This is a tough question and is easy to over-think. I really like the Orion, Saturn 1B, Little Joe II, Trident, Orbital Transport, SST Shuttle-1, Space Shuttle, Mars Lander, and the Taurus. Obviously, I have always been a sucker for futuristic designs. Semroc's foray into the X-Kits is much appreciated, as I like/love nearly all of those.

If I had to pick an absolute, it would have to be the Trident, with the OT as a close second, and the Saturn 1B as an Honorable Mention.

Allen

As of right now it is the Mars Lander. Love that kit!

Favorite? Oh, many come to mind, but Taurus and SLS Laser-X are certainly among them. The exchangeable motor mount on SLS makes it a very flexible flyer. :)

Probably a hard call for most to make, for me it is without a doubt the Aerobee Hi. Simple, well executed as a kit, and both reasonable in terms of cost and operation. I get a request to build these every month or so and all it takes is a little effort to produce a creditable model.

Truly, I haven't built a Semroc kit that I didn't like. However, I'm in the throes of painting a Taurus Fleet Ship and I have to say—it's a darn nice looking model. If I can paint it without goofing it up, I have an idea it'll be my favorite—looks-wise anyway. Funny thing is, I don't go for "Spaceship" type rockets. Guess that's changed now.

I believe Semroc has a winner with every kit and they are top notch folks as well. With that said, I am partial to the Mark II kit. Love the history behind this kit. I did change the nose cones in the photo though. ;)

Wow! Are those all Leed's (I think that was the name) crayon sharpener nose cones like the original Mark II? Where'd you find them?

Nice!


Earl

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, those are all Leeds Sweete crayon sharpener nose cones with paint schemes based on photos that I have seen of real Mark II's. I just got lucky one day on Ebay when someone had listed 1 sharpener for auction that included a photo with a box of 13. I contacted her and made a deal for the box with the 13 sharpeners.

Earl, loved your videos. They were my first exposure to higher powered rockets.

Rick-

That was indeed a 'sweet' find! (ok, yeah that was too easy to let pass!). I have on occasion searched for them on ebay or various other Google searches with no luck. What is the natural color for those sharpeners?

Thanks too for the comments on the videos. I enjoyed doing those for about 13 years, but they took a whale of amount of 'after hours' time to write and edit (post production work). When my dependent parent's health began to fail badly 7-8 years ago, it became extremely difficult to continue to do those as a sideline, after hours endeavor aside from my 'day' job.

One day when circumstances are different I may be able to return to that effort, but for now care requirements take precedent and family comes first. But I do miss going to LDRS each year and documenting that event.

Earl

My daughter used to play a game with me where she would take her huge collection of tiny plastic horses and put them in front of me two at a time and I had to pick the one I liked the most. She'd keep pitting horse against horse until I had been through them all and had picked my very favorite.

I just mentally played the same game with my Semroc collection. :)

And the winner is....

The Laser-X.

Not the most complex Semroc kit but it's apparently my favorite. I'll need Carl to weigh in here but I believe it is/was Semroc's best selling kit.

Steve (really thankful there's a Semroc)

Deci-scale sounding rockets. Totally awesome.

Rick's collection of Mark IIs and Leeds-Sweete sharpeners is quite impressive indeed, and like Rick, I have to say I have a soft spot for the Mark II as well. Apart from its historical significance to the hobby it also happens to be a stable flyer, and performed well for us in one of our recent Club Fun Fly events.

I've only one Leeds-Sweete sharpener in my posession but I believe they were produced in at least a couple of colors - the one I have was molded in red, but I believe it was available in yellow as well.

Not wanting to use the only sharpener I have as part of my build, I reworked the nose in the Semroc kit to "add" the external ribs that distinguish this sharpener. Below are photos of the two models I built. The first is now in the possession of the McClawhorns and the second sits on the shelf after doing a pretty good job for me at the Club Fun Fly.

Very cool. Nice work on those pencil sharpener Mark II's and I really dig the display. That sort of thing appeals to me. I have somewhat similar plans for an oldster in my collection. It needs more air time before I'll commit it, though. The bad thing is, it's one of my favorite fliers. The good thing is, Semroc make a Retro-Repro of it.

Well....the last one completed is the SLS L'il Hustler. However, as additional Semroc projects are completed, I retain the "right" to change my mind.

John

Hmm... a year or so ago I'd have said the Mars Lander. Now, I'd have to go with the Trident. Now, if Carl brings out the Sky Dart... :p

Greg

My good old Aero-Dart. First flight it got hung up in the only tree for a 1000 yards. I had to laugh...ran home and got my ladder and 61 flights and 2 replacement fins later still going strong. -G76 no problem 10 flights. Cameras, screamers. That baby does it all.

I just built a Starlight, that is pure elagance.

Have you posted a picture of the big one anywhere online? :eek: If not, could you? :cool:

Ranger. I never get tired of the Ranger.
And the Mars Lander, I never get tired of the Mars Lander.
And the Orion, I never get tired of the Orion.
And the Firefly, I never get tired of the Firefly.
And the uh.... well, whatever Carl drops next.

You will have to wait until I'm finished building them all ... then I will let you know.

Here is the thread on my Upscale Mark II. I'll try and get a new photo soon.

http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showt...99&page=1&pp=10

And flight pics? :cool: There are flight pics, aren't there? :rolleyes: ;)

Welcome your going to like it here .

Question Did you launch the Aero-Dart at Pasture Blaster this year?

I wish there were flight pictures but, it has flown once. Here are photos of me getting ready to go launch it and a mis-timed launch photo. The launch went off and it drifted away. We searched for a couple of hours and never saw it. I went back to our canopy, and we had set there for a while, and kid ran up with the large Mark II. He and his Dad had been looking for one of their rockets and stumbled upon the Mark II. They were way far away when they found it. I was thrilled to get it back unharmed. I gave the kid some square rocket kits for his effort.

This thread can keep going on indefinitely because as Semroc keeps releasing new kits, we (or at least I) keep having to revise my answer to the question. ;) Or, to be more accurate, adding to my answer. My latest update: even though I don't have any of them yet, I just adore the fact that Semroc now has the Trident, the Starship Vega, and someone please tell me this isn't a dream, the USS America! And of course, the Mars Lander. Up until now I haven't had as much interest in futuristic kits as I have had with, for instance, scale, but...wow. I mean, WOW!!!

Now I'm going to have to build a new shelf for the gallery. Darn the luck. :chuckle:

I can't see my top kits changing unless they go out of production. Saturn 1B and Mars Lander. I had them tied when I last posted, but the more I look at the Saturn, the more I'm reaffermed that it has to be #1. I like 'em all, but the Saturn 1B is in a class by itself. :cool:

That 1B is on my acquire list. It's the most interesting and best looking of the Saturns.

There isn't a model that Semroc makes that doesn't pique my interest in some way. The ones I admire most, I've purchased. They're all not built yet, but I'm slowly working on getting them together. The SLS Hustler and Starlight are on the list as well. Just gotta get final paint on the Aero-Dart, ThunderStrike and Texas FireFly, yet. They've languished over the Summer.

My favorite kit is the one I'm building now. :)

...Unless, maybe, Semroc produced kits of some of the various Nova launch vehicle designs? :-) And:Yes, there's something about those eight small, swept fins--which are reminiscent of Estes Alpha fins--that is aesthetically very pleasing. It's even possible that that fin planform *was* chosen because, along with meeting the Saturn IB's aerodynamic stability and structural requirements, they just plain looked good. (The attractive and distinctive "stinger tail" that is a hallmark of the Horten Brothers' flying wing aircraft was added to their later sailplane, prop- and jet-powered flying wings both because it looked good and was aerodynamically advantageous.)

Sent it up twice once on an E-14 and then on a single use F-24 I think at PB. Broke a fin tip that last one. After getting home I removed all the fins and fiberglassed the lot of them. Fragile tips on those buggers. Since then, it even landed fins down on pavement with a thunk, with only a little ding in one of the fin tips. I have really come to like 1/4 oz fiberglass fabric. I've gotten pretty fast at glassing these days.

Favorite SEMROC Models.
 

Since finding the SEMROC website in November of last year , I have purchased and built the:

Repro Reproduction of the Boost Glider Space Plane Kit KV-3 - 6 flights
Repro Reproduction of the Starlight Kit KV-21 - first flight w/Estes A8-3, Second with Estes B6-4.
Repro Reproduction of the Sam-3 Kit KV-79 (SAM kit) One of two current projects, ready for sanding sealer.

Purchased all the components for several other scratch rocket kits.

Will be purchasing the Hydra VII kit as a Christmas Present to myself to build and fly.

You'll like that one - it's an interesting build, and great to see fly on 7 motors!

The Hydra VII will be my Winter project, however, it maybe Spring before I can d :) o any finish work on it outside. I don't have any heated shop or outbuilding to spray in, unless I go over to a friend's shop six miles away. Our Winters are cold here in SW Missouri.

I still like The Point. Semroc's printing is really good and the kit goes together very nicely. That and a toss for the Mars Lander

I really like the SLS Mini-Max clones. The Scorpion, Explorer, etcetera.

Wait, you're kidding, right? :confused:

By your weather, it may be warm here, but -5 degree weather with -15 to -20 degree chill factors is bitterly cold to us. In the last seven days we have had 12 inches of snow with 2-4 more inches forecast today. Right now, we have freezing rain and sleet and the sun won't be out today, more wintery weather, black ice tonight. And it is not even winter yet.
That all right, I don't have to go anywhere today and it gives me time to work on my rocket projects.

Being the northernmost denizen of this electronic realm (unless there's a YORF member in Barrow, or in Canada above the Arctic Circle), I can state with a pretty high degree of confidence that my winters are the most severe (-60 °F, often with ice fog so thick that streetlights disappear, their light being completely blocked). And yet:

Having lived in both places, I have found that winters in Miami (Florida, not Ohio) were more miserable than here in Fairbanks, in the cold interior of Alaska. Here, the lower humidity enables us to be comfortable & cozy with the heat on. In Miami, our teeth chattered at +40 °F, standing in front of our Florence two-burner kerosene heating stove in the living room. Even standing directly in front of it, we were *still* cold on our sides and backs, even under our clothes. The very high (90% and higher) humidity made it a wet, clammy cold, which we felt *inside* our clothes, even though it was 100 °F warmer there than here. Also:

That is why I do not look down with derision upon those who speak of how cold it is in the south, or in any of the lower 48 states. The highest number of hypothermia deaths occur in Hawaii, because so many unsuspecting people (mostly tourists, I think) figure that, being a Sun-drenched tropical paradise, it's perfectly safe to sleep on or near the beaches at night in the ocean breeze...

I've never built a Semroc kit that I didn't like, so it's hard to pick a favorite—as I have mentioned before.

Most recently, it's the Retro-Repro Egg Crate. Fun to build. Cool looking and I like the interchangable mounts.

I wonder what the future holds?

"I wonder what the future holds?"

Semroc has a ton of stuff on backorder right now. Its getting hard to put together a complete order of many of the classics on my clone list.

I hope all is well ... I certainly wish them the best.

So do I--I'm going to order a batch of kits (simple beginners' rockets, like the Swift or Rawhide) from them for a teacher in Eagle, Alaska whom I'm helping--that will be a "Win, Win" situation all around. Thinking about it, 4-H Club and Scout troop leaders could help them by ordering such simple, easy-to-produce kits, as they establish a new production rhythm; selling simpler kits in quantity would bring in needed revenue as they sort things out.