Bill Eichelberger's PageAKA: Wallyum, Fishhead Location: Ft. Thomas, KY Certification Level: NAR - Bronze Club Memberships: Cincinnati QUARK Favorite Rockets: Estes Condor, Estes Satellite Interceptor, any Goony, Semroc Lil Hustler, Centuri Raven, Centuri USS America, Centuri Mach 10, FSI Viking Biography: First started flying in the summer of 1977. Lost interest in college, made the classic mistake of giving almost all of my rockets away, then started over in the early 90's after my son was born. Sam and I flew an occasional mix of semi-RTF stuff until my brother in law took me to a launch in Cleveland in 2001, after which the bug bit hard once again. Since then I've gone with the occasional ebbs and flows of the hobby, seen a lot of changes, made a lot of friends, and lost a great field.
Favorite Quote: "No one respects the flame quite like the fool who's badly burned"
RocketReviews.com Pages:
2012-05-21Clone Estes Sentinel (Clone)  Review
Brief
The Sentinel is a very convincing faux-missile produced by Estes from 1988 to 1994. Originally an 18mm bird, I built my clone with a 24mm mount, a decision that I've been quite happy with. Mine isn't a kit, but a clone built around an original PNC-60RL nose... [More]
2012-05-20Mini Max  Flight Really impressive flight that almost recovered perfectly, but it caught a thermal, then a breeze that took it into the trees with its rocket brethren. I did a nice job on it, too. - A3-4 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
Astron Constellation  Flight Flight was high and straight, then landed within a few feet of the pad. - A8-3 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
Spin Fin  Flight No way to tell if it spun. It was gone before I had the chance to look up. Straight up flight that recovered on the infield. - A8-3 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
Solar Warrior  Flight Impressive first flight. Landed hard between the two fields, but no damage. - A3-4 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
V-2  Flight Another in a long line of Ebay refugees, I had to buy a nose cone and replace the fins on this one because they'd been built with the balsa oriented incorrectly. Flew great in Fill & Finish. - A8-3 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
Micro  Flight Great flight, but a bit too much rocket for a streamer. Broke fin on hard grass landing. Easily repairable. - A8-3 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
Semroc Javelin  Flight This had been pre-loaded with a Quest A6-4 for years because I had no igniter for it. Worked fine with an Estes igniter and masking tape. Great flight, higher than expected, then recovered on the first base line. - A6-4 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
WAC Corporal  Flight A second impressive flight on the evening. - B6-4 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
WAC Corporal  Flight Needed a new launch lug. First flight in YEARS. - B6-4 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
Red River Rocketry Starliner DST  Flight Perfect flight. Started to drift toward the trees, but recovered by a kid practicing baseball. - A8-3 - Fabulous B6-4 Field [More]
2012-05-13Clone Centuri U.S.S. America (Clone)  Review
Brief
I've been a big fan of the Centuri Super Kits since I saw an E.S.S. Raven launched and treed back in 1977. I rescued the carcass of that unfortunate victim of "launch fever", but the month+ of tree living left it too much of a project for my then meager skills. In the years since, I've... [More]
2012-05-11LOC/Precision Lil' Ninja (Modification)  Review
Brief
Several years ago, my brother-in-law built a Der Red Max upscale using an LOC Lil' Nuke as a donor. That Christmas he drew my name in the family gift exchange, so I asked for a Lil' Nuke kit of my own with which to do my own conversion. Not wanting to do something that was frequently... [More]
2012-04-12Scratch Nova SS (Scratch)  Review
Brief
This project, like a lot of good ones before it, happened by accident. I'd bought two TA-6070 transitions from Semroc with the idea of restoring my badly flightworn upscale of the Centuri Taurus, but as it had turned out, I was able to use the transitions from the original project. This... [More]
2012-04-05Scratch Viking 6 (Scratch)  Review
Brief
The Viking 6 is an amalgamation of the FSI Viking line, which in real life stopped after the Viking 5. During my recent cloning of the Viking 5 and upscale of the Viking 2, I screwed up on the measurements for the first tube fin I cut. It sat on my desk until the end of the project, at... [More]
2012-03-07Upscale FSI Viking II (Upscale)  Review
Brief
Upscale of the FSI Viking 2 based on Estes BT-60 parts. The original Viking 2 was based on an FSI tube that was close in size to an Estes BT-50, so this is a 1.8x upscale.
Components
26.25" BT-60 main body tube (BMS)
3 - 10" BT-60 tube fins (BMS)
5" BT-50 engine tube
AR-2050... [More]
2012-03-04Flight Dynamics Zepher 5 (Kit)  Review
Brief
This was a long ago Ebay win that started off badly when the rocket didn't arrive for two and a half weeks, despite my making payment within hours of the auction end. My enthusiasm for the project started off low, then sank when I kept encountering errors in the instructions and... [More]
2012-03-01Clone Battlestar Galactica Laser Torpedo (Clone)  Review
Brief
Technically this is called the Battlestar Galactica Laser Torpedo, but Laser Torpedo was the only header that popped up in the Kit Name section, so we'll go with that. The Laser Torpedo was essentially a shortened Photon Disruptor with different decals and a Wolverine nose. Envisioning... [More]
2012-01-16FSI Viking V Clone (Clone)  Review
Brief
The Viking 5 was the last in the Viking series, a tube-finned family of performance birds from Flight Systems, Inc. I was looking at http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/rockets.html for something different and seldom seen to build before NARAM 53. I'd previously built a BMS Viking 1 Clone... [More]
2011-09-15Rockets by Manufacturer / MPC Photograph 
MPC Icarus C on Quark pad.jpg
2011-09-14Rockets by Manufacturer / Quest Aerospace Photograph 
Quest E-Z Boost Glider.jpg
2011-08-30Estes Super Vega (Modification)  Review
Brief
The Estes Super Vega was among a group of rockets that I received as a Christmas gifts in 1994 after my wife stumbled upon a hobby shop closing sale. (I also received a Hornet, Greyhawk and F-22 Interceptor as a part of this haul, but the D-powered Super Vega was definitely the kit that... [More]
2011-08-09Estes Attack Craft Orion (Plan)  Review
Brief
The Attack Craft Orion is one of the most unique early-80's designs and likely one of the more difficult cloning projects due to the seldom seen nose cone. I lucked out and won several of the cones in an Ebay auction, one of which I sent to Moldin' Oldies so that they could produce resin... [More]
2011-08-04Scratch The Zorch (Scratch)  Review
Brief
The Zorch is my personal version of the Estes S.P.E.V., having come to be as a result of a trip through the junk pile in my shop. It uses parts from one previously flown and damaged classic, from a never completed scale project, a damaged piece of tubing, and an orphaned nose cone. The... [More]
2011-07-25Upscale Maxi-Wizard (Upscale)  Review
Brief
BT-80, E-powered 3.5x upscale of the Estes Wizard, one of my favorite rockets of the 70's. As you might imagine, this was a fairly simple build, but that didn't stop me from finding a way to make a "gotcha" of my very own. I started the build back in 2002 after attending NARAM 43 with... [More]
2011-05-22Estes D.A.R.T. (Kit)  Review
Brief
Sometimes a kit arrives in the mail and you immediately question the state of mind you were in when you bought it. The Estes D.A.R.T. was that kit for me. Picked up in an Ebay deal, I swear I have no idea what would have possessed me to even think of buying such an odd looking rocket. ... [More]
2011-05-19Scratch Gargantuan Galaxy Guppy (Upscale)  Review
Brief
The GGG is a 24mm powered, 1.59x upscale of the Estes Goonybird Galaxy Guppy.
Components
8" length of BT-80
2.75" BT-50J
AR-2050 engine block
2 CR-5080 centering rings
PNC-80BB
36" length Kevlar shock cord
36" length 1/4" sewing elastic shock cord
3/32" balsa stock
large... [More]
2011-05-15Estes Solar Sailer II (Kit)  Review
Brief
Having been a fan of the original Solar Sailer back in 1978, I felt fortunate to pick up the reproduction Solar Sailer II in 2001 after being the (shocked) only bidder in an Ebay auction. Although about ten inches shorter than the original, the Solar Sailer II looked identical everywhere... [More]
2010-02-07Estes S.W.A.T. Satellite Interceptor (Kit)  Review
(Contributed - by Bill Eichelberger
- 02/07/10)
Brief:
1) Replaced the stock 24mm motor mount with a 3 x 18mm cluster.
2) Replaced the S.W.A.T. decals (!?) with upscaled Satellite Interceptor decals.
3) Two piece body tubes replaced by single length of BT-60
... [More]
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Bill Eichelberger
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