Starting with the August launch, NIRA's club launches will each have a theme for the day. Members are encouraged to bring rockets conforming to the spirit of the scheduled launch theme. But don't worry, nobody will be turned away from the launch for not bringing a theme based rocket. This is simply a way for members to showcase rockets they may not have flown for a while. It may also give some of us an excuse to build new rockets of a kind we may not already have in our collection.
There will also be an informal vote for Model of the Meet, being the people's choice for best model which meets the theme requirements. To qualify for Model of the Meet, a theme based model must be flown, and be presented still intact at the end of the day.
Schedule
| Month | Theme | Details |
|---|---|---|
| July | Boost & Rocket Gliders | Any glide recovery models lofted by rocket engine(s). |
| August | Sci-Fi Spacecraft | Star fighters and futuristic transport. (e.g., X-wing, Starship Nova, Vindicator, etc.) |
| September | Classic (Old Timer) Kits | Kits & designs dating from the '60's, '70's & '80's. (e.g., Streak, Big Bertha, Drifter, etc.) |
| October | Fast Food | Rockets made from food any kind of food or drink containers. |
Future launch themes will include:
- Staging
- Any 2 or 3 stage rockets.
- Clusters
- 2 or more engines firing simultaneously.
- Mini Engines
- Any rockets with 1/2AT and 1/4AT or smaller engines. (e.g., Mosquito, Swift, Quark)
- Cones/Paper Shrouds
- Non-tubular cone shaped stability, usually made from paper or cardboard. (e.g.. Pyramid, Vulcan, Space Clipper, HL-20)
- Odd Rocs/Ugly Rocs
- At least two people have to look at it and say, "What the..."
- Home Designs
- Rockets designed & built from completely from scratch, not kits or plans.
- Fat Boys
- Short length, large diameter rockets. (e.g., R2D2, Fat Boy, Mini Bertha)
- Super Rocs
- Long length, small diameter rockets. (e.g., Mean Machine)
- UFOs/Flying Saucers/Disks
- High drag & disk shaped. (e.g., Centuri UFO, Estes Snitch, Flis Kit Pheord X150, Happy Meals)
- Scale/Semi Scale
- Historical and actual rockets & missiles. (e.g., Saturn V, Phoenix, Nike, V-2)
- Helicopters
- Any spinning helicopter recovery. (e.g., Heli-Roc, Gyroc, Texas Twister)
- Ring/Tube Fins
- Curved and round tubular fins. (e.g., Serval, Razor, Totally Tubular)
- Plastic Conversions
- Plastic kit conversion.
- Drag Stabilized
- Rockets with drag inducing stabilizers such as dowel rods. (e.g., Sputnik, Red Eye, Galileo)
- Sports Themes
- Rockets which incorporate or resemble sporting goods such as hockey pucks, baseball bats, footballs, etc. (e.g., Pop Fly)
Thanks to Tony Lentini for creating and wrangling this new program.