Rocketry Planet

If you are a fan of hobby rocketry auctions, the name Payload Bay might be familiar to you. To those that don't recognize it, let me formally introduce you to PayloadBay.com as it's known on the Internet, the pet project of Roger Smith of Oveida, Florida, just northeast of Orlando.

Smith, a 48 year old programmer who writes modeling and simulation software to support training programs for a living, started Payload Bay as a place to put the numerous photographs and videos he was taking at his local launches.

The one that set the hook in 1994.

A member of both the Tripoli Rocketry Association and the National Association of Rocketry, Roger and his wife Bracha also split their memberships between two local clubs: the North East Florida Association of Rocketry (NEFAR) and Rocketry of Orlando's Community Kids (ROCK). NEFAR launches in Bunnell, near Daytona, while ROCK launches just five minutes away from the Smith's home near Orlando.

Roger first discovered rocketry when he build and flew model rockets as part of a class project in the sixth grade. He continued in the hobby for several more years, before other interests took over. Life has a way of doing that, but in 1994, the bug bit him again.

"I saw the Saturn V kit Estes had reissued for the 25th anniversary of the Apollo missions," Roger said during his interview. "It was a kit I had always wanted as a kid, but never could afford. I spent every weekend for a couple of months building the Saturn V. It's still the best-looking rocket I've built. And, I haven't been brave enough to fly it — yet."

At the time, the Smith's had just moved to the Orlando area when he rediscovered the hobby. The man who built their home saw Roger's collection of model rockets and commented that he also flew model rockets as a kid.

"I inspired him to also become a [born again rocketeer]," Smith said, in leading the contractor back into the hobby. "He heard about a local rocketry club and introduced me to larger, mid- and high-power rockets."

Roger and Bracha are familiar faces at the Florida NEFAR and ROCK launches and can sometimes be seen at other launch venues in the state such as Tripoli Tampa, Spaceport Rocketry Association and Florida Spacemodeling Association/Tripoli West Palm Florida, splitting their flying time between small model rockets up to eight-foot tall high power rockets. 

Roger with his upscale Omega Cineroc.

"Most of my time the past few years has been spent building ever larger rockets," Roger stated. "But, I've still found time to build smaller rockets. I almost think of model rocketry as a different hobby from high-power rocketry."

Roger went on to point out the natural overlap between model and high power rocketry, commenting that there is a big difference between using a razor knife and white glue to assemble a small rocket and using power tools, fiberglass, and epoxy to craft a large rocket.

"If I have twenty minutes of free time, I can work on a model rocket," Roger added. "But, I usually need to clear a whole day to work on a larger one."

Roger's most memorable flight was his Level 1 certification flight, using a popular kit that many have certified on over the years.

"It was my entry into high-power rocketry and I took the building of the rocket seriously," Roger said. "I started with a LOC EZI-65 kit. I fiberglassed the body tube just to learn how to do fiberglassing. I upgraded the recovery system. And I spent hours finishing the rocket — sanding it and painting it. It flew beautifully on its first flight on an H motor for my Level 1 cert."

He went on to get his Level 2 certification at the Florida WinterNationals launch a few years ago flying an upscale of the Estes Omega, a kit he admits as being his favorite. 

Roger and Bracha posing with the Big Daddy Akavish.

"If I'm forced to select a favorite kit, I'd have to pick the Estes Omega," Roger said. "Not only is it one of the nicest looking kits of all time, it brings back good memories for me. When I was about 13 years old, I saved my allowance (and whatever other money I could borrow or earn) for months to buy an Omega kit with the Cineroc movie camera. I launched it only once with the camera before Estes stopped selling and processing the film for it. I launched the rocket on my mom's family's farm during a vacation trip there."

Some time back, Roger transferred the Cineroc's move to a video tape, which led to him commenting on the flight.

"I need to find [the video] and put it on the web site," Roger said. "It's interesting and also a little funny. I had forgotten the blast deflector for the launch pad so I substituted a piece of aluminum foil for it. As the motor ignites, you can see the foil just fly away."

The video goes on to show Roger standing in front of the family station wagon, and as the rocket got higher you could see nearby cows in the frame, with the film ending shortly after the parachute deployed.

"I flew the Omega rocket many times, more than any other rocket I had built as a kid," Roger added. "But, I never launched it as a two-stage rocket."

It appeared to Roger at the time that D motors were "so big, so scary, and so expensive" that he adapted it to fly on a C motor instead.

One of the last rocketry projects Roger did during his initial youthful fling with hobby rocketry was building a radio transmitter to be carried in the Omega's payload section. 

"I designed it to transmit audio or a tone representing temperature," Roger said. "I can remember getting the transmitter to work, but I don't think I ever actually launched it."

These youthful experiences led Roger to build an upscale of the Omega when he got back into the hobby which eventually earned him his Level 2 wings, a rocket he estimated as being twice the size and 20 times the weight of the original Omega.

"I built it to carry a video camera in a housing that looks sort of like an upscale Cineroc," Roger said. "I flew the combination once and got a decent video from it. But, since it was hard to pack a large enough parachute into the Omega and because the rocket spun too much during flight, I now fly it without the camera."

Bracha poses with the Akavish at a Spaceport Rocketry Association launch.

The Smith's are probably best known for their "Akavish" series of rockets. These spider-like rockets were the Smith's response to the Spaceport Rocketry Association's contest to build and fly an animal-themed rocket.

"My wife used to teach children a few words of Hebrew using a variation of the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' song," Roger said.

"The Itsy Bitsy Akavish
Went Up the Mime Spout...

"So, I had the idea of making a Sputnik-type of rocket - a foam ball with dowels stuck in it. But, instead of four sticks, we used eight to make an Akavish (spider)."

Speaking about the first version of the Akavish as being slightly unstable and very underpowered, Roger said "We launched it on a D motor and it made a few loops before becoming stable and heading straight for the ground." 

Later versions they built used more conventional construction techniques, where the legs were attached to a body tube. 

"This gives the rocket a study foundation," Roger said. "The foam ball around the body is just decorative, not structural. We've built two of this version of the Akavish and they've flown many times on G motors. We even flew one on an H motor for an exciting, and successful, flight."

Unable to resist the urge to make it even bigger, the Smith's built the "Big Daddy Akavish" a few years ago, which stands almost four feet tall and is covered with several yards of black fur, flying on J and K motors. It reached 600' in altitude on a K motored flight.

"All of the Akavish rockets have been joint projects built by my wife and I," Roger said. "I built the basic structure of each rocket. Bracha did most of the painting and finishing."

The Smith's experience with foam has led them to use it on other projects as well.

Roger captures the spirit of a NEFAR launch from April of this year.

"I joke with other rocketry hobbyists that 'once you try foam, you won't go back,'" Roger said. "Our Akavish rockets are based, of course, on foam balls. But, I've used foam for other projects. The nose cone of my upscale Cineroc camera carrier, for example, was created by covering a foam cone with a few layers of fiberglass. I liked the idea that if the rocket came in ballistic, the foam nose cone would collapse and absorb some of the energy. Fortunately, I never had the chance to test that theory."

In speaking about his website, Roger said he originally started PayloadBay.com as a place to display the photographs and videos he was taking at local launches. 

"I enjoy photographing rocketry events as much as I enjoy participating in them," Roger said of his pet project. "The web site includes a gallery with thousands of photographs from local launches as well as the few regional launches my wife and I have attended."

He added a blog-like front-end to the gallery so that he could post articles about the launches as well as articles about their rocketry projects. Over time, he has added other features such as online tools for generating fin wrap guides and centering ring templates. 

"Most of these I originally developed for my own use, but a few were inspired by posts in online rocketry forums," Roger said of his programming projects. "For example, someone in a forum described a jig he developed to make it easier to cut slots in a tube. That inspired me to create a tool that helps you make the jig."

Roger recently added an "Auction Browser" to the site, which combines and categorizes rocketry-related auction items from eBay, Rocketry Planet, and other online auctions. The feature makes it easy to find bargains or that rare out-of-production kit you've always wanted as well as providing RSS feeds of the listings to make it easier to monitor hobby rocketry auctions.

John and Bracha's JonRocket.com vendor booth at a NEFAR launch.

He also encourages people to check out the videos he's putting on the site.

"I recently began capturing high-speed (slow-motion) videos at rocket launches," Roger said. "At first, I just posted the videos pretty much as they came from the camera. But, I have been working on how to better use them to produce more interesting videos. My goal is to use the high-speed videos, along with regular videos and stills, to tell a story."

Most rocketry videos on the web simply capture a moment — a specific launch of a rocket, for example. Roger is trying to take that farther, giving the videos a little more substance. Of course, the story is still simple and straightforward, a rocket is launched and recovered, but he wanted to capture it from more perspectives and present it in a way that expresses emotion. 

Roger and Bracha recently started selling model rocket kits, parts, and supplies after acquiring the online store JonRocket.com in the summer of 2009.

"I'm looking at ways to enhance the store using some of the information and functionality offered by PayloadBay.com," Roger said. "At the same time, I'm not going to forsake PayloadBay.com. I am always tinkering with the web site, adding new features. Working on PayloadBay.com is something I enjoy doing and I hope others find the site interesting and useful."

For the Smith's, PayloadBay.com's message is that hobby rocketry is fun, safe, and interesting for children and adults. You might find that message equally accurate after perusing their site yourself.

Website: http://www.PayloadBay.com/