Matthew Bond's PageAKA: Buckaroo Location: Edwards AFB, CA Certification Level: L2 NAR/Tripoli Club Memberships: NAR, Tripoli, ROC Favorite Rockets: Estes - Starblazer X-20 Biography: Grew up building and flying Estes rockets in the 70s and 80s. Took a break from rocketry for college/job/marriage/kids/mortgage/etc. Started back into rocketry when my kids were old enough. Been in and out several times since then. Discovered high power rocketry in 2009 with the Music City Missile club in Tennessee. Got my L1 at Southern Thunder in June 2009 flying a scratch built upscale of a Thrustline Duster. Got my L2 in May 2010 with an upscaled Estes Super Neon. Moved to SoCal and am currently flying with the ROC crowd in Lucerne Valley, CA. My low power fleet/build pile still outnumbers my high power projects many times over but the bigger builds are slowly taking over my time and attention (not to mention my wallet)
Favorite Quote: Luke: I... I don't believe it!
Yoda: sighs... That... is why you fail.
Club Home Page: http://www.rocstock.org/ RocketReviews.com Pages:
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2012-04-28Thrustline Aerospace Black Shadow "Clone 3.0" Flight 16th flight for the recently recently repaired BS. Nice boost, not quite straight, "leaning" a little bit off the rod. Still nose up at ejection. Good chute, minimal drift, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
Estes Photon Disruptor Flight Nice boost, smooth and straight. Arcing over at the top of the climb, just past apogee, nose down at ejection. Good chute, short walk, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
Estes Photon Probe Flight Nice boost, smooth and very straight. Stalled out at the top of the climb and fell back for a split second before ejection. Good chute, short walk, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
InFlight Rockets Sonic Shark Flight Great boost, straight and smooth. Tail-stand at the top of the climb, maybe backsliding a bit at ejection. Good chute, short walk, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
Estes Der Blue Max Flight Doubled up the nomex chute protector to try and avoid some of the "toasting" seen on the last flight. Nice boost, straight and fast. Arcing over a little at the top of the climb, still nose up and climbing at ejection. Good chute, short walk, desert landing, no damage. Chute and chute... [More]
Estes Starblazer X-20 Flight Great boost, quick and straight, tail-stand at the top of the climb. Good ejection, chute appeared to be fouled but deployed fully on the way down. Minimal drift, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
Thrustline Aerospace Zack Attack "ZAClone" Flight Nice boost, straight, fast and high. Arcing over at the top of the climb, nose up, still climbing a bit at ejection. Good chute, short walk, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
Thrustline Aerospace Mighty Mick "MMClone" Flight Nice boost, leaning a little bit off the rod. Arcing over during the coast, still nose up and climbing a bit at ejection. Good chute, longest walk of the day (about 200 yeards), desert landing, no damage. - D12-5 - MDARS [More]
Quest Evader Cruise Missile Flight Great boost, fast and straight, no wiggle. Tail stand at the top of the climb. Good chute, minimal drift, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
Estes Argosy Flight Nice straight boost, no spin or wiggle under thrust. Arcing over nice and easy during the coast, pretty much horizontal at ejection. Good chute, minimal drift, desert landing, no damage. - C6-5 - MDARS [More]
2010-03-22Estes Super Neon (Kit)  Review
Brief: Originally produced by Estes in 1991, the Super Neon was reintroduced on 2007. The Super Neon is a tube fin rocket that also sports small “stub” fins on each of the tube fins. The Super Neon flies on the standard assortment of 18mm black powder motors and uses a 12 inch... [More]
2010-02-24Scratch Upscale Black Shadow (Scratch)  Review
Contributed - by Matthew Bond - 02/24/10)
Brief: Inspiration is a funny thing sometimes. Late one night, with all thoughts of sleep far
removed, I found myself perusing the online catalogue of Semroc Astronautics Corporation, particularly the large and
exciting selection of balsa... [More]
2009-12-31InFlight Rockets Firehawk Clone Kit (Kit)  Review
Brief: While browsing through the manufacturers links on EMRR one fine evening, I happened upon a company called InFlight Rockets. The bulk of their product line included a few original designs and a selection of clone kits. The reviews of their kits on EMRR have been quite favorable, and since... [More]
2009-12-01Semroc Long Squire (Kit)  Review
(Contributed - by Matthew Bond - 12/01/09)
Brief:
The Long Squire rocket was designed to meet the requirements of challenge #3 in the 2009 EMRR Challenge. The Long
Squire is a “Stage Bash”, a two stage rocket constructed from two single stage rocket kits, in this case, two
... [More]
2009-10-01Estes Argosy (Kit)  Review
Brief:
“Galactic deterrent of ever-threatening invasions, this strike fighter is equipped with laser weaponry, time warp drive and de-ionizing technology. Invisible on all known scanners, Argosy can strike and evade retaliation easily.” Produced by Estes from 1987 to 1990, the... [More]
2009-08-31Scratch Clustered Booster Insanity (Scratch)  Review
(Contributed - by Matthew Bond - 08/31/09)
Brief:
Clustered Booster Insanity (CBI) was originally conceived as an entry for EMRR's "Elevate Eleven" contest,
which would also meet the criteria for challenge #6 in the 2009 EMRR Challenge. A two stage rocket which uses... [More]
2009-08-05Thrustline Aerospace Zack Attack (Kit)  Review
Brief:
Having recently re-energized my addiction to rocketry, I was faced with the task of recreating the core of my
previous rocket fleet. Thinking back, I realized that a great many of the rockets that I liked to fly were the designs
of John Rowan-Stern at Thrustline Aerospace.... [More]
2009-07-22Quest Evader Cruise Missile (Kit)  Review
Brief: My first true "Born Again Rocketeer" experience happened in the late 1990s when my son expressed an interest in the "real" rockets at the hobby shop. We built and flew many of the skill level one rockets around at the time, but I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of imagination that... [More]
2009-07-21Semroc Magnum Hornet (Kit)  Review Brief: Centuri Engineering Company was started in the early 60s and was one of the early pioneers in the model rocket industry. Centuri was sold to Damon Corporation in the late 60s and maintained their product line separately from Estes until 1983. The Magnum Hornet was produced by Centuri from... [More]
2009-06-29Thrustline Aerospace Black Shadow (Kit)  Review
[Editor's Note: This review is a clone of the Thrustline Aerospace
Black Shadow. Thrustline was out of business for a period of time (when author was cloning the rocket). Thrustline has
recently returned to business selling the Black Shadow as a kit.]
Brief:
In one of my previous... [More]
2006-02-05Excelsior Rocketry Goonybird Iron Wombat (Plan) (Kit)  Review
Brief:
The Iron Wombat is one of Excelsior Rocketry's "Goony Retro-Bash"
line of decal/plan sets. Fred Talasco at Excelsior has created a line of kit
bashes that are a throwback to the old Estes "Goonybirds". All of
Fred's designs are based on old Estes kits (in this case... [More]
2006-01-22Thrustline Aerospace Duster (Kit)  Review
Brief:
The Duster is an original design from John Rowan-Stern at Thrustline Aerospace.
The Duster is a fairly large, high performance model rocket designed to fly
primarily on Estes 24mm black powder motors (C11/D12) and is rated a skill
level 2/3 build. The Duster is built around a BT-55... [More]
2005-11-22Excelsior Rocketry Der Goony Max (Plan) (Kit)  Review
Brief:
The Goony Max is one of Excelsior Rocketry's "Goony Retro-Bash" line
of decal/plan sets. Fred Talasco at Excelsior has created a line of kit bashes
that are a throwback to the old Estes "Goonybirds". Fred's designs
are based on old Estes kits (in this case the... [More]
2005-11-11Excelsior Rocketry Goonybird Zero (Plan) (Kit)  Review Brief: The Goony Bird Zero is one of Excelsior Rocketry's "Goony Retro-Bash" line of decal/plan sets. Fred Talasco at Excelsior has created a line of kit-bashes that are a throwback to the old Estes "Goony Birds". Fred's designs are based on old Estes kits (in this case the Blue Bird Zero) or his... [More]
2005-10-09Thrustline Aerospace Blue Bird Zero (Kit)  Review
Brief:
The Blue Bird Zero is one of Thrustline Aerospace's "Replica Rocket Parts
Packs" line of clone kits. The original BB0 was an Estes kit produced from
1980 to 1985. The BB0 is a fairly long, BT-55 based rocket with a single 18mm
engine mount, 3 large primary fins, 3 small... [More]
2005-09-05Custom Rockets Sport (Kit)  Review
Brief:
The Sport is a basic 4 Fin & Nose Cone (4FNC) model from Custom Rocket
Company. The Sport is a long rocket, at just under 30" of BT-50 airframe
that flies on 18mm motors, and comes home under a 12" plastic parachute.
This rocket has a simple sleek look, highlighted by a... [More]
2005-08-25Excelsior Rocketry Goonybird Nike-G (Plan) (Kit)  Review
Brief:
The Nike-G is one of Excelsior Rocketry's “Goony Retro-Bash” line of
decal/plansets. Fred Talasco at Excelsior has created a line of kit-bashes that
are a throwback to the old Estes “Goonybirds”. All of Fred's designs
are based on old Estes kits, or original ideas,... [More]
2005-07-31Thrustline Aerospace Duster (Kit)  Review
Brief:
This is a single stage sport rocket with a long airframe and split fin design
which give it nice lines and makes for a lot of curious rocketeers at any
launch.
Construction:
The kit is composed of two 1.325" diameter body tubes, balsa nosecone,
eyelet, motor tube, two... [More]
2005-07-08Excelsior Rocketry Der Goony Max (Plan) (Kit)  Review
Brief:
Der Goony Max is an inspired bit of lunacy from Excelsior Rocketry, and I guess
depending on where you stand on the Goony issue, this series is either genius
or a waste of a good Baby Bertha. Speaking as the one-time-owner of an original
Goonybird Cloudhopper, I happen to fall on... [More]
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Matthew Bond
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