NARCON 2008 Recap

[Rocket Doctor]

For those of us who weren't able to attend NARCON, would those who did give a recap of the weekend.....Thanks

[snuggles]

Hi, we're in a decompression mode now, Updates will be forthcoming.
In a nutshell... It was a BLAST!!!(pun intended)
Mark T
NARCON 2008 vendor coordinator

[Ltvscout]

Hi, we're in a decompression mode now, Updates will be forthcoming.
In a nutshell... It was a BLAST!!!(pun intended)
Mark T
NARCON 2008 vendor coordinator
I'm interested in hearing how those MMI motors sold that Weisman was selling?

[snuggles]

Lots of people oohed and aahed over them. I sold about a half dozen or so. Joe couldn't make it, so I brought them along. Which reminds me, gotta get over to Joe and
take care of him
Vern was impressed too.
Mark T

[chanstevens]

Well, I'll give it a brief shot...

Friday night--I didn't arrive in time to catch any of the sessions or the group dinner hosted by local native Bob Cox from The Rocketry Forum, but it was well attended by over 20 people, including the Estes. Afterwards, there was a vendor forum, which I made just in time to hand Jim Flis a display model Adfecta to show off along with his other fine offerings. Other vendors bragged on some neat new stuff, including Dave from Sirius, Red River John, a local kid dba Chutes by Bo (very nice chutes...), Aerotech, and of course Semroc. The Golden Scout announcement actually got a wee bit emotional. Under the "what the %$#& was he thinking?!" department, Carl ignored the suggestions of Sheryl and Bruce and only brought 40 Golden Scouts to the show, thinking they had never sold that many of any kit at a show before. They were gone within 30 minutes of his announcement Friday night, with nary a one left for folks arriving Saturday.

Saturday sessions were fairly well attended. Can't speak for all of them, but I caught a pretty good one on swing wing gliders (Tom Pastick), made it for about the last half of Bunny's "From wacky wacky to Zip Zip" history of RC rocket gliders (dang vendors kept pulling me away from learning stuff!).

After a brief lunch break, I presented a session on Micro Maxx rocketry. I was a little surprised at the large crowd, but they seemed to enjoy it. I think just about every attendee under 16 was there, and they went away inspired. I've already heard from 3 dads that sprang for a bunch of Flis MTTM kits afterward, so I'll be contacting Jim shortly to work out the kickbacks...

Fortunately, the session I wanted to see right after mine was in the same room, so I didn't have to scramble to clean up to catch it--a very interesting how-to on vacu-forming by Ray King. Vacu-forming has always struck me as bordering on witchcraft to do right, and expensive, but Ray showed how he was able to pull it off for under $50, and made some good quality stuff. It was especially cool seeing him do a presentation after having only been doing it for just under a year. Very encouraging to see folks stepping up with enthusiasm like that.

Brief break, followed by Bunny's second session of the day, this one on life on the inside as NAR president. Dang vendors still kept me from making the start, but I caught over 3/4 of it and was pretty impressed by the professionalism he brings to the office. I'm too new to the hobby to comment on history and relative performance, but I can say since getting to know Bunny a bit after NARAM last year, I have been more inspired to put effort back into the hobby, and will be doing more volunteer work for NAR as a result.

By far the highlight of the weekend was the Saturday evening session with Vern and Gleda. Gleda read excerpts from Vern's upcoming book, plus a very touching essay by their daughter on life as a rocket girl, followed by a solid 30 minutes of Q & A. Mixed in there was a hilarious story Vern told about when he first googled himself. He found a creative writing story posted about a spy adventure involving the Estes company. Lots of funny groaner lines, including one passge where the bad guy fell and got the back end of his pants stuck under the propellant mixer. Vern was laughing so hard, as was the audience, that he had to stop for at least 2 minutes. There's just something about a guy like Vern reading a [fanny] joke...They also stayed afterwards for a good half hour signing assorted memorabilia brought to them. I got autographs on Golden Scout #66, and that seemed to be a popular item.

A bit selfishly, I also think this night capped the event, because as part of the Scout celebration, Gleda rolled two body tubes (horizontal overlap, of course), out of very special paper--one sheet signed "Vern 50" and the other "Gleda 50", and they were rolled just right so that the autographs were visible inside the tube. They gave them each away as door prizes. I managed to win the Gleda version, and was absolutely awestruck. I honestly thought last summer's NARAM banquet, when I realized that I had climbed from 7th going in to overall national champion, was the most thrilling shock of my life. This beat that night. My karma account is seriously overdrawn at this point, and I have no idea what I've done to earn such blessings.

Sunday was a short day--I caught a very informative helicopter session by Trip Barber. He has really been sharpening his FAI style approach for quite a while, shaving tenths of grams here and there. I especially enjoyed his references to ongoing debates with Bob Parks, who tends to establish fantastic theories about models that should outperform Trip's, but on the field never seem to do so. I mean no disrespect to Bob, just love the theory versus reality banter. Trip's session was followed by a very interactive session by Joyce Guzik on rotary wing aerodynamics, getting into funky science that she admitted was too intimidating for her and the group kicked around a few ideas as an open forum.

Longest post of my YORF career, and my "summary" only covered about a third of the sessions. I always thought NARCON was a silly waste of time/money, traipsing to the middle of God forsaken country in the heart of winter, but since I was working about an hour away from NARCON last year, I decided to try one. Man, was I ever wrong. If you are a rocket geek, it's a great weekend. I'm glad I was able to go again this year, burning frequent flyer miles for airfare, rental vouchers for free car, and staying with a friend in Rochester. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been able to spend all that money in the vendor hall! These wind up costing me more than NARAM!

--Chan Stevens

[Rocket Doctor]

Great report Chan

Thanks
RD

[Carl@Semroc]

....Under the "what the %$#& was he thinking?!" department, Carl ignored the suggestions of Sheryl and Bruce and only brought 40 Golden Scouts to the show, thinking they had never sold that many of any kit at a show before. They were gone within 30 minutes of his annoucnement Friday night, with nary a one left for folks arriving Saturday.The next day, even Vern "piled on" by saying HE would have brought more. :D

Great summary, Chan! And we can't begin to thank Carol, Jeff, Mark, and all of MASA enough. It is tough to be coming out of winter this time of year and drive 21 hours to get right back into it, but NARCON is the one event that is worth it.

[jflis]

Yep, NARCON is such a great way to officially start the rocketry season :)

From a *vendor* point of view these national events are always hit or miss. More often than not I find myself in a section of the country that is already saturated with our product which makes it hard to move product. I've heard similar from others as well. However, *this* NARCON was different (at least for FlisKits) and we had strong sales all 3 days, so that is good.

From a rocket-geek point of view, these national events are NEVER hit or miss. They are Hit, multiple bulls-eyes, every time. :D Just being able to spend a weekend with like minded folks who *don't* think you're nuts is a pleasure. To see the wide variety of skills, kits, models and imagination is enough to keep you up nights with "boosters dancing in your head". If you've never been, you really need to find a way to do it.

Now, a problem with brisk sales is that I don't get the chance to attend any of the seminars (a real bummer), but I did have time to *give* a seminar. We did a build session with the teachers from the Coalwood group, then followed that up with a 30 minute informal chat about what we (NAR, rocketeers, vendors) can do to help the educator get the job done with regard to model rocketry)

The real frustration is that this seminar was opposite Chan's talk on micro, one of the talks that I REALLY wanted to attend... (oh, Chan? NEVER have we seen micro sales like we did at this past NARCON... Thanks! :) )

It was great seeing everyone again. Love sitting and chatting with the vendors during the slow times. Dave and Evie, Bill, Carl, Sheryl, Bruce and SO many more. Now long time friends who enjoy crying on each others shoulders about the trials and tribulations of running a hobby based business...

Seeing Vern and Gleda again is always a joy. They are "dignataries" because they have earned that title. They are welcomed and desired simply because they are wonderful people, best friends with each other and the highlight of anyones visit.

Now we have to dig out from a pile of back orders (a good thing :) ) and get ready for NERRF, the HobbyTown USA convention and NARAM (not to mention NEMROC)... man...

Here are a few pix from the event:
- Carl making a "hard sell" in the SEMROC booth
- We tended to overwhelm local eateries. Kathy and I showed up first. They looked up and said "two for lunch?", we responded "um, no. 15 for breakfast..." The looks on their faces is priceless...
- After the Pheord X150 build session we held an informal talk with the teachers from the Coalwood group.
- The MASA rocket display. way kewl
- Jeff Taylor displays the MASA October Skies Deuce model. BEAUTIFUL!
- This is what we had waiting for us upon our return. Still buried under over a foot of snow...

[jbuscaglia]

Just being able to spend a weekend with like minded folks who *don't* think you're nuts is a pleasure.

Jim,

I've known you a lot of years and I can say with certainty that we like-minded folks don't think you're nuts. We KNOW you're nuts!

BTW - I want to know how you managed to put out a kit (Thunderbird) that I never saw fly as a prototype at a CMASS launch.

See you on the range,

John B.

[tbzep]

- This is what we had waiting for us upon our return. Still buried under over a foot of snow...

You should move down here near me. Sunny and around 70 today. :D

[falingtrea]

Speaking of snow, looks like we lucked out last weekend with NARCON. We are getting hit with a little end of the season snow today. :) Especially in Rochester.

[tbzep]

Speaking of snow, looks like we lucked out last weekend with NARCON. We are getting hit with a little end of the season snow today. :) Especially in Rochester.

All of this talk of snow is making me cold. Excuse me while I find a long sleeved shirt to tie me over until the sun heats things up a bit. It's already 57 and climbing toward 70 today. :D

[K.M.Knox]

Has not stopped yet, looking at a good 6-8" right now :cool: Wonder when spring is gonna come :confused: Oh wait, first day of spring was yesterday :rolleyes:

Too bad I had to miss the fun, NARCON looked like a lot of fun! I saw that Deuce fly back in October I think, the picture does not do that bird justice. Just got my first Deuce yesterday, in the next slot of the build queue. I know I am a little late on getting it, but at least I did :)

[jflis]

Jim,

I've known you a lot of years and I can say with certainty that we like-minded folks don't think you're nuts. We KNOW you're nuts!

BTW - I want to know how you managed to put out a kit (Thunderbird) that I never saw fly as a prototype at a CMASS launch.

See you on the range,

John B.

:D :D :D

I first flew the Thunderbird in the 70's. I wanted a Sport Scale for NARCON and that was the quickest to get out, so... That's also the benifit of having after-school rocketry programs. I fly all winter long :)