What a wonderful part of your world - We'd love to help you fly. Would you like to tell us a little about your scratch-built rocket?

Certainly!

Its a carbon fiber air frame with through-the-wall fin construction.

32mm diameter on the air frame and roughly 400mm long.

I designed it using Openrocket and Solidworks to take an Aerotech RMS24/40 motor

I'm not sure how to add photos on here, so here's an Imgur link to an album of the build process:

https://imgur.com/a/dxf0yHz

My name is Len Forsyth, and I am an old rocketeer. I am also the creator of this forum and one it's administrators and moderators.

I have been involved in Rocketry in Queensland since before 2006 when I joined the predecessor of the Queensland Rocketry Society,

I self-nominate this year as a "Committee Member" position at the 2023 AGM after a long absence due to personal circumstances.

OVERVIEW OF MY EXPERIENCE

I would also like to give you a brief overview of my prior experience.  While this is far from a resume, it may provide some details of my breadth of experience.

I am currently 66 years of age and employed as an IT support Officer for Brisbane Catholic Education in a Local Primary School. Before 2018, I was self-employed and ran my I.T. Engineering and Services firm.

Having been involved in both high- and low-powered rocketry in Queensland since 2005 and a founding member of this group in 2007, I have, over that time, acted as club secretary and inaugural TRA Prefecture secretary and committee member for several consecutive years.  During that time, I was responsible for incorporating the Society and annual processing of DOFT returns, authoring and creating the Club's constitution, and sourcing and renewing Public Liability insurance. I was made a Club Life Member in 2013.

CASA AND DESIGNATION OF PERMANENT AIR SPACE

During that time, I have also developed extensive experience and contacts in dealings with CASA regarding creating Australia's first dedicated permanent (DA63) Air space for Rocketry in Southeast Queensland and subsequent monthly provisioning of NOTAM request lodgements with Air Services Australia from 2007 until approximately 2015.  I also liaised between the club's local landowners and lessees at Waterford and Cedar Grove.

CLUB PROMOTION

I was actively involved with the media relations team for club promotional events. During this time, as many as 2,000 persons attended public launches at Cedar Grove.

AUSTRALIAN SPACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ASRI) MEMBERSHIP

In 2007, I also joined the ASRI, and along with several other members of the Australian Rocketry Community from Queensland and West Australia, we obtained security clearance to enter and participate in trail launches that were taking place at LA9 inside the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) in South Australia. We were billeted in the U.S. Quarter of the Staff Village. Over the four-day launch, some 12 high-powered vehicle launches from the Department of Defences’ Rocket Range were based on ZUNI military-grade motor ordinance. These were all configured and launched with the approximate equivalent of "O" type motors.

Payloads and material trails were contributed to approximately 20,000 feet by final-year engineering students from UQ, RMIT, Sydney Uni and CSIRO at Pinjara Hills.

The ASRI Satellite Remote Sensing Electronics team members were invited to attend a public launch at Cedar Grove to work on future programs at the club's then-proposed high-powered altitude launch site. Testing at Woomera of systems and processes at the WPA could have been better for this Queensland-based special interest group as ASRI had only been afforded a 20,000 ft ceiling by CASA and was a long way from Brisbane.

LCO AND RSO EXPERIENCE

For several years, between 2007 - 2015, my voice was that of the regular was that of the regular LCO at almost all public and club launches.

2010, I achieved my L2 TRA certification at Williams in West Australia under Dave Cousens. My L1 flight and written exam were completed at Cedar Grove about one year earlier, again with Dave Cousens (the TRA West Australia Prefect).

ROCKET BUILD EXPERIENCE

Over that same period when I was not involved with the Club Launches, I was involved with building and recovering rockets. Initially, these airframe builds were largely phenolic and BlueTube; however, as the motors became larger, the rocket airframes, by necessity, needed to become both stronger and lighter.  Fellow club member George Dobson and I partnered to develop a high level of proficiency in producing and working with creating composite fibre (fibreglass and carbon fibre) airframes. 

https://rocketrychat.com/img_0688-1/

Although more expensive than fibreglass, these were predominantly Carbon Fibre tubes ranging from 38mm to 98 mm, used for George's L3 certification. However, the bulk of tubes were 75mm Carbon Tubes, which best suited available ancillary and existing hardware. 

Over that same timeframe - we ran several composite fibre workshops where the process of creating such tubes was demonstrated and taught to club members over two days.

ELECTRONICS

As the rockets we used became more expensive and technologically rich, the imperative to easily recover them became greater. This led to the development of lightweight tracking, locator and GPS systems. Having only a rudimentary schoolboy understanding of through-the-board mounted electronics, we had to develop an understanding and proficiency with miniature surface-mounted electronics.

Workshops for club members were conducted where tools and skills for these tasks could be pooled. 

This eventually includes creating and designing our lightweight PCBs for these projects.

RECOVERY TRACKING

A radio locator beacon in an airframe did not necessarily mean you would find it, especially in hostile environments such as the "Dreaded Cornfield". Therefore, I ran day workshops at a bushland property south of Ipswich to develop and experiment with Yagi Antenna design, construction, and location tracking skills.

Along with instructions for using and configuring the club's radio receivers.

ROCKETRY PHILOSOPHY

Having witnessed hundreds upon hundreds of launches, I believe each launch should be an opportunity to test and validate either hardware or a process. It is evolving, and learning from this trial-and-error process is the only way that the science and hobby of recreational rocketry can advance.

PERSONAL

While I appreciate that I know too many older club members, their number may be growing fewer. 

Many newer club members may not be familiar with me as my personal family circumstances have kept me away from rocketry for several years as I nursed my late wife until she passed earlier this year. However, I am quite sincere in my desire to once again contribute to my passion for rocketry in Queensland. Rocketry and I have too much history to walk away from it. I am keen to engage in rocketry again.

SUCCESSION

Nothing is more distracting to a club membership than a member saying something like, "Back in my day ...".

Please do not think I could be that person. Clubs often implode due to the vacuum created when long-serving members depart. I believe in the rule of "three". An executive should be made up of three types of elected members.

1. The first is the new person who has just been elected to a position. They usually bring new insights to old ways of thinking about problems and have fresh insights and new ideas.
2. The second type of member is actively doing the job to which they were elected. They have developed an understanding of their role requirements and an understanding of the organisation's culture. They would normally not require much oversight by other executive or committee members.
3. The third group should comprise those who may have acted in their role for several terms and are comfortable enough to have the time to assist or mentor new committees or executive members with their new responsibilities before they eventually no longer stand for re-election.

How often have we seen this violated and allowed chaos to reign while the organisation recovers?

Sometimes, without a sufficient broad pool of talent, unfortunately, the organisation does not ever fully recover.

Therefore, please be sure to use your discretion with my nomination. I do not want to be known as any form of a "has-been". While I am happy and enthusiastic to bring to a committee role, I do not wish to deprive other club members of the opportunity to develop skills similar to those I enjoyed and developed from serving the rocketry community.

If you wish to contact me, you can DM me through this forum or at len@westerndata.com.au.

So that is a little of my story - why don’t you tell us all about yours …?

@damonlemke Wow, very nice work... Hope I get to see it fly... Where can I get one of those rocket stands?

@matthewbarton Cheers! I appreciate it.

It's something I designed myself, I've uploaded the files to 3D print it here: https://www.printables.com/model/734444-model-rocket-stand

Thought I should probably introduce myself as well. I entered in to rocketry just a couple years ago after waking on a fine Saturday morning and thinking “I should buy a rocket today”. And then I did haha. The first flight was an Estes Javelin with an A8-5 motor, and that quickly progressed to sending it up on a C6-7, which was an awesome flight… aaaaand then I lost the rocket.

That was about the point where I realised this hobby was really awesome, but would be expensive if I kept losing rockets. So I did the only logical thing - bought a 3D printer and dived head first in to building my own rockets. That then progressed in to buying an RMS 24/40 case to try out composite propellants, learning how to make my own arduino-based data logger, buying and experimenting with a micro-hybrid rocket motor system, and now I’ve bought a Contrail 16” x 38mm motor and am slowly acquiring the parts needed for ground support to fly it.

I’ve flown with QRS a number of times already but only recently became a proper member, because unfortunately making it out to launch days usually has to be juggled around all my other hobbies too.

Although I do have a spot nearby that is perfect for low power and some mid power rockets, my desire to get in to bigger rockets and hybrid motors is beginning to outgrow the local launch spot and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to build a rocket that can be flown there without annoying CASA, and flying with the club is obviously the far more attractive option.

I hope that in return, I can help out the club and members with the bits I know about 3D printing, arduino data loggers and hybrids. It’s always really cool to see what other people have built or are working on.

Welcome aboard Matt,

I will look forward to catching up with you at a launch soon ...

Until then,

Keep Safe, Fly Safe.