NARAM 38...
By Bruce Markielewski
It wasn't until after
the Pikes Peak or Blast VII regional that I finally
decided to attend the 38th National Association of
Rocketry's Annual Meet (NARAM 38), in Evansville,
Indiana. I had more than doubled my contest point total
for the season in Colorado Springs, moving me from 24th
in the country to 9th place, and suddenly I felt I had a
shot at one of the top national places. Still, I had only
a month to prepare, and having something ready for only
three or four of the twelve events. I had a couple of
models that would normally be considered backups, and
would have liked to have had time to build new ones for
all of the events. Time really flies when you have a
deadline, and upon leaving, I still had a couple of
models unfinished, and nearly all without recovery
systems installed. I'd do that the night before the event
was held.
Todd Schneider, from Colorado Springs, also planned to attend, although he was going mainly to sell his Eclipse Components items. We arranged to meet in Limon on the way to conserve time, and caravaned east. The trip out was uneventful for the most part, other than not finding any motel vacancies the first night, and getting lost for a while in Kansas City. We arrived earlier than expected on Sunday afternoon, having to spend the previous night at a rest stop. This was the day several event entries had to be turned in, so I spent most of the evening putting finishing touches on my Sport Scale and Plastic Model Conversion models. Todd was busy unpacking his inventory, and selling rocket parts almost immediately.
We headed out to the contest site Monday morning. The area was extremely large, but not particularly flat. A large area had been mowed, but beyond that were waist high weeds that were mostly of the thorny variety. A tent was set up for the range officers , and another for the competitors to prepare their models. Nearly twenty pads were setup for competition, and about 300 feet away was the sport flying range. Monday's events were "B" Parachute Duration Multi-round and "C" Boost Glider Duration. My "Super-Dactyls" performed well, but with a stiff breeze and a high ridge towards the west, flight times were cut short. I managed 162 seconds compared to the winning total of 224, but finished only as high as 7th. I had problems in parachute duration, with two CATO's and a DQ, finishing with only 114 seconds and a disappointing 28th place.
Later that evening, I spent some time checking out the manufacturer's rooms, and attended one of the NAR meetings. About 11:00 PM, I decided to finish the "C" helicopter model that I had started, and finished the model around 8:00 AM the next morning. I got about 2 hours of sleep that night, and managed to get out to the launch site around 11:00 AM. I turned out that I could have skipped building the model, as a separation resulted in a DQ on its maiden voyage. The engine pod was lost for a couple of days, and I ended up flying my backup model twice, with another separation on the second flight. Needless to say, I didn't score very high in the event. "D" Streamer Duration wasn't any more of a success. My first flight was respectable, but realizing I only brought one D21-7 engine, I decided to try a D3-7 for the second. I didn't know that these were considerably heavier than the D21's, so my flight was immediately unstable, doing several loops before bouncing and lifting off again. This obvious DQ did, however, win the "Best Midwest Qualified Flight" award, which goes to the worst flight of the contest. I have no idea where the name came from. Todd's day wasn't any better, as his payloader separated, and his super-roc's engine refused to ignite before the range closed.
An auction was held Tuesday evening, and I spent too much for several items, a stack of old Model Rocketeer magazines, a Centuri Enerjet E24-4, and an old ESTES catalog, but since all of the proceeds went to the Bob Canon Scholarship Fund, I figured this was a worthy investment. Todd was determined to buy a vintage Centuri Little Joe II kit, still in sealed in the original plastic, and outspent me on that item alone. Later Todd attended the Manufacturer's Forum, and gave a presentation of his Eclipse Components inventory. I decided to prepare the next day's models and try to get a good night's sleep.
Todd Schneider, from Colorado Springs, also planned to attend, although he was going mainly to sell his Eclipse Components items. We arranged to meet in Limon on the way to conserve time, and caravaned east. The trip out was uneventful for the most part, other than not finding any motel vacancies the first night, and getting lost for a while in Kansas City. We arrived earlier than expected on Sunday afternoon, having to spend the previous night at a rest stop. This was the day several event entries had to be turned in, so I spent most of the evening putting finishing touches on my Sport Scale and Plastic Model Conversion models. Todd was busy unpacking his inventory, and selling rocket parts almost immediately.
We headed out to the contest site Monday morning. The area was extremely large, but not particularly flat. A large area had been mowed, but beyond that were waist high weeds that were mostly of the thorny variety. A tent was set up for the range officers , and another for the competitors to prepare their models. Nearly twenty pads were setup for competition, and about 300 feet away was the sport flying range. Monday's events were "B" Parachute Duration Multi-round and "C" Boost Glider Duration. My "Super-Dactyls" performed well, but with a stiff breeze and a high ridge towards the west, flight times were cut short. I managed 162 seconds compared to the winning total of 224, but finished only as high as 7th. I had problems in parachute duration, with two CATO's and a DQ, finishing with only 114 seconds and a disappointing 28th place.
Later that evening, I spent some time checking out the manufacturer's rooms, and attended one of the NAR meetings. About 11:00 PM, I decided to finish the "C" helicopter model that I had started, and finished the model around 8:00 AM the next morning. I got about 2 hours of sleep that night, and managed to get out to the launch site around 11:00 AM. I turned out that I could have skipped building the model, as a separation resulted in a DQ on its maiden voyage. The engine pod was lost for a couple of days, and I ended up flying my backup model twice, with another separation on the second flight. Needless to say, I didn't score very high in the event. "D" Streamer Duration wasn't any more of a success. My first flight was respectable, but realizing I only brought one D21-7 engine, I decided to try a D3-7 for the second. I didn't know that these were considerably heavier than the D21's, so my flight was immediately unstable, doing several loops before bouncing and lifting off again. This obvious DQ did, however, win the "Best Midwest Qualified Flight" award, which goes to the worst flight of the contest. I have no idea where the name came from. Todd's day wasn't any better, as his payloader separated, and his super-roc's engine refused to ignite before the range closed.
An auction was held Tuesday evening, and I spent too much for several items, a stack of old Model Rocketeer magazines, a Centuri Enerjet E24-4, and an old ESTES catalog, but since all of the proceeds went to the Bob Canon Scholarship Fund, I figured this was a worthy investment. Todd was determined to buy a vintage Centuri Little Joe II kit, still in sealed in the original plastic, and outspent me on that item alone. Later Todd attended the Manufacturer's Forum, and gave a presentation of his Eclipse Components inventory. I decided to prepare the next day's models and try to get a good night's sleep.
Wednesday's events
were Open Spot Landing, "A" Altitude, and "B" Super Roc
Altitude. We were required to fly spot landing first, and
my flight turned in a fine 12 meter score. I was in first
place throughout most of the day, but was later beaten by
two other competitors. Well, at least I finally placed in
an event, taking third. My first "A" altitude flight
seemed to be perfect, and I thought I finally was going
to have a good day. Unfortunately, the model was not
tracked, and I had to re-fly. A CATO on the next flight
also required me to fly again, but my next two flights
finally worked well and were tracked. My best flight of
345 meters was good enough for fourth place, but Todd'
great flight of 422 meters took first in the event. "B"
Super-roc was disappointing also, as I was the current
NAR record holder in the event, and expected it to fall
that day. I wanted to be the one to break the record, but
my best model broke on liftoff. My backup flew well, but
sixth place was the best I would do.
Todd and I had volunteered to be judges for the Plastic Model Conversion event, and spent some of the evening scoring the entries in the "B" and Team divisions. This was a lot of fun, as we scrutinized some very good and some very awful entries. We also attended some of the "A" and "B" division R&D presentations, and the most interesting was John Marsh's electronic dethermalizer report.
Thursday was once again a miserable day, as both of my "C" payload models disappeared into the sky, never to return. One was tracked to 500 meters, so at least I know the model flew well. I thought I would have a qualified flight in "F" Dual Eggloft Duration, but upon returning from a mile hike on the first flight, one egg had a hairline crack in the side. My second flight landed even further, about two miles away. It took a while to find the red barn in the distance that the model drifted over, and the nice woman who owned the property let me look around after I explained about the contest and my lost model rocket. She even let me climb up on the barn's roof to get a better view, and while I was searching, a couple of other flyers came along, looking for their models. She asked them if they were looking for their "spaceship", too. I didn't find mine, so the flight was another DQ, since the deadline for return was 7:00 PM. I was surprised to learn that she had found the model and returned it to the launch site the next day.
We finished up our judging duties that evening, and were told that someone was selling a huge collection of old rocketry items in one of the motel rooms, with a couple of Mars Landers sold in the parking lot. We headed there immediately, expecting to find out that all of the good items were already gone. I was surprised to see a couple of ESTES Cinerocs on the desk, and asked if they were still available. They were, and finding out that the price for both and an Omega kit was $100, my next question was "Would you take a check?" I had suddenly acquired some rocketry history that I hadn't expected to ever find. Todd and I each were able to snag another collector's item, an ESTES Camroc, for only $25 each. Todd bought a carload of old kits, and I also picked up a large box of old magazines. Everything was going for a great price, and I only regretted not being there when he arrived to pick up the Mars Landers, too.
Todd and I had volunteered to be judges for the Plastic Model Conversion event, and spent some of the evening scoring the entries in the "B" and Team divisions. This was a lot of fun, as we scrutinized some very good and some very awful entries. We also attended some of the "A" and "B" division R&D presentations, and the most interesting was John Marsh's electronic dethermalizer report.
Thursday was once again a miserable day, as both of my "C" payload models disappeared into the sky, never to return. One was tracked to 500 meters, so at least I know the model flew well. I thought I would have a qualified flight in "F" Dual Eggloft Duration, but upon returning from a mile hike on the first flight, one egg had a hairline crack in the side. My second flight landed even further, about two miles away. It took a while to find the red barn in the distance that the model drifted over, and the nice woman who owned the property let me look around after I explained about the contest and my lost model rocket. She even let me climb up on the barn's roof to get a better view, and while I was searching, a couple of other flyers came along, looking for their models. She asked them if they were looking for their "spaceship", too. I didn't find mine, so the flight was another DQ, since the deadline for return was 7:00 PM. I was surprised to learn that she had found the model and returned it to the launch site the next day.
We finished up our judging duties that evening, and were told that someone was selling a huge collection of old rocketry items in one of the motel rooms, with a couple of Mars Landers sold in the parking lot. We headed there immediately, expecting to find out that all of the good items were already gone. I was surprised to see a couple of ESTES Cinerocs on the desk, and asked if they were still available. They were, and finding out that the price for both and an Omega kit was $100, my next question was "Would you take a check?" I had suddenly acquired some rocketry history that I hadn't expected to ever find. Todd and I each were able to snag another collector's item, an ESTES Camroc, for only $25 each. Todd bought a carload of old kits, and I also picked up a large box of old magazines. Everything was going for a great price, and I only regretted not being there when he arrived to pick up the Mars Landers, too.
My R&D
report didn't score in the top four, so I wasn't asked to
do a presentation, but both Tom Beach and Bill Spadafora
expressed interest in my project. Tom is the Sport
Rocketry Editor, and was interested in using it for a
future article. Bill is the NARTS Chairman, and wanted to
include the report in the NAR's technical reports. They
were both judges in the R&D event, and I asked why I
didn't score higher in spite of all the interest. The
answer was that my project wasn't "revolutionary" enough,
that it didn't contribute enough to the future of the
hobby. R&D was a tough event, and "C" division was
won by Vern Estes, who entered only this
event. Friday was the day I was both dreading and looking forward to, as I once again had to fly my Lunar Module sport scale entry. Todd and I were judging the Plastic Model Conversion flights we judged for static points earlier, and there were disappointingly few "prangs" in the event. I decided to get this event out of the way first, however, having brought a very old F-104 model I built many years ago. I wasn't very high in the static points, and was happy to have finished fifth after a reasonable flight.
Everyone was waiting for my Lunar Module flight, but I waited as long as I could before flying, hoping the wind would calm down. The model had problems in the past with its parachute deployment, but after the fine flight at Pikes Peak or Blast VII, I was a bit more confident. I was in second place in the static judging, 5 points behind the leader, who decided to withdraw and not fly. He felt his beautifully crafted Mercury-Atlas would not be stable, and forfeited a shot at first place rather than chance destroying the model. I was now in position to win the event with a good flight, but several others were also close behind. The Lunar Module was finally on the pad, and ready. Everyone was taking pictures, including myself, as it wasn't certain that I would survive. The liftoff was very straight and stable, with a slight rotation as it ascended. I felt a huge wave of relief he parachute deployed perfectly, and the model returned undamaged. Now, I would have to wait for the final point totals.
There wasn't a lot to do Friday evening, other than pack up the remains of the rockets I pranged or blew up, until the Awards Banquet began. We had a fine meal, parting speeches from the contest organizers, and finally the trophies were presented. Over two hundred were awarded, for Pre-NARAM Standings, Meet Standings, Fun Events, Contest Events, and Contest Year Standings. This took several hours, and some people actually fell asleep at their table, and not just the kids! It wasn't until second place was awarded in Sport Scale that I was sure I took first. The final totals were close, as I won the event by only five points. The banquet finally ended near midnight, and we headed back to continue packing and preparing for the long trip back to Colorado. The trip back was long but uneventful, and this time we planned ahead and reserved rooms in Topeka for Saturday night.