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Childhood Past-time: Model Rockets

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Anyone ever do any model rocket flying when they were a kid? I can remember my brother, his friends, and I flying the old Estes rockets. One time they built a rocket out of beer cans that literally took off, did a loop, and chased them before crashing into a wall.
Nemo me impune lacessit

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Me and some friends used to do chlorine bombs and rockets, this is something everyone can do. All you need is a plastic coke bottle (must be coke or pepsi or some acid cola). Drink all the coke leaving only just a little bit on the bottom (about two "fingers" deep). Now, get some chlorine (don't use tablets, and don't use chlorine dust too thin, it must be kinda rocky), and with a funnel put about 4 or 5 spoons of it. Do it quickly! Now, close the bottle as fast as you can and throw it away: the chlorine will react with the coke and the gases inside will expand and burts the bottle up. If you want to make a rocket, it's a little bit trickier, as you must turn the bottle upside down without letting the coke get out.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Hmmm, not sure I'll be trying that one Ric, but thanks for the tip...

War does not make one great.

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Awesome ric!!! You and I are peas in a pod!!! Myself and my highschools chums used to make the same kind of bombs, but we used muriatic acid (the joys of pool chemicals, right?). We took the empty 2 liter bottle, put 3 or 4 crumpled pieces of aluminum foil into the bottle and poured in the acid to cover... close the lid tightly, shake the bottle and THROW IT AWAY FROM YOU!!! LOL. No fire or smoke, of course, but... BADABOOOOOMMMM!!!!

Then again, we also used to make home-brewed napalm out of Ivory liquid soap and gasoline... those were the days!

(what the hell were we thinking?!?!?!?!)

Oh and yes... to answer the thread- we also built and launced model rockets. Fun times, but running after them and trying to figure out where they landed (inevitably in some wooded area) was a pain in the rear.
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I was very much into model rockets. They were such a blast. Especially when you overloaded them with engines. Heh heh.

Something some friends and I used to do involved bottle rockets. We didn't like the standard static launchers like coke bottles and whatnot. Too boring. So we developed portable launchers. We used thin PVC pipe and capped off the end and put a bicycle handlebar grip on it along with a shoulder strap and would run around the neighborhood aiming and firing bottle rockets. The longer the pipe, the better the aim. We were pretty damn accurate. We had so much fun and never once got caught because we'd be firing from anywhere. Nobody could ever find us. Good times.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
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kapgar.com
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Originally posted by: Bossk
I was very much into model rockets. They were such a blast. Especially when you overloaded them with engines. Heh heh.


I remember we put an "F" engine into a model called a mosquito. We literally saw it keep going into the sky until we could not see it any more.
Nemo me impune lacessit

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Tracking it must have been a bitch.

You ever put steel wool into the parachute compartment instead of the parachute blow-out wadding? Fun times.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
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kapgar.com
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Originally posted by: greencapt
Awesome ric!!! You and I are peas in a pod!!! Myself and my highschools chums used to make the same kind of bombs, but we used muriatic acid (the joys of pool chemicals, right?). We took the empty 2 liter bottle, put 3 or 4 crumpled pieces of aluminum foil into the bottle and poured in the acid to cover... close the lid tightly, shake the bottle and THROW IT AWAY FROM YOU!!! LOL. No fire or smoke, of course, but... BADABOOOOOMMMM!!!!

Then again, we also used to make home-brewed napalm out of Ivory liquid soap and gasoline... those were the days!

(what the hell were we thinking?!?!?!?!)

Oh and yes... to answer the thread- we also built and launced model rockets. Fun times, but running after them and trying to figure out where they landed (inevitably in some wooded area) was a pain in the rear.




We used to do these (although we substituted "Works" toilet cleaner for pool chemicals) until one went off in my buddy's basement.

Anyway, I spent a few summers (and probably hundreds of my parents' dollars) on Estes rockets. Although, like you guys, I rarely fired them off properly, instead modifiying them and experimenting and whatnot. I don't think I ever used the starter switch, instead I'd just touch the wires to a lantern battery. Fields were usually too windy, so I just set them off in the neighborhood. If they landed on someone's roof, I'd just go by a new $5 mosquito or Alpha and whatever. Once we tried fastening one onto a the back of a toy dumptruck to see if we could set a toy-truck land speed record, but it didn't work. Another time I had one of those multi-stage ones, with this long fuselage. I don't know if it was a defective engine (or maybe I glued the nose on hoping it would blow up) but the thing came straight down the way it came up. We didn't realize how fast it was approaching condsidering it probably hit a few thousand feet, but we barely got out of the way of it down at us in a free fall. It stuck 2 feet into the ground. I ripped it in half just tring to pull it out of the ground. God this is awesome. Keep the stories comin' guys!
40,000 million notches away
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Originally posted by: Windexed
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Originally posted by: greencapt
Awesome ric!!! You and I are peas in a pod!!! Myself and my highschools chums used to make the same kind of bombs, but we used muriatic acid (the joys of pool chemicals, right?). We took the empty 2 liter bottle, put 3 or 4 crumpled pieces of aluminum foil into the bottle and poured in the acid to cover... close the lid tightly, shake the bottle and THROW IT AWAY FROM YOU!!! LOL. No fire or smoke, of course, but... BADABOOOOOMMMM!!!!

Then again, we also used to make home-brewed napalm out of Ivory liquid soap and gasoline... those were the days!

(what the hell were we thinking?!?!?!?!)

Oh and yes... to answer the thread- we also built and launced model rockets. Fun times, but running after them and trying to figure out where they landed (inevitably in some wooded area) was a pain in the rear.




We used to do these (although we substituted "Works" toilet cleaner for pool chemicals) until one went off in my buddy's basement.

Anyway, I spent a few summers (and probably hundreds of my parents' dollars) on Estes rockets. Although, like you guys, I rarely fired them off properly, instead modifiying them and experimenting and whatnot. I don't think I ever used the starter switch, instead I'd just touch the wires to a lantern battery. Fields were usually too windy, so I just set them off in the neighborhood. If they landed on someone's roof, I'd just go by a new $5 mosquito or Alpha and whatever. Once we tried fastening one onto a the back of a toy dumptruck to see if we could set a toy-truck land speed record, but it didn't work. Another time I had one of those multi-stage ones, with this long fuselage. I don't know if it was a defective engine (or maybe I glued the nose on hoping it would blow up) but the thing came straight down the way it came up. We didn't realize how fast it was approaching condsidering it probably hit a few thousand feet, but we barely got out of the way of it down at us in a free fall. It stuck 2 feet into the ground. I ripped it in half just tring to pull it out of the ground. God this is awesome. Keep the stories comin' guys!



Those switches NEVER worked right. Dude, I forgot about the Alphas. Estes had a really neat business going on rockets for quite a few years. Remember those balsa wood fins? Huuuhhhhh...terrible. I remember my favorites were models called the Patriot and also there was one that was silver and black with a skull and cross-bones on it. Also my brother had a funky dark-glittery green one that they called "The Kryptonite".

I remember after I "outgrew" them, my cousin had an accident with a model rocket. Not sure what he was doing, but he wound up with powder burns on his leg. My aunt and mother took him to the hospital in my new car, so I was like "Don't get any blood on the seats"....talk about Mr. Compassion, huh?
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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I still make bombs using "The Works"

The juice and gatorade bottles work the best.

But we didn't fly rockets as much as we used a potato cannon seeing as we lived in a very heavily wooded area and we had to travel about 10 miles to a field.

One time we shot a copper pipe filled with grease straight through the fiberglass front and out the back of an old microwave.

"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
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Those switches NEVER worked right. Dude, I forgot about the Alphas. Estes had a really neat business going on rockets for quite a few years. Remember those balsa wood fins? Huuuhhhhh...terrible. I remember my favorites were models called the Patriot and also there was one that was silver and black with a skull and cross-bones on it. Also my brother had a funky dark-glittery green one that they called "The Kryptonite".




That's awesome. Yeah, I remember the Patriot. It was somewhat smaller, right? And yeah, balsa wasn't the greatest material to build those things out of considering the stress they are under. But then again, didn't they sell like a big 'value' pack that was just full of assorted pieces that you could mix and match into whatever?


Awesome, Sessler.
40,000 million notches away
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Originally posted by: Windexed
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Those switches NEVER worked right. Dude, I forgot about the Alphas. Estes had a really neat business going on rockets for quite a few years. Remember those balsa wood fins? Huuuhhhhh...terrible. I remember my favorites were models called the Patriot and also there was one that was silver and black with a skull and cross-bones on it. Also my brother had a funky dark-glittery green one that they called "The Kryptonite".




That's awesome. Yeah, I remember the Patriot. It was somewhat smaller, right? And yeah, balsa wasn't the greatest material to build those things out of considering the stress they are under. But then again, didn't they sell like a big 'value' pack that was just full of assorted pieces that you could mix and match into whatever?


Yes! I remember that. I remember they released an R2-D2 model as well, of course it crashed into a tree and broke the first time we launched it...GRRRRRR!!

Nemo me impune lacessit

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You too?

"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
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Originally posted by: TheSessler
You too?




Sadly, yes. Although we had another one that had an onboard camera that took pictures of the ground from a certain altitude. That was cool. Also, we used to send up insects in hollowed out nose cones. Hehe...
Nemo me impune lacessit

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I always wanted that camera rocket. Could never afford it though.

Remember the Apollo rocket? Came with three stages each with its own parachute and, if I recall correctly, there was a little plastic astronaut that would come down by parachute as well. That last part may have been an impromptu modification of my own, though.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
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kapgar.com
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Did any of you guys try out that one that looked like a nasa space shuttle? I thought it looked cool, but it was too expensive, especially considering that most of my rockets ended up as one-way flights.
40,000 million notches away
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Originally posted by: Windexed
Did any of you guys try out that one that looked like a nasa space shuttle? I thought it looked cool, but it was too expensive, especially considering that most of my rockets ended up as one-way flights.


Didn't do that one...did an Original Series Enterprise model, though.

Nemo me impune lacessit

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Originally posted by: ricarleite
Me and some friends used to do chlorine bombs and rockets, this is something everyone can do. All you need is a plastic coke bottle (must be coke or pepsi or some acid cola). Drink all the coke leaving only just a little bit on the bottom (about two "fingers" deep). Now, get some chlorine (don't use tablets, and don't use chlorine dust too thin, it must be kinda rocky), and with a funnel put about 4 or 5 spoons of it. Do it quickly! Now, close the bottle as fast as you can and throw it away: the chlorine will react with the coke and the gases inside will expand and burts the bottle up. If you want to make a rocket, it's a little bit trickier, as you must turn the bottle upside down without letting the coke get out.


i may want to try it
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So if we never hear from Wookie again, assume the worst.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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Originally posted by: sean wookie
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
Me and some friends used to do chlorine bombs and rockets, this is something everyone can do. All you need is a plastic coke bottle (must be coke or pepsi or some acid cola). Drink all the coke leaving only just a little bit on the bottom (about two "fingers" deep). Now, get some chlorine (don't use tablets, and don't use chlorine dust too thin, it must be kinda rocky), and with a funnel put about 4 or 5 spoons of it. Do it quickly! Now, close the bottle as fast as you can and throw it away: the chlorine will react with the coke and the gases inside will expand and burts the bottle up. If you want to make a rocket, it's a little bit trickier, as you must turn the bottle upside down without letting the coke get out.


i may want to try it


You have about 4 or 5 seconds to close the bottle tight and throw it away. But don't worry it's not that strong, the bottle will bust out and make some noise, but it can't actually hurt someone.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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Yes.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering