We Will Be at NEFAR Bunnell Blast, November 10 & 11, 2012

JonRocket.com plans to attend the Northeast Florida Association of Rocketry (NEFAR) launch this coming weekend. This is the annual, two-day “Bunnell Blast” launch which usually attracts more fliers and more interesting rockets.

Currently the weather forecast calls for Saturday to be cool and clear with light winds. Sunday should be a bit warmer and windier.

In addition to the model rocket motors, igniters, parachutes, and other supplies we usually bring to sell at launches, we will have a number of kits, from small model rockets to large, high-power ones.  Don’t forget that we accept credit cards on-site!

I’ll be flying my “YouBee” rocket.  It’s a 12-foot tall upscale of the Odd’l Rockets Breakaway kit which we sell. The original Breakway flies on 18mm A, B, or C motors. The YouBee will use a 54mm diameter, composite K motor to travel to about 2500′ in altitude. As it reaches apogee, an onboard electronic altimeter will fire an ejection charge splitting the rocket into five sections, connected with four 15′ long tubular nylon shock cords. The rocket will descend, “Wacky Wiggler” style, until it reaches about 700′ in altitude at which time, the altimeter will fire a second ejection charge which will deploy a large parachute to gently lower the rocket to earth.

We’re also planning to use a K motor to power our Big Daddy Akavish.  But, the furry four-foot tall rocket will only reach about 600′ in altitude before it deploys its parachute.

JonRocket.com Auctions Support American Red Cross

Auctions to Support the American Red Cross

We’re auctioning a few items on eBay with the proceeds designated to go to the American Red Cross. If you win one of the auctions, a portion of the amount that you pay for the item will be donated to the Red Cross to support its huge relief effort to help people affected by hurricane Sandy.

http://www.jonrocket.com/auctions.html

If you wish to support the Red Cross through eBay auctions or sales, eBay makes it easy to designate that all or a portion of the selling price will be donated to a charity of your choice.  If you list a rocketry-related item on eBay and designate that a portion of the selling price be donated to a charity, your auction will be displayed on the front page of RocketReviews.com and on the site’s Charity Auctions page.

Donate Directly to the Red Cross

The response to Sandy is very large and very costly and the Red Cross needs the public’s help now. You can make a financial donation by visiting www.redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to someone’s local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

Give Blood

The storm has also caused the cancellation of hundreds of Red Cross blood drives, resulting in a loss of as many as 11,000 blood products and people are eligible are asked to schedule a blood donation now, especially if they live outside the areas impacted by the storm.

To schedule a donation time or get more information about giving blood, people can visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). To give blood, someone must be at least 17 years of age, meet weight and height requirements and be in general good health. Donors should bring their Red Cross blood donor card or other form of positive ID with them. Some states allow 16-year-olds to give with parental consent.

Red Cross Shelters

If someone needs to find a shelter, they can download the Red Cross Hurricane app, visit the Red Cross web site, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767), or check local media outlets. People can let their loved ones know how they are by using the “I’m Safe” button on the Red Cross Hurricane App which can be found in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for Android by searching for American Red Cross. People can also register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website to let loved ones know they are OK. To register, visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

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Rockets for Halloween

Celebrate Halloween by building and flying these spooky selections from the JonRocket.com catalog.

Rocketarium’s recently released WitchCraft model rocket kit features a detailed pre-cut fins representing a witch flying on a broomstick.

Semroc’s Goblin model rocket kit recreates the popular Estes D-powered kit.  It includes waterslide decals of bats and goblins.

October ROCK Launch Scrubbed

The October ROCK launch has been scrubbed.  I visited the field this afternoon and it had standing water and was muddy in places.  That might have been okay, but it was still raining while I was there and has continued to rain.  So, the chances are that the field will be much too wet tomorrow for a launch.  After I informed Brian, the ROCK president, about the field conditions, he decided to scrub the launch.

 

Web Site Updates

We’re currently in the process of updating the JonRocket.com web site. We are updating the product photos and are planning to include photos of the products in their packaging, as you will receive them.  We are also adding additional information about each product including links to copies of the instructions, links to external reviews of the products, and links to Rocksim design files for kits.

We’ve also made minor updates to the site’s appearance. One thing that you may notice is that product pages now utilize the full width of your browser window so that the descriptions and attributes don’t look as cluttered.

Updating the site is time-consuming, so we are far from finished. But, we hope you can already see and appreciate some of the improvements.

A Month Without Rockets

We were out of town for the ROCK launch at the beginning of the month.  Even if we had been in town, the launch was scrubbed because the field was flooded.

Before we went out of town, I hurt my foot when I lost my balance while carrying some stuff downstairs from our office.  After we returned from the trip, I visited the doctor.  An x-ray showed that I had broken one or both of the bones around the joint in my big toe.

Even though it’s nothing life threatening and is unlikely to affect me once it heals, it really hurt!  And, I discovered that riding in a car for any length of time caused it to hurt even worse. So I was forced to also miss the NEFAR and TTRA launches this month.  Both launch sites are about 1 and 1/2 hours drive from our home.

I’m looking forward to the local launches in October!