Who We Are....

Craig McGraw -- The Estes Avenger was my first experience with building an Estes kit back in 1975. It was a disaster because it was beyond my skills at the time, but I remember it fondly nevertheless. Over the years I have built and flown for a while, stopped, then started up again when I had the time and resources. I'm now in my 40's and have rediscovered the world of rocketry all over again. I have rockets in my collection today that I could only drool over in my youth.

The hobby today is richer and broader than it has ever been, even with reduced volume coming from the big names of years past. There are more people providing the stuff we use, with very little remaining that cannot be purchased from somewhere. And with the Internet, sharing ideas with fellow enthusiasts is easier and instant, with constructive feedback that didn't exist back in the "golden age" of the hobby. I'm enjoying the hobby today in a way that wasn't possible before.

Scott D. Hansen -- I grew up and live in Milwaukee, WI.  My cousin got me into model rocketry back in 1969 when he gave me his '69 Centuri catalog, which I still have today.  My first kit was a Payloader II.  I still have the bottom half of that rocket along with the Centuri LIA-77 wooden tripod launch pad I used.  Most of my rockets when I was young were from Centuri.  I guess I just liked their designs better.

I never did join the NAR as a kid, but I did belong to a NAR sanctioned club in the early 70's.  I've got super 8 movies from some of the club launches down at Warnimont Park by Lake Michigan.

I got back into model rocketry in February of 1998.  Since I really like the "old style" designs of rockets where the person actually did some building, I wanted to help preserve the history.  Hence, Ye Olde Rocket Shoppe and its many spin-offs was born.