Bill Eichelberger's PageAKA: Wallyum, Fishhead, Fire Marshall Bill Location: Ft. Thomas, KY Certification Level: NAR - Bronze Club Memberships: Wright Stuff Rocketeers,Dayton,OH,QUARK,Cincinnati,OH 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" - Pete Townshend
RocketReviews.com Pages:
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2019-11-09Fishhead Rocketry - Cherokee E  Flight Fairly straight flight, then rode the breeze across the road. Recovered without damage. This is the Cherokee E Estes should have made. - E12-6 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Estes - E-SAM 58  Flight Good thing I got a pre-flight picture. My first rocket of the day launched during a continuity test. SMH. - C6-5 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Semroc - ThunderStrike  Flight High, arcing flight. Cracked the expected fin on recovery. It's the cost of doing business with the Thunder series. - E12-6 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Rocket Development Corporation - V-Max  Flight Excellent flight, but parachute turned inside out on recovery. Hard landing, but no damage thanks to the mud. - B6-4 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
FSI - Eos  Flight WOW! Rode the breeze across the creek, then came back to our side. Recovered across the road, very close to the trees. - F15-6 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Semroc - Satellite Killer  Flight Spun as it climbed. Low level flight, but looked cool doing it. Hard landing due to cold chute parawad. - C6-3 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Estes - Super Neon XL  Flight Big air and a long recovery ride on the strong breeze. Hit hard at touchdown, but recovered without damage. Only dirt. - E12-6 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Estes - Ranger  Flight After two cloudy launches, the sun showed up and warmed things considerably. Flight was high and into the wind with soybean recovery. - D12-5 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Estes - Mega Mosquito  Flight High flight across the creek. Recovered back on our side by two of our spectators. - E12-6 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
Thrustline Aerospace - Cherokee D  Flight More big air and a long recovery across the road. First flight in 16 years. - D12-5 - WSR Cornfield, Cedarville, OH [More]
2018-06-24National Association of Rocketry Jet Freak (Plan)  Review
Brief
http://www.oldrocketplans.com/narcomp/Jet-Freak.pdf
I found the NAR Jet Freak plan several years ago, but my history with gliders made me more than a little hesitant about attempting a build. But when a boost glide event came up in one of our club contests, I pulled it out and gave ... [More]
2018-02-18Estes Kadet (Kit)  Review
Brief
This was a project that came out of a cleaning session in my build room. I had been looking for a project in the plan collection at YORF. http://www.oldrocketplans.com/ I clicked on the Kadet plan and realized that I had everything I needed laying around my build room. The fin can was ... [More]
2017-02-06Estes Vector (Clone)  Review
Brief
Back in the early days of Ebay I picked up a lot of Estes kit decals that somehow didn't make it onto the rockets they were meant for. Quite a few of them were minimum diameter BT-5 and BT-20 kits from the mid to late 80's, rockets that would rarely be noticed unless you happened to ... [More]
2017-01-25Estes Generic E2X (Kit)  Review
Brief
Once available only in a bulk pack, the Estes Generic E2X has recently been released as a stand-alone kit. I don't have much interest in E2X kits, but on occasion I build one to have an idea how tough it might be for a group build. Recently I was in Hobby Lobby, in the mood to build ... [More]
2017-01-19Estes 220 Swift (Kit)  Review
Brief
For the old-timers, the 220 Swift is simply a Mosquito in an updated body with sticker graphics. The Swift is another of the "fire and forget" mini engine birds. I can't imagine that the recovery rate on these is anywhere close to 30%.
Components
BT-5 main body tube
... [More]
2016-03-23New Way Space Models Check-It (Kit)  Review
Brief
Back in the infancy of my BARdom, I found a square tube that a component for a printer I used came in. At the time, every tube I came in contact with was fair game for potential rocket designs, and I thought up a doozy for the square tube. Several attempts with balsa blocks and ... [More]
2016-03-21Semroc Cherokee C (Kit)  Review
Brief
The Estes Cherokee D was one of the first vintage kits I tried my hand at cloning when I first picked up the hobby as a BAR. Even though I'd mistakenly identified the PNC-55BB nose cone as the correct one for the project, I was quite happy with how it turned out, and if not for an ... [More]
2016-03-14FSI Dart (Clone)  Review
Brief
I'm always on the lookout for vintage rockets on Ebay. Something about continuing the career of old veterans appeals to me, and I picked up several mystery birds from a collection back in the summer of 2012. The only notation on the rocket in question was "Mach Buster", so after ... [More]
2016-02-02Scratch Rascal 1.59x (Upscale)  Review
Brief
I picked up a poorly started attempt at an Estes Rascal via Ebay several years back, then took eight years to finally clone the rocket using the only parts I could salvage, the nose cone and decal sheet. I really liked the finished product, and like all rockets with the Goony profile, ... [More]
2016-01-24Rockets by Manufacturer / NewWay Space Models Photograph 
New Way Check It liftoff.JPG
2015-09-26Estes Star Wars Darth Vader's Tie Fighter (Kit)  Review
Brief
A seldom seen bird from the last Star Wars craze, the Darth Vader Tie Fighter is one of those rockets that you look at and say "No way that can fly right." Well, based on my experience, you might be right.
Components
Darth Vader Tie Fighter plastic model
plastic ... [More]
2015-09-14Estes Astron Spaceman (Kit)  Review
Brief
Several years back, EMRR had a NASCAR themed contest. Slapping a bunch of sponsors decals on a rocket seemed too easy, and I've never been one known for my creative flair. I had been a Richard Petty fan since the age of 9, so deciding on the subject was easy, but I wanted something ... [More]
2015-09-04Semroc Lil' Hercules (Kit)  Review
Brief
The Semroc version of the Centuri Lil' Hercules, a "pee-wee" rocket offered by Centuri from 1965 when it was the Lil' Hercules, to 1983, by which time it was the Lil' Herc and had a spiffy new paint job just in time for Centuri's end. Basically a nose cone with fins, the Semroc version ... [More]
2015-08-29MRC XR-20 (Kit)  Review
Brief
MRC, or Model Rectifier Corporation, was a comparitively short-lived low-power company from the late 80's. Several years ago a number of their kits were available on Ebay, and being a new BAR, I picked an XR-20 and a Firefighter since anything old and OOP was good, right? I was ... [More]
2015-06-16Fun Rockets Wicked Winnie (Kit)  Review
Brief
Back in the good ol' days when Hobby Lobby could be counted on to stock a variety of kits from companies other than the Big E, I picked the Fun Rockets Wicked Winnie up on clearance for a song. I'd already owned a Tangent and Zoomie, so when I saw this one on the block it was just ... [More]
2015-05-28Estes Astrosat LSX (Kit)  Review
Brief
Talk about rockets that get no respect. I bought the AstroSat LSX because I lost my scratch built Marauder on an ill-advised C6-5 flight at B6-4 Field back in the early years. I filched the cone, then let the rest of the rocket sit on the dusty corner of the workbench until one night a ... [More]
2015-04-05Quest Full Moon (Kit)  Review
Brief
Picked up as an afterthought back in the days when Quest products were still available in local retail outlets, the Full Moon languished in my kit storage cabinet for several years before catching my eye one cold winter night when I was in the mood to build something quick. The Full ... [More]
2015-03-15Estes PSII Rogue  . Build This project was inspired by a post in the NAR Group on Facebook. Louie Berlin had a picture of his lineup of Estes Rogues, one of which was obviously oversized. Being the owner of five Rogues myself, a BT-5 downscale, a BT-20 original, BT-50 and BT-55 upscales, and a BT-60 QModeling version, I ... [More]
2015-02-19Rockets by Manufacturer / Sunward Photograph 
Sunward Star Watcher
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Bill Eichelberger
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