet Geyer's spectacular RC/RG flights. He flew three, namely his Estes Astro Blaster, North Coast Avatar (on an H) and the incredible Aerotech Phoenix.

The show was performed for both days of the Airshow, September 10th and 11th. The HPR flights were possible because both Pius Morozumi and LUNAR President Mark Weiss are licensed Class III Rocket Pyrotechnicians.

A Rocketeer's Christmas

By Jack Hagerty, LUNAR #002

To help get you into the "proper" holiday spirit, we have the following collection of Christmas carols written by Bob Wiersbe. Bob is an active member of NIRA, the NAR section in central Illinois, and can be reached as hrbob@ixstar.ih.att.com on the Internet.

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God Rest Ye Merry, Rocketmen

God rest ye merry, rocketmen let nothing you dismay
For tho it's cold and wet outside, you'll fly again someday
And launch those birds into the sky, to watch them drift away.
Oh tidings of waivers and more, waivers and more!
Oh tidings of waivers and more!

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Away in a Desert.

Away in a desert, no shade for our head
With lots of large rockets for launching instead
The sun in the bright sky looks down where we play
It makes us so thirsty and heats up the day.

There's no need for mowing, the hot sun just bakes
But we'll keep on launching until our head aches
The rockets are flying for miles in the sky
And landing downrange in the desert so dry.

A rainstorm is coming, it's time to shut down
to Vegas and have us a beer. <<- NAR version

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Deck the Field

Deck the field with pads and rockets