Model Rockets

[Spocks Brain]

My dad, brother, and I played with model rockets a bit when I was a kid. I loved it. I remember shooting one off and after the parachute deployed, it got caught in the wind and wouldn't come down. We chased that damn thing in the car for many miles before it went over an area with no road access. So we lost it.

Anyway, for some reason I remembered the fun I had and thought my grandkids might enjoy them too, so I bought six of them at the hobby store including 2 launch pads and controllers. You need a bigger pad and controller for the bigger engines. They're not expensive. It does take a little time assembling some of them.

First, and only time out so far, we lost one. It was a little too windy and despite being in a pretty big open area, the parachute took it about 400 yards off course and it landed atop a high building. I'm going to find a really huge open area for next time.

I've got a 2 stage model that's supposed to reach 2800 feet. That's out of sight. Will be interesting seeing how that goes.

They don't do much and I'll probably get bored with them eventually, but for not much money, the kids (and adults) really like them.

Anybody else play with these?

 

[The-Hack]

Yeah, in the 70’s, I was a fan of Estes and Century rockets which I ordered by mail and assembled.

Lost a couple of them, but still have like ten rockets, including my pride and joy, “The Egg Crate.” Launched many an egg and only broke one (in a plastic bag).

I still hanker after the high dollar models that can film or take photos.

Last launched one with my nephew 10 years, ago.

I think Estes is still around, but I think Century rocket company no longer is.

 

[Spocks Brain]

Estes is what I had in the late 60s/early 70s as a kid and also what I recently bought at the hobby store. I see there are some other brands available via the web that offer even more performance.

I'm building an Estes "Mean Machine" right now. It's over 6 feet tall. I just realized that I put too much paint on it. That should degrade performance. It was only $20 bucks so if it's flies too bad I'll just buy another one.

They still sell one that launches eggs. It's called the
7265 Space Crater Egg Launcher.

I may get one of those little "spy cameras" and mount it on a bigger rocket and shoot some video. Those cameras can be had for < $40. The big engines like the F model seem hard to find for some reason. I'm using C, D, and E right now. Plus, there appears to be a Hazmat fee when shipping them, dammit.

I'll also be assembling an Estes Epic II which is a 2 stage rocket and a Olympus which has a clear payload area. Not sure WTF to put in there. Maybe an altimeter, ... or a mouse. JK. lol

 

[Kooky Kats]

I had about 30 of these... you needed a license to shoot them off. Big foot launcher

colossus
Andromeda
Red raider

Pretty awesome

 

[KyCatFan_rivals45723]

We launched them back in high school in AFJROTC. It was pretty fun. I lost my rocket because it got caught up in the wind and blew to far away from the school. I think I used the largest engine that would fit in it.

I really would like to build a rocket from scratch and make my own engines. I might try to make one of those sugar rocket motors one day. Here is a video where amateurs actually got their rockets into space. That would be a pretty awesome accomplishment to say you did.

 

[UKvisitor_rivals101449]

Lots of cool vids on youtube about amateur rockets.

 

[Deeeefense]

I got involved with model rockets back in the early 60s I also bought my supplies from Estes with money earned from mowing grass. After fooling around with smaller rockets I built a wind tunnel out of cardboard boxes and a discarded window fan, and designed a two stage rocket. The bottom stage had 3 rocket engines designed for instant power. The top stage had one engine designed for longevity, and included a capsule designed for a "mousetronaute" (a small white mouse I bought at the dime store). I used foam rubber to cushion the inside of the capsule. I also built a device to measure the altitude of the rocket using a bubble level on an angle scale and triangulation.

All went well on the first two flights. The chute deployed successfully and the mousetronaute made through the flight fine. But on the 3rd flight the nose cone came off on the way down and the mouse fell out of the capsule at about 20 feet AGL. I searched for a couple of hours and could never find the mousetrounaute.

 

[Pickle_Rick]

I used to play with my rocket all the time as a young teen. It was only average size but i gave it a good workout, shooting it as often as 6 times a day. Then I discovered girls, and playing with my rocket lost a lot interest. Now that I'm an old man, and married, i find myself playing with my rocket more, but not shooting it off as much. My wife will play with it ever now and then, and thats when it gets shot off.

 

[bluebornwildcat]

Bought my son the Estes Javelin rocket kit. We are just waiting for the engines, plugs, etc to come in. Very cool hobby.

 

[Punkin Puss]

Do put a camera on it to confirm the Earth is flat.

 

[The-Hack]

But on the 3rd flight the nose cone came off on the way down and the mouse fell out of the capsule at about 20 feet AGL. I searched for a couple of hours and could never find the mousetrounaute.

My last flight of the Century “Egg Crate,” the nose cone came off and my egg got smashed. Had a few successful launches prior.

I’m betting mousetrounaute survived, and told the local mice to avoid 10-17 year olds!!

 

[The-Hack]

I really would like to build a rocket from scratch and make my own engines.

Thanks for videos.

Pretty cool that they can recover one that went, what, 30/50 miles up on the same desert floor they launched from!

I have always thought that power/altitude could be boosted by building land-based stored power . . . perhaps like a roller coaster track gradually inclining with some track-gun tech. Probably be too expensive if you weren’t going to reuse 300 times!

Reentry is not a flaming experience, as the rockets are not hitting the atmosphere at 20,000 mph, or orbital speed, but just normal descent speeds, like a baseball thrown straight up.

I wonder if any of these guys has achieved orbit? Probably a legal prohibition absent big bucks/licensing.

 

[The-Hack]

A little correction/commentary on the films of amateurs getting into space. One of the vids shows early NASA/military failures of launches, and implies the amateurs are (since 2004) doing what NASA was failing to do in the late 50’s.

Actually, our military launched a German V-2 topped with a much smaller American made solid rocket to an altitude of over 200 miles in 1948, IIRC. It was a “straight-up-and-down” flight, like these amateurs are now doing.

NASA struggled getting a successful launch of an orbital craft a decade later, and that is a tougher gig than essentially shooting a bullet straight up, and letting it fall straight back down.

Heck, if enough are interested, we ought to pool our resources and be the first amateurs to do orbit!!

I bet $250K could get us there!

The big risk with attempted orbital flight is you ain’t aiming straight up . . . and if you don’t hit orbit, you likely hit something or someone pretty hard. . . . one very good reason NASA launches aimed over open water for the first 1500/2000 miles to the East.

 

[KyCatFan_rivals45723]

If any of you haven't seen it before, October Sky is a pretty good movie about some kids that get into amateur model rocketry back in I believe the late 50's and learn to build the rockets and engines up from scratch. At least 1 of them ended up working for NASA.

 

[Kooky Kats]

This was my jam. E engine - went about 1500 ft if I recall correctly.

 

[wildcatwelder_rivals]

Heck yeah, used to really enjoy that when I was a kid. Hadn't thought of that in a long time. Might ask my 15 year old if he'd be interested in that type of thing. Betting he will be, but right now his big thing is me teaching him how to drive, and allowing him to drive a bit in a big empty lot a few miles from us.

 

[Spocks Brain]

I'm going to need a better fin jig if I keep building these. I tried making one out of cardboard, but ended up just eyeballing the fin alignment.