Dick Stafford's Rocket Dungeon Blog

Rocket Dungeon Posts

Sport Rocketry / Scale Models / Honest John

Madcow introduces mid-power fiberglass kits (2009-06-01)

I got sidetracked by Madcow's presence on Twitter and forgot to mention that they have two new fiberglass kits . An ARCAS and an Honest John. Both are 2.6 diameter (BT size) and are under $100 bucks ... [Read More]

ROCKETS Magazine, October 2009 (2009-10-28)

This month, Bob and Neil's editorial discusses the state of rocketry magazines. During the last 4 months or so, we have lost 50% of our rocket magazines - both LAUNCH and Extreme Rocketry succumbed ... [Read More]

Launch Report 2009-8 (Red Glare 7) (2009-11-15)

Location: Higgs Farm, Price, MD ( Red Glare VII ) Weather: mid to high 60's, light breeze, clear Total flights: Today - 7; YTD - 72 Total motors: Today - 10; YTD - 87 The remnants of Hurricane Ike ... [Read More]

Tau Zero completed (2010-03-04)

Well, I took advantage of a couple of dry, warm(ish) days and completed the Semroc Tau Zero .  This is a nice looking, futuristic rocket kit that flies on 18mm motors and recovers via a ... [Read More]

Review: Standard Cray-ARM (2011-01-03)

This is a review of my first Crayon rocket. I decided not to go with the typical clear fins and instead went for a 'goony' version of the Standard Missile. This one used an original 'Ralphco' brand ... [Read More]

Two reviews: Raygun Gothic Birdhouse and HoJo (2011-01-07)

These are two reviews of scratch rockets inspired by the Raygun Gothic Rocketship , which debuted at Burning Man 2009 and is now on display in San Francisco's Embarcadero. When I found the ... [Read More]

Reviews: MODifications to the Apogee V2 and Semroc Tau Zero (2011-01-29)

On the 10.5mm Micro V2, I added a stretched fin section (the Blitzkrieg Booster ) to allow it to fly on 13mm motors. On the Tau Zero, I merely put the fins on upside down. This is now a designer ... [Read More]

24mm Paper Honest John, Part 2 (2012-08-12)

I made good progress on the 24mm paper Honest John today. As I mentioned in the previous post, I attached three centering rings to the 24mm tube. I didn't fully think out the recovery harness but ... [Read More]

24mm Paper Honest John, part 3 (2012-08-13)

Today, I continued building the nose cone by adding the lower sections. The third section (larger-to-smaller diameter) went on well but I hit a snag with the lowest section (straight tube section ... [Read More]

24mm Paper Honest John, completed (2012-08-17)

Earlier today, I was in the Dungeon for something else and decided to dry-fit a rod in the newly installed lug.  I discovered I had forgotten something...the through-the-nose launch lug. Glad I ... [Read More]

Launch Report 2012-10 (2012-08-19)

Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD MDRA ESL-171) Weather: mid-70's, wind 0+ mph, cloudy Total flights: Today - 6; YTD - 80 Total motors: Today - 6; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: MicroHybrid ... [Read More]

Launch Report 2012-11 (2012-08-21)

Location: Mattie Sepanek Park Weather: 75 degrees, wind 0++ mph, partly cloudy Total flights: Today - 3; YTD - 83 Total motors: Today - 0; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: (Air -3); MicroHybrid -1; MMX ... [Read More]

Rocket status including a new, smaller air Honest John (2012-09-04)

The weather and my personal schedule have continued to delay the launch of my air-powered Saturn V.  So, this is what I've been up to instead. I wanted to build one of the Honest Johns ... [Read More]

Launch Report 2012-13 (2012-09-05)

Location: Mattie Stepanek Park Weather: 78 degrees and HUMID, wind 0++ mph, partly cloudy Total flights: Today - (6); YTD - 80 Total motors: Today - 0; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: (Air -12); ... [Read More]

The Dungeon's Top-10 for 2012 (2012-12-22)

I see Chris Michielssen posted his top ten for 2012. So, I see no reason to wait to post mine: 1. Space Shuttle Discovery buzzes Washington DC . 2. Discovery and Enterprise nose-to-nose at ... [Read More]

Launch Report 2013-2 (2013-06-15)

Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD MDRA ESL-181) Weather: Sunny, mid 80's, wind 0-10 (crossfield, away from the trees) Total flights: Today - 9; YTD - 14 Total motors: Today - 10; YTD - 15 ... [Read More]

My flyable fleet (2013-10-10)

After seeing ~1/10 of Dave Bucher's huge fleet on Facebook, I thought I'd snapshot mine, which consists of a paltry 233 birds. First sort criteria is a column that's not showing, breaking the list ... [Read More]

Converting my Saturn V from air power to 'pyro' (2014-01-23)

A couple of flying seasons ago, I built a bunch of air powered rockets, including a many from AlaskaPaperModelWorks . I also converted one of their large paper Honest Johns to fly on 24mm motors. ... [Read More]

It's a bird, it's a plane, NO, it's Dan's Honest John (2014-04-13)

This pegged the pucker-factor meter! What happens when your clustered 'M' motors don't all light at the same time. [Read More]

Honest John Nike @ WSMR (2016-07-12)

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