Dartmouth dad says his childhood model rocket hobby inspired him. Now he's passing it on.
DARTMOUTH — On Friday afternoon, the Zwackis — David, Tina and David's daughter, 9-year-old daughter Cali — headed to the DYAA baseball fields in their hometown of Dartmouth to try out the model rockets they'd made. But it wasn't only about having a family activity day — it was also a passing of the torch down to a new generation.
"I haven't done this in 35 years," David said as he hopped out of the family pickup truck holding a box containing the model rockets, launch pad and other components needed for lift-off.
A hobby that paid off
When David was 14 years old, his mother bought him his first model rocket kit for Christmas of 1987. "Instead of getting me socks and sweaters and stuff, she decided to get me something probably a little more constructive of my time," said David, now 49. From there, the hobby really took off.
"My dad and I used to go to the old Kohl's parking lot to do this. Before Kohl's was there, it was all just open land, so we used to go out there on Sunday mornings and shoot these up in the air."
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Mothers' intuition that Christmas was apparently spot-on, as David would go on to become an engineer. "I went to vocational school [Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School] for electronics. I was always into tinkering with things, taking things apart, building things — so yeah, this propelled me to my career," David said.
That's why all summer he'd been planning a day to share the pastime with his daughter, whose favorite school subject is math.
"She's an A+ student across the board," said David, who is originally from New Bedford. "She always wants to learn, she's always interested in what I'm doing and she likes trying it out herself. She's very similar, maybe even more advanced than I was at her age."
Ready for launch
While out at the fields Friday morning, David and Cali prepared two rockets, once re-packing one of them with a new engine, for a total of three launches, as Tina served as the official voice of the 10-second countdown each time. While liftoff works the same for both models, there was a stark contrast in the building process, Cali and David said.
"It was fun. One of them was a little stressful to make," said Cali, a student of the former St. James St. John School in New Bedford which has merged with Holy Family-Holy Name School to become the Saint Teresa of Calcutta School opening in the fall.
"The big one is a little more modern. ... That one took about 10 minutes. The smaller one took about three hours," David said.
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As David and Cali prepared the first launch, using the larger of the two rockets, David narrated the process as he guided his daughter through the set-up. "So the leads will connect to the igniter, and then when the igniter is given a charge, it'll heat up and fire up the rocket," he said. "The engine is made of combustible material so it acts as a propellant. It burns slow, but hard. And then with every action, there's a reaction, right? So it's generating force downward, forcing the rocket up."
Then with Tina's countdown and the push of a button by Cali, the first rocket blasted high into Friday's sunny mid-morning skies before a parachute was deployed to bring it gracefully back down to a grassy area of the field complex.
"Based on the engine that was in there and the rocket specifications, that was probably 600 feet or so," said David. "I was afraid this thing wasn't going to pop."
The second launch — this time using the smaller, lighter rocket — went even higher: about 1,000 feet, David estimated.
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Afterthoughts
After launching the larger rocket one last time, Cali spoke about the experience. "I thought it was pretty cool. I also really enjoyed making the rocket with my dad — it was really fun," she said, noting she would be interested in building and launching more rockets in the future.
"For me, it was just so cool to watch dad and his daughter do this together," Tina said, noting that it had been her first experience with a model rocket. "I'm proud of my husband every single day. ... He's the smartest man that I know. And then to watch his daughter follow in his footsteps is just awesome. Dave loves to teach, Cali loves to learn, I love to watch and encourage."
While very few goods or services these days are priced anywhere near where they were in 1987, David says the affordability of model rockets, surprisingly, hasn't changed much. In an article published in the March 7, 1987, issue of The Standard-Times, a 14-year-old David cites a price range of $3 to $15 per rocket and $34 for the starter kit he had then. "This whole kit was about $40, so it's pretty much the same price," he said on Friday. "Although, these little engines used to be a dollar each. ... Now they're up to $4 a piece."
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As for future "rocket days," David says he looks to continue the hobby, hoping Cali finds it as inspiring as he did. "We're definitely going to do it again now that we've sort of cracked the seal on it," he said. "I guess the best thing, to me, would be if Cali follows in my footsteps. You always hope your kid grows up to be better than you."
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Dartmouth dad, engineer passes rocket hobby to next generation
