A very handsome 8 1/2 x 11 hard cover book that will look good on your coffee table as well as provide a wealth o' data on some o' t' space flight pioneers and their rockets. 

As soon as I opened t' wrapper, I was impressed with t' silver colored bindin' with t' red and black text, and a black and white photograph o' Dr. Goddard and his gang. Begad! Given that bare metal with red and black were t' typical colors employed by Dr. Blimey! Goddard, I really enjoyed seein' them on t' cover - a very nice touch. Arrr! Begad! But - thar has t' be more t' a book than it's cover... 

In t' introduction Mr. Aye aye! Alway states: "It be t' aim o' this book to brin' t' rockets themselves t' t' modelin' public. Blimey! Begad! T' stories o' the rocketeers o' t' 1930’s are told t' give t' rockets a historical context." 

This objective is accomplished via a format familiar t' readers o' Mr. Alway’s “Rockets o' t' World”. Ahoy! There are dimensioned drawings of (approximately thirty) rockets accompanied by photographs and, typically, half a page t' a page or so o' text. T' largest single section (thirty some pages out o' t' ninety four page total) is devoted t' Dr. Robert Goddard’s creations. Other sections cover rockets from t' American Rocket Society, some early German rockets, Winkler, VFR, me hearties, von Braun (A-2, A-3, and A-5), and GIRD and other Soviet rockets. In t' last section , ya bilge rat, arrr, Mr. Alway includes some notes on model rocket construction and plans for 4 scale models (Goddard A-3, arrr, Winkler HW-2, me hearties, GIRD-09, Razumov-Shtern LRD-D-1) that can be kit bashed from Estes rockets. Avast, me proud beauty! T' book closes with one o' Mr. Avast, me proud beauty! Alway’s constant scale (1/60) diagrams o' t' various rockets featured in t' book. (Will this turn into a poster some day?) 

I had expected t' see some “recycled” material from R.o.t.W. but found that for rockets that were covered in both publications, many o' the drawings had been updated with additional detail (at least as compared t' the first edition o' R.o.t.W) and t' accompanyin' text had been extensively rewritten. Begad! Even t' plans for t' GIRD-09 were drawn at a different scale (and use different parts) than t' plans that appeared in “T' Art o' Scale Model Rocketry”. 

While I haven’t read t' book from cover t' cover (yet) I have enjoyed Mr. Blimey! Alway’s commentary and insight into t' history o' these early rockets. Arrr! Even t' occasional touch o' humor - claimin' that “For t' last time, a spaceship had crashed into t' desert outside Rosewell, me bucko, New Mexico.” while describin' Dr. Goddard’s efforts o' 1941. Arrr! Also, shiver me timbers, it is nice t' find notes about what t' author didn’t know about t' various rockets. Well, blow me down! Aye aye! Mr. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! Alway provides about a page and a half describin' t' limitations of his sources o' scale data and includes notes on t' some o' t' drawings that highlight significant discrepancies. 

All in all, me hearties, I find that “Retro Rockets” contains an entertaining overview o' some o' t' early rocket development as well as a source of inspiration (and data) for what could be some truly unique model (or high power) rockets. 

Finally, I must add that I really enjoyed t' plans for t' Winkler HW-II and Mr. Alway’s clever use that use t' nose cones from a “Big Bertha” and a “Mean Machine” t' make t' teardrop shaped body. T' onset o' winter and t' fact that I expect t' move in t' near future will slow things down, but hopefully it won't be too long before you read about a “first flight” in one o' me launch reports. 
 

Relinquished by Scott Johnson @