End of Year Video, Upcoming Interviews, Final Launch, News, Etc.

At the end of the year, for the past two years, I've published a slow motion launch compilation video on my YouTube channel. It can take a while to compile all the video, trim everything down to just the launches, keep it short enough that people will watch it, find music, etc.

This year's video already contains 149 individual launches, and I have one more in Maine this weekend. The video as I've trimmed it down is still nearly a half hour long - far too long. I may have to do something I was hoping to avoid: take a few clips out.

Most of the video was shot on my camcorder, so the slo mo isn't great. But a couple of times, Joe Barnard, the guy you may have heard of who's working on a project to build an actively stabilized, finless model rocket which lands under thrust (like the SpaceX and Blue Origin vehicles), came along with me.

Echo, one of Joe Barnard's test vehicles, lifting off at sunset. Note the lack of fins.

Joe is a professional videographer, and last time he shot some super slow motion video. Some of this video is so slow, I've actually had to speed it up 2, 4, even 8 times, just to keep it from being too long.

Here's an example:

This isn't even the slowest video!

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I've continued uploading videos in the Quest Superbird building series. What started as a simple model rocket build has become... more interesting. The kit threw me a few curve balls, so I've had to make some adaptations. But it's a good learning experience for anybody who opens a kit and finds some inconsistencies. You can see the playlist here.

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Tonight, we're recording a new episode of The Rocketry Show podcast. We'll be talking with John Boren, designer and head of R&D at Estes Industries.

I'm really excited for this one. On The Rocketry Show, we talk a lot about high power rocketr. But tonight, we'll get to chat with someone from the oldest model rocket company on the planet - and one who designs low and mid power rockets, no less. I'm hoping I'll have more to contribute to the conversation on this episode.

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Saturday, I'm going to my final launch of the year, up in Maine. This will only be my sixth launch this year. I need to plan out next season a bit better.

I still have to decide what to fly this weekend. The initial plan is to fly anything that's been built but not flown, and a few things that only flew once last year.

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Then, Sunday, we'll record another episode of The Rocketry Show, this time discussing my recent series on the weight spray paint can add to a model rocket, and how that can affect the flight.

Once that series is done, I plan to go back to my unfinished series about rocket stability for Rocket N00bs, from which I hope to springboard into a discussion of multistage rockets, simple design, and building from scratch - three topics I've avoided so far simply because I knew the stability series was incomplete.

And I'll be addressing a topic I should have covered much earlier on in the life of this blog - model rocket safety!

Winter seems like a good time to cover some of these concepts. Plenty of time before next flying season. And plenty of time to build more rockets.

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Have a question you'd like to see addressed on this blog? Email me at iamtherocketn00b@gmail.com.