This page was last updated: February 5, 2010
Visitors since Jan 2004:
Winter build sessions with SMASH
This winter SMASH will be hosting a number of model rocket build sessions. The January 31st session was fun as members and guest built rocket gliders and Average Joes. Both models will be good for use in competition this year. The next build will be February 7th at 1pm. The builds take place at the Wayland Fire Department conference room. Bring a snack or drink to share, your tools and rocket, or buy a rocket there. The schedule for the rest of the winter is:
2/7 Night Flight Rockets by Dave Gilmore Rockets cost $12
2/21 D Tasmanian Devil or Sport Scale Model by Bob Alway
3/7 Vellum Tubes by Rob Gustin
3/21 Boost Gliders by Jay Calvert
Build sessions are open to anyone interested in rocketry. This is a great opportunity to learn how to build competitive models for competitions.
Kit BaSh 2009
I was a small turn out for this years kit bash. This did not slow up creativity or fun. The Rambo style meant all parts from all kits were put in a single pile and names drawn to determine who picks parts first
The next event will be on Sunday, December 6th at the
Wayland Fire Station Conference room at 1PM. The topic will be A cluster models. Randy Boadway will host this event. Models will be sold at cost to those that need them. If you need one please contact Randy at 616-460-2678 or boadwayr@chartermi.net to reserve yours.
Raffle Drawing Winner is... 2707
The raffle for the $100 prize was November 30 at 10PM. The winning number is 2707. The winner is SMASH member Joe Mosher. Joe has been very active with SMASH and is a big supporter of the education process. Congratulations Joe!
Thanks for supporting the SMASH Education Fund. This fund allows SHASH to award NAR memberships to kids who are serious about rocketry.
SMASHers Christmas Party 2010
4A Cluster Build
NARAM-52 in Colorado will be featuring 4 A Motor Clusters as an event. Building a stable model and practicing the event a few times is all it takes to do well in this event. last time we build 4 Motor Clusters was converting the Estes Baby Bertha. This year the model was based after Amanda Boadway's model that won the last regional where this event was flown. 4 motor clusters have a poor success rate due mostly to inexperienced flyers in the event.
The next build session is January 31st and we will be building Rocket Gliders and Average Joe's..
The members of SMASH, their families and friends all gathered for an after Christmas feast and gift exchange. Everyone had fun congregating, playing games, eating and watching a slide show of the past years activities. The Rambo/ White Elephant gift exchange was the highlight of the event. A number of gifts had to be stolen a number of times before going home with their new owners. This event is held annually by SMASH. Thanks Joe Mosher for hosting the event at Wayside Entertainment in Kalamazoo.
SMASH tops list for sections
By Randy Boadway
SMASH is on top in competitive rocketry right now. Standings Every year SMASH gets a great start by holding a regional competition in September. This is the first official SMASH competition for the contest year which starts July 1st. As usual this allows many of the members to hold top seated positions at least for some of the year. If you are interested in competitive rocketry contact Randy Boadway, SMASH Competition Director by e-mail or phone 616-460-2678.
The A Division consist of kids age 7 to 14. Ian VanderVoord is the top SMASH flyer with 1344 points in 3rd place. Last year Ian was 4th in the country earning an impressive trophy to prove it. Ian is experienced enough where all he has to do is participate in the event and he can easily land one of the top scores. Newcomer Greg ByCraft is currently in 4th place. Greg and his Dad fly for SMASH and Greg participated
in the Fall Regional Roctober Sky. Greg took 1st in B Rocket Glide Duration and participated in all 4 events to earn his impressive score. Ken Gehrman also new to competitive rocketry built and flew his first rocket to be in 6th place nationally. Ken is from Delton. Ben Frasco is in 8th place and Dan Usakowski in 12th place. This was also Dan’s first rocket built on the field.
The B Division is 15 to 18 year olds. Nationally in 1st place is rocketry veteran Amanda Boadway with 2148 points. Josh Smith is in 5th place, Gerald VanderVoord is in 7th. The C Division is for the adults. The leading SMASH member is Jay Calvert in 2nd place with 1812 points. Jay pushes the envelope all the time creating models that can perform on the edge. Rob Gustin is in 16th place, Dave Gilmore is in 19th place.Pam Gilmore, Joe Mosher, John VanderVoord, Bob ByCraft and Nancy VanderVoord are also placed in the top 100. The Team Division for SMASH is the Bumbling Brothers (Bob and Pete Always) in 3rd with 1944 points and Dark Side (Randy Boadway and Jeff Graham) in 6th. Both these teams landed 2nd and 3rd nationally last year and have big trophies to prove it.
For sections SMASH has been blasted into 1st place to hold and impressive lead with 16,365 points, almost double the 2nd place section Launch Crue. SMASH has been in 2nd place nationally for the last 4 years just behind the Arizona Section (SSS) who has held 1st for a record setting 5 years in a row. This may be the years for SMASH to finally take down the Arizona giant.
Estes-Cox Sold to Hobbico
After 19 years of ownership by Barry Tunick Estes-Cox is being sold to Hobbico. Hobbico is a giant in the hobby industry owning a number of other hobby companies.
Rocketry on Take 5
WZZM channel 13 in Grand Rapids Michigan has a morning show called Take 5 where West Michigan guest get a chance to talk about their efforts in the community. On Monday, January 21st Randy Boadway was on the air to promote rocketry in West Michigan. Sourounded by a number of model rockets and four second place national trophies Randy had fun telling the audiance about what is needed to get started in rocketry.
Randy is a member of SMASH and leads the efforts towards SMASH winning a national championship.
