I GUESS this is sort of a hybrid post; I'm mating an opinion with a question.

I remember, back in the 'sixties, when model rocketry opened all sorts of fascinating possibilities to my callow little imagination. It seemed to charge off in so many different directions. There were 3FNC rockets, sure. But there were so many other things; all manner of boost gliders, fantastic exotic models, helicopter-recovered rockets, parallel-staged rockets. You name it, and some club had it refined unto the third generation.

I'm really only interested in HPR, and I'll be the first to rush in and say that HPR can take you in an awful lot of different directions, too. I've been really deeply involved in HPR for over three years, and have given up hope of ever feeling like anything but a newbie.

But (while struggling with a vintage Orbital Transport, and realizing that I've forgotten everything I once knew about working with balsa and cardboard) I've begun to notice that the more exotic sides of model rocketry seem to have faded away. There are so many more forums for rocketry discussion now than there were 35 years ago, but I no longer hear about boost gliders with tissue-and-spar wings, or ducted recovery, or parallel staging, or "this is what my generation ship to Sirius will look like when I get the real thing built."

Hence my question: Did we accidently kill model rocketry? Yes, I know we all love to blame Estes' stupid plastic RTF's in bubble packs, but we all still have access to balsa and tubes.

Is the model rocketry of my youth still out there somewhere?