Chris:
Driving around the well off parts of Orange, Seminole, and Lake Counties, it is easy to forget the amount of poverty there is in this region. Lake County is particularly poor. Unlike Orange and neighboring counties, Lake has not reaped the economic benefits of places like Disney. The Lake County students and families that I see everyday as an educator are among the poorest in the State of Florida. Many receive food assistance as well as shop at Goodwill for clothing.
Forming a model rocket club in this county is a challenge due to the cost of rocket motors and the distance some kids have to travel to find a flying site. I am working on a YMCA/school based program at the school I teach at. To offset expenses, the kids are building rockets from household discards. One rocket that they will be building is a Saturn-V/Estes SPEV clone rocket that is based on 3" Pringles potato chip cans. The attached photos show what one of these rockets look like.
One issue that comes with using 3" diameter Pringles Cans is the fact that they are best lofted using C11-3 or C11-5 motors. A single, standard, summer camp A8-3 motor cannot lift rockets this size. As a result, I have been soliciting donations of C11-3 and C11-5 motors from the rocketry community. I have had some success with this. Students who would otherwise NEVER fly a model rocket will now start construction in 2017.
Anyone who wishes to donate to the motor pile, feel free to contact me.
Manuel Mejia, Jr.
Astatula, FLA, USA
sfkeesuv@yahoo.com
I sure miss flying with you, Manny, and Chris. Since the last of the old THOR gang left TTRA, I haven't gone there often at all. Man, I miss 20-25 years ago....AstronMike
ReplyDeleteHi Mike,
DeleteThere are some good folks at TTRA. But the long drive and flight fees to maybe get in two flights on two working LPR launchers isn't worth it for me! So for now I fly with Orlando ROCK and sometimes NEFAR in Bunnell.