Very frustrated!

 So I got to launch rockets yesterday - that's the good (actually, GREAT) news. The other news is that I upgraded my iPhone and iPad to iOS 14 and my Mac to Catalina (MacOS 15) on Saturday.

And now everything is broke - photos don't transfer, apps and programs are buggy, and I am hating modern technology with a passion right now. Oh, and guess what? Blogger has updated its interface to the most confusing thing I have encountered so far.

A blog post is coming, folks - once I kill all these bugs!

Leapin' Martians!

Unfortunately for my bank account, Estes keeps putting out fine products at a faster pace than in the past. Their latest, the Mars Leaper, was delivered by the postman today, and I must say it is unusual. Imagine a lightweight foam space person in a rocket pack, stabilized by 3 long and thin hollow plastic rods - that's the Leaper. Powered by a 13mm Estes A10 motor, it's expected to reach about 75 feet before kicking the motor casing and falling gently to the ground. At least that's the plan - we'll see what the flight tests produce.

Which would be happening this weekend if the city will get around to mowing Pegasus field - it's normally done by this time. But I'm not holding my breath...

The Mars Leaper in the box - Estes really has some first rate packaging (Click to enlarge)!

The parts, including the two piece rods and their connectors. 3 pieces of scotch tape is all that
is needed to get this puppy ready to fly (Click to enlarge).

Where the motor goes - that's gotta hurt! (Click to enlarge)

The Mars Leaper in its flight configuration (Click to enlarge).

4 new fleet additions

Lately I have been pulling easy builds from the stash to create some relaxation time. Over the past couple of days, these three have been added to the fleet:

• Solaris - a boxed Estes kit that goes together really quickly. I like the orange and yellow decor of this 18 mm powered rocket.
• Splendor - A patriotic BT-55 based rocket, also powered by 18 mm motors (B's and C's).
• Show Stopper - A shiny out of production model the same diameter as a BT-60. Being fairly beefy, 24 mm motors are recommended for this one.

Solaris (Click to enlarge)

Splendor (Click to enlarge).

Show Stopper (Click to enlarge).

The last build was the Estes Mongoose, a two stager that uses the Generic fin can. It has a strange purple and yellow decor, but I guess the appeal will grow over time. The good news is that I can scratch this one off the Generic fin can list.

The Mongoose (Click to enlarge).

Speaking of the Generic list, today I filled and primed body tubes for the Screaming Eagle and 3 more rockets:

The Estes Athena in the 1993 catalog (Not to be confused with the current ready-to-fly Athena).

The Scorpion (part of a starter set) from the 2000 Estes catalog (Click to enlarge).

The Estes Generic (Can you believe I haven't built one yet?).

Now I just have to hope for some painting weather over the next week or so.