Model Rockets!

[MiloMorai]

Had one of those baking soda/water fueled plastic rockets. Hours of fun.

[icepac]

Just found some C6-7 engines in a box.

There are big fireworks stands all over south florida so I look for larger bottle rockets that are weak in the engine department and simply tape the estes engine directly below the regular bottle rocket engine (1/8 inch below it) and stick a very short fuse into the rocket that's been sliced up a bit with a razor blade to expose the powder.

A shorter time engine is better for this but it's fun to watch the estes engine boost the rocket up and then watch the rocket's own engine power it downward before it goes off.

You can also rig up a joint that will allow the engine to blow off.

Best of all is to make a basic rocket with 3 "C" engines and fill it up with jumping jacks and something that will cause the ejection charge ignite a suitable inferno to light them all.

[deSelys]

There are model rockets... and model rockets! 

[MK-84]

Planning on strapping 3 rocket engines to the back of my car when I get some new parts for the left tire, I kinda smashed it again...

If you're serious, you are an idiot.

[MK-84]

I am working on a concept for a water powered model rocket.

Using a carbon fibre body which will house the fuel (water) at around 4500psi.  and by using salt to increase the density, and a detergent to increase compression, thus being able to use a venturi nozzle.
http://www.ckcomposites.com/composite-products.php is where I am thinking about getting the rocket body.

In theory I hope to get a design that can break 2000feet.

Although this is just an idea in my head at the moment.

[PFactorDave]

I am working on a concept for a water powered model rocket.

Using a carbon fibre body which will house the fuel (water) at around 4500psi.  and by using salt to increase the density, and a detergent to increase compression, thus being able to use a venturi nozzle.
http://www.ckcomposites.com/composite-products.php is where I am thinking about getting the rocket body.

In theory I hope to get a design that can break 2000feet.

Although this is just an idea in my head at the moment.

Interesting idea.  Here's a link for another company that sells all kinds of carbon fiber stuff that I have bought from before.  http://dragonplate.com/default.asp

Never hurts to shop around a little, and these guys were very helpful to me with my project.

[Babalonian]

Back when I was a lot younger and into Estes rockets I'd take my larger ones up to the high desert.  The high desert can have wicked winds at varying speeds at varying altitudes, even relatively low off the ground.  So I'd take a smoke bomb like youd get from an ice cream truck, cut the fuse down to a little nub and packed it firmly down the bottom of a D-sized rocket tube with the snipped fuse nub against the top of the rocket.  It would get ejected with the chute, ignited 9/10 times and a couple seconds after being ejected it would start smoking.  The Ds were the larger ones, so it would have a good drop time and leave a trail of smoke all the way down to the desert.  A second or two after that you'd have a real good idea of what the wind was doing watching the smoke trail from the rocket and the longer-lingering one from the smoke bomb. 

Some really strong wind shears just 50-feet up or so in the open desert were hecka fun to toy with, take a single-stage rocket that's just slightly more tail heavy fueled, strap a hefty first-stage booster with a 2-3 second delayed kick-off to it good with a couple rings of tape (making it notabley tail-heavy now).  They would launch verticley straight up, arcing more with the wind and as it lost weight from the firs-stage, then with the 2-3 second delay, cruise horizontaly with it... and then the last stage kicks off, ejecting the spent engine and taking the relatively well balanced "missile" quite a distance (note: have someone on recovery duty in a car and ready to start driving, and i recomend looong bright streamers for these rockets recovery method. ).  You also have a good chance of angling it into the wind, and those are maybe the most entertaining, you see the rocket arc into the wind, and as the delay between stages counts down it just hovers and starts going backwards even, then the last stage kicks off and it stay motionless a moment while at full burn, and ultimatley gaining only a few dozen yards if any right above your head. 

The booster/last charge in those is pretty incindeary-ish, designed to not only kick out a chute but ignite a second-stage engine firmly placed on top of it, while also ejecting the spent engine/assemley/stage (its primarily why Estes recommends you use a special paper rather than regular tissue, as tissue/napkins/paper-towls easily ignite (besides making an extra buck)).

[AceHavok]

Back when I was a lot younger and into Estes rockets I'd take my larger ones up to the high desert.  The high desert can have wicked winds at varying speeds at varying altitudes, even relatively low off the ground.  So I'd take a smoke bomb like youd get from an ice cream truck, cut the fuse down to a little nub and packed it firmly down the bottom of a D-sized rocket tube with the snipped fuse nub against the top of the rocket.  It would get ejected with the chute, ignited 9/10 times and a couple seconds after being ejected it would start smoking.  The Ds were the larger ones, so it would have a good drop time and leave a trail of smoke all the way down to the desert.  A second or two after that you'd have a real good idea of what the wind was doing watching the smoke trail from the rocket and the longer-lingering one from the smoke bomb. 

Some really strong wind shears just 50-feet up or so in the open desert were hecka fun to toy with, take a single-stage rocket that's just slightly more tail heavy fueled, strap a hefty first-stage booster with a 2-3 second delayed kick-off to it good with a couple rings of tape (making it notabley tail-heavy now).  They would launch verticley straight up, arcing more with the wind and as it lost weight from the firs-stage, then with the 2-3 second delay, cruise horizontaly with it... and then the last stage kicks off, ejecting the spent engine and taking the relatively well balanced "missile" quite a distance (note: have someone on recovery duty in a car and ready to start driving, and i recomend looong bright streamers for these rockets recovery method. ).  You also have a good chance of angling it into the wind, and those are maybe the most entertaining, you see the rocket arc into the wind, and as the delay between stages counts down it just hovers and starts going backwards even, then the last stage kicks off and it stay motionless a moment while at full burn, and ultimatley gaining only a few dozen yards if any right above your head. 

The booster/last charge in those is pretty incindeary-ish, designed to not only kick out a chute but ignite a second-stage engine firmly placed on top of it, while also ejecting the spent engine/assemley/stage (its primarily why Estes recommends you use a special paper rather than regular tissue, as tissue/napkins/paper-towls easily ignite (besides making an extra buck)).

Nice! Unfortunately there are not deserts in Florida. Due to only small fields here I've lost 2 out of 2 of my rockets.

[Babalonian]

Nice! Unfortunately there are not deserts in Florida. Due to only small fields here I've lost 2 out of 2 of my rockets.

I think thats why I honestly moved on to other hobies and things, the two-three times a year trips to the dessert (or days a year, that were just as frequent, and that had a favorable breeze blowing across the local community college soccer field) just made it a total bore.  A few weeks making rockets, modifications, and plans, then wautubg a couple months for some good time and weather, and finally only an hour or two of punching holes in the sky.  Then you were right back at it from step one again.

I think the next one for me was also one that I shared with my little brother when he took the lead with an interest in R/C boats.  We teamed up for a bit there and had a blast - he knew his stuff with servos and the R/C equipment and had my dad's knack for tooling with electronics, and I had the materials and experience to make most anything out of balsa wood and glue.  Was a lot easier sneaking off to a nearby public park or reservoir with a pond/lake in the afternoon after class or on the weekend, and the weather being favorable more often than not.