model rockets

My assistant Matt enjoying some down time on a recent shoot.

Yes that is a 16 foot model rocket on top of the jeep. It weighs 35 pounds empty and launches up to 25,000 feet. For an example check out this YouTube clip.

I loved model rockets when I was a kid. Loved them! Not the big ones of course but the small ones that take an hour to put together and even longer to paint if you care about the final design work. The Big Bertha was my favorite. In 7th grade my school had a model rocketry class that you could take as an elective. So for 50 minutes every day at 9:40 I would sit in my model rocket class and build. We learned about real rockets of course. We learned about the space program, we learned about aerodynamics and the atmosphere. But in the end all I cared about was launching my rockets; seeing them go high, sometimes exploding, sometimes flying sideways. We always had a ton of fun-