I didn't mention this in our regular newsletter on Tuesday, but it has been a busy week for us here at Apogee.

On Tuesday we released Peak-of-Flight Newsletter #591. This issue had a challenging-to-build plan by our very own designer, Martin Jay Mckee. The rocket is called the Minotaur XL. If you're up for a rewarding experience, you should consider adding that plan to your build-pile. Also in the newsletter was my article on the different materials you might consider for a shock cord on your next build. People are often confused on which material to select, and I hope that this article took some of the mystery out of the topic.

Also this week, we have two new teammates to welcome to our rocketship.

New on the journey, we have Eric, who we call Sky, who is working as our graphic artist, and Rook, who is adding to our production team. We're been falling behind on everything due to huge customer demand, and we also need to expand in order to achieve the goals we've set for ourselves. In the last Peak-of-Flight in 2022, I mentioned we want to do 12 new Apogee rocket kits this year, as well as stocking new products from other manufacturers. This challenge will keep us on our toes, and we certainly need the help.

The first of those 12 new kits, called the Quick Draw was released last week. I've been overwhelmed by the response so far, as we've sold almost half of the first production run. Not bad for the first week. This kit has the coolest feature, which is the ability to swap out a single motor for a cluster motor mount. In fact, you can choose between a cluster mounts having 2, 3, or 4 motors that will fit into the rocket.

This week, we released the interchangable motor mounts used in the Quick Draw kit as individually sold items. We call them the Quick Change Motor Mounts (available here), because you can swap them out in seconds. Imaging building a fleet of rockets, and you swap the motor mounts between the rockets so you can reconfigure them to fly on different motor combinations. You'll have a blast experimenting with all the different options you'll have available. These are also selling faster than expected.

The National Association of Rocketry Needs YOU!

For the first time since 1992, the World Space Modeling Championships are being held here in the USA. They will be at a field near Austin, Texas in early July. This is the known as the Olympics of rocketry, where the best flyers from all world meet and compete with each other for fame, recognition and medals of gold, sliver and bronze.

The USA team has already been selected in a fly-offs last summer. But there is a huge need for ambassador-volunteers to help run the launch range. Particularly there is a need for people to be timers, whose task it is to measure how long the rockets stay in the air. Whatever age you are, the only qualification is that you'll need good eyesight, as these models will stay in the air for a long time.

If you would like to be a part of this amazing event, visit: https://www.nar.org/site/wsmc-2023/. There is a tab on the menu for Volunteers. You'll find all the details there.

My daughter, Ashley, is part of the USA team. She is competing against the adults this time around, so we'll be supporting her as well as the rest of team. What I find cool is that there are 27 new youngsters from around the USA on the Junior division team. These are students who have never done world caliber competition before. It is going to be awesome to see how well they do against the kids from other countries.

Stop Struggling With Sanding in Tight Spaces

If you struggle with getting sandpaper into tight locations on your rocket, we've got a simple solution for you.

Each month, Apogee Components is offering a promotion called the "Tool-of-the-Month" to invest in their customers. By making a small purchase, customers can save on a tool that can improve their model building process. The goal is to encourage customers to expand their tool collection. If you have the right tool, you'll save yourself a lot of time and frustration, and end up having models that other people would drool over.

This month, the special rocketry tool being offered is a pack of custom-made sanding burrs, ideal for tip sanding and reaching tight spaces. The burrs have perma-grit on the shafts for fine sanding and a lifetime durability. The promotion for January is that for $100 spent on merchandise, a set of 5 sanding burrs can be purchased for $2.39, a significant discount (80% off) from their regular price of $11.95. The offer ends at midnight on January 31st and will not be repeated. Don't miss out on this great opportunity to save on valuable tools that will bring you pleasure when building rockets.

Coming Next Week:

On Tuesday (Jan 24, 2023) we'll have our Advanced Construction Video #375 out for you to watch. This particular one will be the 7th in a series of videos on how to build the Gliding Parachute system. If you've never seen the gliding parachute in action, check out the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/id9hsRaS8vk. This amazing parachute solves one of the biggest challenges in rocketry: "getting the rocket back." Instead of you going out on a long walk to retreive your rocket, the gliding parachute can be guided by remote control to come back and land at your feet. It has gotten some amazing reviews so far, which you can read on our website.