Jerry's Rocket Page

We have a great hobby together where we are both equals and have unlimited possibilities.
We fly rockets together.

The Story Of My First High Power Rocket

Back in my childhood I built and flew model rockets with a bunch of friends in New Jersey. As a young boy I dreamed of what it would be like to really fly, to feel the power of the motor as it sent the spacecraft high into the air. I guess that I just never grew up… my dreams, and my toys only became bigger and more powerful. I am a lucky man because many years ago my wife as a young girl also flew rockets as a child. She loved the physics that controlled their movement through the sky… she loved the challenge of building a model, then working out all the details of just how it would fly; and getting it back safely again.

As I was about to leave Louisiana to move here to the St. Louis area, I saw a magazine about high power rockets. I bought it just to look at, because I thought it looked interesting. In it's pages I found a very active rocketry group here in the St. Louis area. I called their president, Bruce Weidner, who was listed in the magazine. We talked rockets for a few hours… long distance… and I gained a new friend. In fact, when I moved to the St. Louis, I unloaded the truck, changed clothes, and went out at 1:00 AM to meet Bruce at the local Denny's Restaurant until about 5:00 AM. He was really easy to find even though I had never seen him before… as I entered the room, there sat a tall man holding a xenon strobe unit mounted to a shiny steel rod; I said with a smile, "Hi Bruce, I'm Jerry!" … it was a great start to our friendship.
I have been in the area since 1996, so I figured that it was about time for me to build a high power rocket. I was in Wichita, Kansas doing some work when I heard about a great hobby shop nearby. I saw a really great rocket called the "D-Region Tomahawk" by Public Missiles Inc. I bought it.
After a few months it was ready to go. In the process of building my rocket, my wife decided that she wanted to rekindle her passion with rockets too. For her birthday I bought her a really mean looking machine by "LOC-Precision" called the "Minni-Magg".
There is nothing "mini" about this rocket, it has a diameter about twice that of mine, and my wife has modified it to take a motor that is twice as large too. There are three levels of certification for this sport; she has built this machine to handle level one, and level two power.

My wife Carol and her rocket.

(And yes, she does that Tim Allen "more power" routine too!)

To fly rockets with this much power; you need to have a certification from an organization called TRIPOLI. When I sent in for my yearly membership, Carol sent in for hers as well. The hardest thing for Carol was picking a name for her creation. I think we worked on that aspect for days. I told her to just give up… I said, "Build it, paint it, and the name will come to you."

She decided on hunter green for the body tube. I said that would be great and unusual for her rocket… but that she needed to have a bright color in case it landed in tall grass. I did want her to recover it so that she could fly it again!

Gold and green make a great combination, so Carol decided that the nose and fins would be painted bright chrome gold. After seeing her new creation decked out and glittering in the sun, it was time to hit the nearest office supply store for some vinyl letters. The auto store had some great unicorn decals too, so they were added as well. She decided on the name "Green Peace" for her machine and soon had it lettered and ready to go.

Since I had not quite painted my rocket, it sat there like a large gray tube in the corner of the room. I had opted to by a cheap primer; it was a lesson to be learned. Don't buy cheap. When you buy cheap, it means that you will have to sand it all off, buy the right stuff, then do it all over again. So my rocket sat in the corner looking like a leftover from some old W.W.II movie while hers was like something out of the latest rocket magazine.

I had to go out of town for a few days, and with the launch date coming quickly. I didn't have any time to figure out which colors I was going to paint my beast, nor even time to go to the hardware store for the supplies. My lady came through for me again; she picked up some red, yellow, and black paint while I was gone.

I painted the upper body yellow, and then painted the nose cone with gloss black. It looked great so far. I was going to paint the fins red for contrast… but for some reason I just kept painting... until I ran out of red paint.

The Tomahawk ready for flight.

I lettered the lower section "Tomahawk" then did the stripes… but it needed something up on top. Carol suggested that I use my TRIPOLI number so that everyone would know who built it. I thought that was a really great idea so it was off to the office supply store for larger letters!

I finished it all about 9:00 on the night before the launch. Nothing like waiting until the last minute huh?

Everything was ready, the rockets were all set… so the next day would be the big day for both of us… we were both going to certify together.

In the days when I did the smaller model rockets, to get one ready for a flight was very easy. All you had to do was select a motor from a small selection of sizes, pack the parachute, and you were pretty much ready to head out to the pads.


Motor Before Assembly	Ready To Fly

These rockets are not quite the same.

The rocket motors cannot be shipped in one piece because it would require a special permit and therefore would cost much more.

They are shipped as a series of components, which must be...
~~ Assembled in the field ~~

There is an aluminum cylinder that is threaded on both sides. You install your materials into this cylinder, then screw on the end closures. It doesn't sound too bad, but it took me about 40 minutes to load my first rocket motor. As you can see… they are really quite complex. Everything has to fit just right for it to work properly. It is also a messy job since everything has to be covered with silicone grease to prevent the burned residue from collecting in the threads and such.

Because it took me so long to load the motor, and the fact that the launch was so busy this day, Carol would have to wait until the next launch date to make her certification. She was a great asset to me, without her I wouldn't have some of the great photographs shown on these pages. All of the hard work and energy was finally worth all the effort when I stood out there with all my friends as they did the final countdown.

5…4…3…2…1…LAUNCH!

At first there was nothing except the sound of the gentle wind… then a small curl of smoke rose from the tail of the rocket. Nothing happened... not a sound. For what seemed an hour the rocket sat motionless on the pad. We heard a low rumble and saw more smoke from the rocket… then it became loud and well defined.

At last bright white and yellow flames blasted from the rocket as it began to rise from its pad. Soon it had reached about 200 miles per hour and climbed to about 1250 feet above the crowd.

" The Launch "

Picture by Carol Rutherford
31 October 1998

Everyone held his or her breath as the rocket tipped over and began to fall. Within a second, there was a loud "pop" followed by the wonderful sight of the parachute unfurling before us. The rocket drifted slowly back to earth as the crowd cheered in unison. It was a wonderful feeling.

RUTHERFORD ROCKETS
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