Kathy Kippen's Page
AKA: Rocketlady
Location: Sterling Heights, Michigan
Certification Level: L3 TRA
Club Memberships: JMRC,NAPAS,Team-1
Favorite Rockets: Fiddle Faddles of all sizes, crayons, anything "kewl"
Biography:
I've been hooked on rockets since March, 2000. I first found out about rockets and rocketry from friends I met on the 'net after viewing their rocketry sites. My first thoughts were "They're dust collectors like the 3-D puzzles I build or the model cars my brother builds." After building my first model rocket, an Estes Alpha and flying it, my thoughts were "Ah ha! This is the fun part!" And, thus, I became a Newbie.... quickly graduating up to a Tripoli Level 1 certification in July 2000 and four months later I achieved my Tripoli Level 2 certification in November, 2000. I earned my Tripoli Level 3 certification in April 2006.
Favorite Quote:
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. Werner von Braun
"I'm not sleeping; I'm thinking with my eyes closed!"
Personal Home Page: http://home.comcast.net/~r5ck4t3l2dy1/Fiddle%20Faddle%20Flight.htm
RocketReviews.com Pages:
2015-06-04
Public Missiles Striker (Kit)
Review
A new offering from Public Missiles, LTD, the Striker is a military missile style mid-powered rocket. It’s a straightforward build with a few new features that include a recovery tube and a new style nosecone with the strap imbedded in the nosecone tip as well as new construction ... [More]
2015-04-30
Rocksim file
Rocksim Design
[More]
2015-04-13
Public Missiles Bumble Bee (Kit)
Review
Brief
A new offering from Public Missiles, LTD, the Bumble Bee is a short stubby mid-powered rocket. It’s a straightforward build with a few new features that include a recovery tube and a new style nosecone with the strap imbedded in the nosecone tip as well as new construction ... [More]
2015-04-06
Bumble Bee RockSim file
Rocksim Design
[More]
2012-11-08
Rocketarium WitchCraft (Kit)
Review
This is a skill level 2 kit from Rocketarium. The unusual fins are shaped like a witch riding her broom. The other unique item of interest is this kit does not have a traditional nose cone.
Components
Parts List:
15.25” BT 50 body tube
2.75” BT 50 body tube
... [More]
2012-11-06
Witchcraft rocksim file
Rocksim Design
[More]
2010-06-06
Public Missiles Thunder -N- Lightning (Kit)
Review
Brief: This is the PML two-stage Thunder & Lightning kit. It comes with the CPR3000 electronics bay
and the interstage coupler to house the timer.
Construction:
Quantum tubing airframes – one for the booster and three for the sustainer. The fin can sections came
... [More]
First Flight Hobbies Mega-Sonic (Kit)
Review
Brief: A single stage large model rocket.
Construction:
Two sheets of 1/8” balsa fin stock – 3” X 16” and 4” X 16”
Fin patterns and alignment guide
Balsa nose cone
Two BT 60 body tubes – 8” and 11”
BT 60 coupler
24mm ... [More]
2009-11-21
Orchido
Flight
- A8-3 [More]
Model Minutes XFLR-7
Flight
- C11-3 [More]
Sunward Aerospace Maverick
Flight
- D12-5 [More]
LOC/Precision Cyclotron
Flight
- G185-7 [More]
2009-11-14
Orchido
Flight
- A8-3 [More]
Jammin'
Flight
- A8-3 [More]
38mm Fiddle Faddle two stage
Flight
- I236/H125 [More]
Rocket Vision Six-Pack
Flight
- C11-3 [More]
Estes Snitch
Flight
- C6-3 [More]
Estes Exoskell
Flight
Chute tangled in lander legs. No damage. - C5-3 [More]
2009-07-11
FlisKits Dead Ringer (Kit)
Review
A MicroMaxx kit with unique large rings for fins.
The parts came very well packaged and include:
¼" x 2" coupler
BT-2.5 x 1" tube
BT-2.5 x 5" tube
Launch lug
Streamer
30" Kevlar thread shock cord
Laser cut fins
Three BT-60 x 3/8" rings
Balsa nosecone
... [More]
2009-06-21
Scratch SynerJet (Scratch)
Review
( Contributed - by Kathy Miller - 06/21/09)
Brief:
This a scratch built spaceship rocket designed for the 2009 Design-A-Spaceship contest. It is constructed of 110lb
cardstock and presentation board.
Construction:
The parts include:
BT-50 for the internal tube/motor mount
... [More]
2009-05-24
Sunward Aerospace King Tut's Pyramid (Kit)
Review
Brief:
An E-G powered pyramid that comes with laser cut balsa and plywood parts. It's rated as a skill level 4, but I would
say it's more like a skill level 3.
Construction:
The parts came very well packaged and include:
BT-80 coupler
Launch lug
Thrust ring
2 ... [More]
2009-04-19
Quest-Estes Bertha Moon (Kit)
Review
( Contributed - by Kathy Miller - 04/19/09)
Brief:
For this bird I used the parts from an Estes Baby Bertha and a Quest Full Moon to come up with something just a bit
different.
Construction:
For this build I used the Baby Bertha's airframe as is out of the package but used the ... [More]
2009-03-24
Red Arrow Hobbies Black Brant II (Kit)
Review
Brief:
This Black Brant II is a 2.6" X 58" tall rocket made using Red Arrow's phenolic tubing and their custom
made nose cone and tail cone. It comes with a 38mm MMT although it can fly on a wide range of 29mm and 38mm motors
depending how far you wish to walk. With some ... [More]
2009-03-15
Model Minutes M.O.M. (Multi Operations Missile) (Kit)
Review
( Contributed - by Kathy Miller - 03/15/09)
Brief:
This is a skill level 1 kit with pre-printed full-color body parts printed on sturdy paper. Each kit comes with
instruction sheets done up in a three dimensional effect with 3-D glasses for viewing the color photos. I made the
... [More]
Scratch Two Stage Fiddle Faddle (Scratch)
Review
This is a staged version of one of my favorite rockets called "Fiddle Faddle" adapted from plans I found on the internet years ago. I have modeled this design in RockSim, and while the 3D image doesn't look like the actual model as per the box fin, it does give reasonable approximations for ... [More]
2006-07-08
Scratch The MicroGlia (Scratch)
Review
( Design this
Spaceship Submission - by Kathy Miller - 07/08/06)
The MicroGlia
Assembly photos by Kathy Miller
Static and Flight photos by Buzz Nau.
Click for Kathy Miller's
Word DOC Submission
Parts List
1 Estes PNC20 nosecone
... [More]
2004-04-21
Descon 13 1/4 Karat Carrot (Scratch)
Review
¼ Karat Carrot
When I saw this plastic carrot filled with candy in an Easter display, well, it just cried out, “I’m a ROCKET!!” It looks sort of like it could something out of a Marvin the Martian cartoon, too.
Materials:
One (1) plastic carrot (It came filled ... [More]
0000-00-00
Descon Snowman (Kit)
Review
Snowman
by Kathy Miller
The idea of the Snowman rocket first came to me last winter around the
Christmas holidays. I had contemplated a Christmas tree and thought "Too
easy," then maybe a reindeer and thought "the antlers would be a
problem". That was when I decided on ... [More]
Descon It's Miller Time (Kit)
Review
( Contributed - by Kathy Miller) I saw this bottle at the store
where I work and just knew it had "rocket" written all over it!
Parts List:
one plastic beer bottle bank with lid
two BT80 tubes from an Estes Phoenix "parts" kit
one coupler from the same kit
... [More]
