Handbook of Model Rocketry (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Classic Guide by the "Father of Model Rocketry" Now Completely Revised and up to Date… This new edition of the model rocketeer’s "bible" shows you how to safely build, launch, track, and recover model rockets—and have fun doing it. Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran model rocketeer, the Handbook of Model Rocketry, the official manual of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), will become your well-used reference book. G. Harry Stine has been a model rocketeer since 1957 when he founded the NAR and started the first model rocket company. Stine’s Handbook, after satisfying rocket enthusiasts for nearly three decades, remains the definitive resource. Recent technological progress has had a major effect on the model rocket hobby and sport. This revised and updated edition covers such new technology as:

• revised computer programs that use improved versions of Basic composite propellant model rocket motors
• recently approved reloadable model rocket motors building and flying large model rockets
• radio-controlled boost gliders and rocket gliders
• solid-state, microchip, computer-readable modules used to measure temperature, pressure, acceleration, and airspeed

From the Back Cover

The classic guide by the "father of model rocketry"–revised and updated for the twenty-first century

This new edition of the "bible of modern rocketry" shows you how to safely build, launch, track, and recover model rockets–just as the experts do it! Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran model rocketeer, the Handbook of Model Rocketry explains everything you need to know to get your rocket off the ground–from rocket construction and ignition systems to launching techniques, aerodynamics, altitude determinations, and recovery devices. G. Harry Stine’s son, Bill Stine, covers all the latest changes to the hobby since the last edition was published. This authoritative guide, the official manual of the National Association of Rocketry, provides the expertise you need to launch your rocket skyward.

• Features new types of rockets, motors, and electronic payloads, as well as computer software and Internet resources
• Includes the latest regulations and a new chapter on high-power rocketry
• Explains building and flying large rocket models, and using radio- controlled boost gliders and rocket gliders
• Lists the latest resources as well as information about joining model rocket clubs and entering contests!

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 6th edition (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471593613
• ISBN-13: 978-0471593614
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #858,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great reference for any model rocket enthusiast!, July 30, 2000

By	"donatellim" (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

When I first read this book, I was merely a 15 year old begginer to the wonderful hobby of rocketry. After having sifted all the fundementals and vital information that made up this fascinating field, I found that what I intially thought to be simple was, indeed, the result of meticulas and crucial technical planning. Rocketry is fun, however the complexity and engineering of a rocket lies hidden. This book enveils that complexity and helps the reader comprehend it in a relatively easy manner. This is an extremely good aspect of the book because it spares the reader of the frequent hair-pulling frustration due to confusion.

The preliminary chapters allow the reader to become more deaply familiar to the general aspects of the hobby. Things like basic model rocket components and construction as well as how to get started in order to eventually become deaply involved in the hobby are covered in these sections. You'll find that much of the information in this section is, most likely, stuff you may already be familiar with if you're a more experienced novice.

The book then procedes to more detailed and more technical aspects of rocketry. From chapters 5 and on, more technical information is presented, however, in a format that makes understanding easy. Rocket motors, ingnition systems, stabilty, rocket aerodynamics and altitude determination are some of the many aspects covered.

Another great feature of this book is that BASIC type computer programs that simulate and caculate crucial values and overall rocket performance can be found in the books's appendix already written. All you have to do is re-write the code in a BASIC computer program compiler and you're ready to make complex mathematical calculations for your rocket design in a matter of seconds.

All in all, a great reference that any model rocket enthusiast will want to cherish forever. I also find that this book is great in terms of further inspiring young rocketeers, like myself, to persue a career in the field of rocketry and aerospace. It sure has for me!

Thankyou Mr. Stine!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After All These Years, Still the Best, December 5, 2001

By	David Fields (Lincoln, Nebraska United States) - See all my reviews

The late Harry Stine is owed by all of us model rocket enthusiasts, active and (like myself) inactive, a debt of gratitude for the work he did to make model rocketry safe, and, more importantly, legal.

While in the end Mr. Stine was not in synch with the average model rocket enthusiast (which were going into high powered rocketry) he was still admired by all for his contributions.

If you want to find out the basics of model rocketry, up to a discussion of the then emerging (big time) high powered rocketry, this book is your bible. Carry it with you if you want to know about engine sizes, stability, recovery devices, everything you need to know to shoot your rocket into the sky and bring it back in one piece (I should add as a side note that rockets that go bad are kind of fun to watch, but really hard on the makers nerves).

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Rocketeer must read this book, November 2, 2000

By A Customer

The late G. Harry Stine is considered the father of model rocketry and was also the founder of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR). In this book, Harry explains the basics of model rocketry, including propulsion, stability, recovery, design, launching, safety and much more. And the language is on a level that's easy to read and understand by both young and old. This book is truly the bible of model rocketry and should be in every rocketeer's library. Great job Harry - Thank you!