Niccolo von Grebmer, who goes by the username 'nick' on Rocketry Planet, helped everyone learn valuable lessons when he asked for assistance in the forums.

It all started when my mom asked me to get the water checked for our pool. The store where the water gets checked was also the store where I used to buy Estes rockets, "back in the day." I looked around, and was content to find out that they still carried model rockets.

"Why not give it another go," I thought. A few days later I was on a field having a blast seeing the rocket blast off and gradually float back to the very earth it stood so firmly on a few seconds ago. One day, I saw that NAR was offering the Jr. Level 1 certification. So I became a member of NAR, and set my mind on that certification.

I sent out a few e-mails, and received, what at the time seemed like a great offer. For ninety dollars, I could have an all-fiberglass rocket that was over 4 feet tall. "Wow, you just hit the jackpot. You're going to have that thing flying in no time," were just a few of the thoughts going through my mind.

I came home one day, and there was a nice box sitting in front of my door. I was excited as ever. As I opened the box and took out the all the parts, it dawned on me that I was in way over my head. No instruction manual, no parachute, nor other miscellaneous parts that I thought would be included, only a few pieces of fiberglass.

Nick wasn't kidding when he meant he just got a few pieces of fiberglass. In retrospect, $90 for all these fiberglass parts is a good deal, but for a beginner it's probably just a little too sparse. At the least, instructions could have helped overcome some of the problems.

I called up the store where I bought the rocket right away, to see if they had forgotten to ship something, or if this was all that was included in my "great deal." After about 30 minutes on the phone, I had a vague idea of how I was going to put this thing together, and I had a pretty clear idea of what a mistake I had made.

Doing as much as I could on the rocket, my enthusiasm was spontaneous, from thinking, "It's not as hard as I thought it would be," and getting that rush, to "Give it up, you have no idea what you are doing."

The Internet is a truly great invention. Again, I was surfing the web looking through different sites, and reading up as much as I could on building rockets. I stumbled on a website called "Rocketry Planet." I signed up, and asked about all the things that I had problems with, which was basically building the whole rocket.

Nick perservered, the Little Dog was built, and was brightly painted for battle.

It was a frustrating experience, as for the first few questions, I got great help, and was welcomed into the community very nicely. As I continued with my array of questions, the mood seemed to change. I was met with more and more criticism, and in a nutshell was told to forget about my project, and go back and fly mid power for a while. This criticism was well deserved, however — I truly was in way over my head, but refused to believe it. I had a rocket that was partially built, my enthusiasm and drive, well, were non-existent.

I took a break, forgot the rocket for a while and went on with my daily business. Yet every time I walked past it in my basement, I had got this feeling, this odd feeling giving me a little push with every glance to finish it. I took initiative again, and bought a few books on rocketry.

And in this corner, weighing in at 1700 grams, Little Dog, and his propulsion assistant, the Rouse-Tech 38/240 Monster Motor.

After "reading up" and doing my "homework," I gave Rocketry Planet another try. A few more questions, and always updating the forum with pictures, I was well on my way to having the rocket built. I felt like an accepted member of the rocket community now, and finished my rocket about two months after I had purchased it.

I was finally ready to launch it. But, this also caused problems after finally finding a field that catered to the needs of my rocket, and that was within a reasonable distance, the club had just held a launch and would have their next launch in a few weeks. No problem, I will just wait, until I realized that I would be in Europe that weekend.

This photo says it all, the aftermath of a successful flight is a successful recovery.

After a few e-mails, another launch date was finally set: July 31, 2008, at NARAM 50. All the things that could have gone wrong did, but on July 31, everything went perfectly. I went out to the field, and Mitch Guess administered my Level 1 certification flight. The flight was flawless, deployment at apogee, and the rocket slowly floated down to earth in all its glory, landing only a hundred yards or so from the pad.

Those 25 seconds were one of the most amazing in my life. The rush and adrenaline that I got from seeing a rocket that I built blaze off into the sky, and peacefully return back to the surface was something indescribable. In retrospect, I realize that I have made many mistakes. I jumped into high power unprepared and with a lack of experience. The rocket was way out of my league, and a machine that was beyond my experience level and then some.

It has been fun, though. I had a rough road to my Jr. Level 1, but I made some friends, had a blast, and am a proud rocketeer. If I look back at it all, I can confidently say that I would do it all again.

For Nick's contribution of this article, he will receive a free one year subscription to LAUNCH Magazine. This sponsorship is made possible by our friends at MM Publishing, Inc., the producers of LAUNCH Magazine. Nick will also receive a free Rocketry Planet T-shirt for overcoming the discouragement of forum posters who told him to go fly mid-power for a while. This sponsorship is made possible by our friends at Graphix & Stuff, producers of high quality hobby apparel and vinyl signage. Want your own free gifts? Read the program details page for complete information.

08-09-2008 08:57 PM  #1
agrippo Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 147	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Great story Nick and Congratulations on the flight. Glad everything worked out well for you. Be proud of what you accomplished. It's not easy to make such a big jump from Estes level model rockets to a fiberglass kit designed for experienced rocketeers. Andrew

08-09-2008 11:07 PM  #2
mguessdc New Member   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 1	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Nick Great article. Congratulations on a beautiful flight and your succesful Jr Level 1 certification. Mitch Guess

08-10-2008 01:02 PM  #3
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 4554	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Mitch, thanks should go to you as well for taking the time to mentor this young man and to assist him with his certification. Nick is a winner by all definition of the word, and we should encourage others to follow in his path. Congratulations to both of you.

08-10-2008 02:15 PM  #4
H_rocket Village Idiot   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 706	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Nick Even though at times you might have felt like we were brushing you off. We are all proud of your accomplishment. Well done. Al

08-11-2008 12:32 AM  #5
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 4071	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Nice article! Nick you have a knack for writing as well as rockets. I'm sorry we weren't as helpful as we should have been - I know I was guilty of that myself. I really like that you dug your heels in and found a way to make it work out in spite of the stumbles along the way.

08-11-2008 12:36 AM  #6
Steve_Shannon Super Moderator   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 2435	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Very nice article, Nick. Great job persevering with the rocket, even through some discouragement. You're a better rocketeer for it.

08-12-2008 11:12 AM  #7
R2K Certified Level Three   Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 294	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Who exactly wasnt helpful about this? PS that kit looks about complete, what parts are missing?

08-12-2008 11:19 AM  #8
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 4071	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Quote: Who exactly wasnt helpful about this? PS that kit looks about complete, what parts are missing? I am guilty of trying to talk Nick into choosing another kit or flying more MPR before going HPR - others were equally "supportive". As for complete? It is a Performance Rocketry kit. It has no instructions, no recovery harness, no parachute, an incomplete electronics bay, etc. It's not like a GLR kit for example. As an example of something Nick had problems with - the kit does not list the CP - and Nick as a Mac user had few options for using commonly available tools for rocketry to calculate the CP.

08-12-2008 12:43 PM  #9
Steve_Shannon Super Moderator   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 2435	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Quote: Who exactly wasn't helpful about this? PS that kit looks about complete, what parts are missing? In spite of his modesty, UncleVanya was helpful and made several good suggestions, but like me he feared at the time that the combination of a person with no experience building midpower or high power rockets coupled with a bag-o-parts that depended upon a person's experience would result in discouragement and possible loss of a person from the hobby. I suggested building a more complete kit, such as a PML kit or LOC kit first and transferring that experience to building the Little Dog. Nick deserves full credit for making the bag-o-parts work. He took the time to educate himself, which made the process work, and he was open to our suggestions and comments.

08-12-2008 09:22 PM  #10
R2K Certified Level Three   Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 294	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification I tell everyone to stick with mid power for longer. I regret moving quickly to high power, it took alot of the fun out of it, and I had to only later go back to mid power to recover what I missed. The best part of high power imho is building the rockets The kits should be hard, thats the fun. I dont think any kits should include a parachute: That is how I wound up with 5 18 inch chutes that are never used.

08-13-2008 11:32 AM  #11
willfann New Member   Joined: May 2008 Posts: 1	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification Nick, I am reminded of my own experience with modeling, only of a different sort. Since the age of five I have had a passion for flight. When I was approximately eleven years old my parents gave me a Thimble Drome .049 TD-3 control line model airplane for Christmas. I was ecstatic. My father took the airplane out and promptly crashed it. To say I was devastated by this is an understatement. To add to my pain, I still can hear my father laughing about that experience, as he related it to his friends. I think in many ways his insensitivity only spurred me on to devise a way to repair and fly this airplane. I spent several weeks trying to figure out how to repair the airplane to no avail. Eventually I learned there were balsa wood kits that could be built and the engine I had from the TD3 could actually be mounted onto the airplane. I bought a Sterling Baby Ringmaster with money borrowed from my brother. When I opened the box I was stunned to find all of these little pieces of wood, some wheels, wire, metal and tissue. At least I had instructions but I was instantly overwhelmed by their (to me) complex yet brief presentation. I am now 57 and to this day I marvel that I was able to put that thing together. Because of my family dynamics my resources for information were severely limited. I spent hours going over the instructions and using trial and error with fitting parts before actually gluing them. The store owner, where I bought the kit, was instrumental in telling me what I needed to complete the kit; I was afraid to ask him for help in how to assemble the kit. My father's only input was a technique to shrink the tissue on the wing before applying the dope. To my amazement, not only did it fly, my brother and I flew that airplane the entire summer. It began for me a fulfillment of the passion and dreams I had for flying in my life. I think in many ways I had an advantage as a child that does not exist today. Because of that, the obstacles you faced were even more potent. I was not inundated by a media that is constantly telling me that I can't do what it is I dream and to be successful in life I need the government or some other entity to make my dreams possible. Instead I was saturated with and enthralled by moralistic stories such as The Little Engine that Could. (Maybe that is why my favorite color is blue.) This little blue steam engine in the rhythm of its engine stated over and over, "I think I can, I think I can". Fortunately for me, no one ever told me I couldn't. Unlike you, at that point I think I would have failed. However, I was allowed to think I can and I did. Another lesson I see in your experience is about being a winner. If I want to be a winner, I need to hang out with winners. I look for and hang out with people that actually help me find a way to accomplish what it is I desire to be or do. I continue to be dismayed by the number of people out there that tell me I can't or worse are indifferent. While this is my only post on this web site, I have read it extensively and their are a lot of winners on Rocketry Planet contributing to its content. Your perseverance and initiative are gifts finer than gold. To be able to sift through the stream of adversity and succeed is an accomplishment that will serve you well in your life to come. William

08-13-2008 09:06 PM  #12
rwt Certified Level 2   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 66	Re: Article: Success in pursuit of the NAR Jr. Level 1 certification First, congratulations on your Jr. Level 1 As far as I know, I didn’t reply to Nick’s posts. The reason was because he had already been given sound advice by the time I ran across his threads. I find it curious that everyone who provided sound advice is suddenly back peddling just because Nick found a way to succeed. The article he wrote is definitely slanted due to his perspective. As I understand it, he had no building experience beyond Estes rockets, yet wanted to skip mid-power. That wouldn't have been so bad had he chosen to fly a LOC IV, but the kit he chose required an intermediate level of building skill, and is designed for experienced rocketeers. While tenacity is a positive trait, an unwillingness to heed the advice of those more experienced is not. I think this story is like the one who goes to Hollywood and succeeds. Nobody talks about the thousands who follow the same path and fail miserably. Nick succeeded, and I’m happy for him, but just like with Hollywood, others shouldn’t get the idea that this is an “equally good path” to take into high power. Also, I hope Nick takes the time to learn all of the things that he should have known before he started this adventure. There's a lot more to this hobby than "flying the toy". While I'm happy Nick succeeded, the advice I give in the future will not change despite Nick’s success.