Hangin' @ Bucher's Joint

I first met Bucher (pronounced 'booker') when I stumbled on the KCAR launching out at Shawnee Mission Park about a year ago. He told me he was from California, but somehow I already knew that. Something about the way he combined a pony tail, tank top and hard hat.





And something about his mannerisms of speech.





But the guy has forgotten more about rocketry than I'm likely to ever know. Coming off as half-hippie/half-construction worker (because both these are basically accurate impressions), there's a third half that understand the math and science of propulsion engineering. And a brain that picks up details about sounding rockets and various things that have been tried in high powered rocketry like a massive magnet finding iron filings.





But this evening I made my first visit to the Bucher abode. Which is kind of like going to the Playboy mansion if you substituted handmade musical instruments and model rockets for lovely twenty-somethings.





Bucher is a skilled luthier, specializing in guitars and Celtic mandolins. But he's also done a few dobros and whatnot. And as with rocketry, his knowledge of luthierie, who's doing what and how, is both encyclopedic and catholic.





Me and Lee were not the first KCAR members to hit the house today, but we were the first who weren't retired. Bucher's kind of retired himself these days: congestive heart failure has his heart functioning at 15%. He's not all that much older than me, but just standing for a few minutes can tire him these days. His feet are seemingly permanently semi-bruised with broken vessels. What fits of activity his body will still support tends to funnel into his modeling.





I have too many pictures. The idea was to get pictures of the club trailer. But it's still pretty skeletal. You can tell it's a trailer but it doesn't look like a rocket club's trailer.





And how to fit these things together: what's the chance you'll be interested in rockets and luthierie? I mean, Bucher is the only other guy I know who thinks both of those are interesting.





Bucher's house is literally littered with rockets. There are so many partially built scale models and whatnot, it seems impossible he's ever gotten anything finished enough to fly. Yet every club launch I've been to, he's got interesting things to lob up to the atmosphere.







Then there's the eye-opening factor. When the talk got around to music, and music got around to Phillip Glass, I allowed that he was the collaborator in the worst movie ever made IMHO.





Koyaanisqatsi was torture. I spent the first hour or so waiting for the opening credits to be over before realizing there were no opening credits, this was the film.






But I fell asleep before the Atlas rocket launch and CATO near the end of the film. Which Bucher showed, and which proves that Koyaanisqatsi is not the worst film ever made. That honor now goes to Congo, which was almost bad enough to be camp, but not quite. And unlike Kubrick's exercise in mass hypnosis, Congo was meant to be a plot-driven thriller.

Boucher showed me the launch scene, and it is fascinating.



Maybe not as fascinating as a 98mm reloadable L motor like this one, granted. Bear in mind, most of what I've ever launched are on motors smaller than my ring finger. Some smaller than my pinkie. A few a bit bigger than my thumb.

Here's a motor that's not longer than a baby's arm, it's bigger than the damn baby.







Anyway, a good time was had by all. I still want to learn fiberglass and polyurethane lay ups from Bucher. And he's already steered me towards things I can make myself cheaper than I'm presently buying them.



Plus, he has the Holy RPG of Antioch. Inspired by the Holy Hand Grenade from Monty Python's Holy Grail.