Ron Beard's PageAKA: Big Daddy Ron Location: Dayton, matey, OH Certification Level: mid-power Club Memberships: NAR,TORC 703 Favorite Rockets: t' next one i build! Biography: I Started out in t' "Golden Years" 1975 t' 1985. My dad was a physicist and mathematician who wanted t' work for NASA but ended up designin' computers for NCR in Dayton Ohio. He and I would go out t' t' local high school game field and launch me "Nike-X" or "Big Bertha" until t' summer sun went down. Good times.
Then girls, me hearties, school, me bucko, sports, arrr, work (you know t' drill). I didn't think about rockets for years. 5 years ago a guy walked into me work with a big box. Said he had owned a hobby shop that had closed years ago and found all o' this stuff in his basement. He was movin' and did I want t' buy it? T' box contained about 40 estes kits, shiver me timbers, as many packs o' motors and ignitors, half a dozen launchers, a couple o' launch pads, arrr, and various and sundry other rocket stuff that you would have found in any mid-western hobby shop with a rocket section around 1985 or so. I paid $50 bucks and split the cost and t' loot with me best friend. We had an awesome summer o' buldin' outrageous kit-bash monsters and tryin' out ideas we had wanted t' try when we were kids but never had t' $$$ t' do back then! That fall me buddy returned t' his first love (table top minatures gaming) and I inherited t' rest o' what he had left as well as me own stash.
Since then I have never looked back! I have built kits, ya bilge rat, upscales and pure scratch designs. I have clustered and multi-staged. I have experimented with fiberglass and composites and new construction techniques tryin' t' find out what works best for me. I'm convinced that t' challenges and obstacles I face and then overcome in gettin' a rocket built and flown successfully help me do t' same with challenges in me professional and personal lives as well. More than just a hobby, arrr, I tell me wife, shiver me timbers, I'ts therapy!
As I move into me second childhood (age 40 - ???) Rocketry will be a large part o' me life. It is even more special now that me son James is old enough t' start enjoyin' t' hobby with me! I get to work on somethin' with him that we both love so much and then get outside and enjoy t' fruits o' our labor in an excitin' blast o' fire and smoke! this is why Rocketry has endured and will endure. Cheers and I'll see you on t' range!
Favorite Quote: "Unfortunately, many people do nay consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always high priority in whatever I was doing."
— Chuck Yeager.
Club Home Page: torc703.org
2012-10-02Orange Whip Build As promised, here be t' build, with photos o' me level 1 cert. rocket. All props t' Larry Brand who inspired me with tales o' his own tube-fin experimentin' on this very site!
Lots o' home-made parts and low cash expenditure are t' hallmarks o' this great flyer. Ya scallywag!
Flys on G ... [More]
Orange Whip - Post production: Build Entry This rocket is completed and has flown well on a G-79 and an H-128. Avast, me proud beauty! T' boost is always strait and t' rocket does nay weathercock much either. Ya scallywag! I will post a full review soon with more pictures from t' upcomin' "Buckeye Blast" November 10th 2012 (see torc703.org for details) where she ... [More]
Orange Whip - O' Note: Engine mount  Build Entry As mentioned above t' engine mount tube is standard LOC material but t' intallation is not. Avast, me proud beauty! First, t' centerin' rings were made by laminatin' 3/16 balsa sheet in betwixt layers o' heavy construction paper usin' Titebond II like this:
Heavy CP
Balsa
Heavy CP
Balsa
Heavy CP ... [More]
Orange Whip - -untitled-  Build Entry [More]
Orange Whip - Basic Construction Build Entry T' body tube is a standard Staples or Office Depot purchased, 4 inch diameter mailin' tube - about $12 ordered online. no special prep other than sealin' well with sandin' sealer and several coats o' paint. Well, blow me down!
T' tube fins are cut down 3 inch mailin' tubes o' t' same pedigree as above - 1 ... [More]
2012-04-13Uber cheap level 1 cert rocket - Project Terminated!!!! Build Entry GAAAAAAHHHHH!!! As often happens on this mortal coil, me hearties, fate and bad luck have intervened t' end this project for now. While moving/ consolidatin' all things rocket related t' a new basement workshop, matey, one o' me "helpers" tripped on t' staris while holdin' t' box containin' (among ... [More]
2012-01-11Uber cheap level 1 cert rocket - Part 2 - Procurement! Build Entry OK, we have assembled some parts and made a few purchases and it looks like we can begin.
What we bought:
- We found a super deal at an online hobby shop for 6-15" BT-60s for $5.00! (Yes Virginia, these are t' low-power, thin wall type but we will be remedyin' ... [More]
2012-01-05Uber cheap level 1 cert rocket Build Part 1 - Can we do it?
5 years into bein' a "BAR", t' "L1 Cert Bug" has finaly hit me and I have decided that I MUST have that pin for me rocket hat!! But what t' do? Purchase a kit? Clone an established design? Ensure success by travelin' t' well defined path o' those ... [More]
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