swathdiver

Hello fellow rocketeers! My kids have 11 rockets up and ready to launch with 3 more under construction. I was frustrated with the Estes launcher, the little ones were having trouble pushing the key in to launch so I decided to build our own after getting some ideas from the internet.

Since we started building and shooting rockets in 2004, 4 have been lost and 3 others were salvaged and rebuilt after crashing. The oldest first flew in 1982 when I was a kid and a couple have yet to fly because the nearby field is too small. Well, now we've discovered A and B sized engines after shooting nothing but C6-5s and 7s! Still weary about shooting the Guardian as it's equipped for D and E flights! [:-]

The Snap Shot after nearly a dozen flights was recently rebuilt with a new tube and nose cone from the Estes Customizer 64 Launch Set #1500.

The Bullpup landed in a canal and its engine mount went soft. It served as a display model for several years until it was rebuilt with a new tube, engine mount and custom fins and decals a few months ago. I chose not to reuse the tailcone transition and instead hollowed out a balsa one I purchased from Semroc. It's 1/4" shorter then original.

The Estes Mongoose made its first flight with a single stage and suffered a zipper. The tube was cut down and it flew again. This time the tube crumpled just above the engine mount and it was shortened again! On its third single stage flight it crashed into the ground before the ejection charge fired wrecking the tube and damaging the nose cone. Since Halloween was approaching my 4yr old daughter thought it was the perfect time to rebuild her rocket into something spooky! Hasn't flown yet as I still have to clear coat it and the Bullpup.

Painting the Echostar in digital was tortuous but much better then my last attempt when I tried to do it to a 1/16 scale RC Tiger tank for my buddy in the Marine Corps.

Ohh, and let's not forget our Communist rocket! No, not the green and silver one, the white and red one with that 3rd generation Red Diaper Baby's face on the nose cone! [:@] I made it for a Marxist relative who was so distraught on hearing about it that she cried. Not wanting her to take her own life, we decided against presenting it to her as reward for Tyranny over Liberty!

ehroof

Nice collection, I have to get some pictures up of mine, i have to unbox them.

vicman

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Nice job on the Bul Pup nose art. Reminds me of this Fat Boy, never mind the engine on the back
I modded a BP to take a D and flew it several times till it finally went into orbit...thats what I tell my kids when we can't find them.

Your launcher looks good too. I had to make one that had enough juice to light off clusters and based it on the quest pistol grip. The only problem is keeping the pin out after launch when I went to connect another rocket. The launch button was a little itchy.

Try a car, they are fun too.[8D]

swathdiver

Thanks! The Bullpup was fun to rebuild and paint. Your orange rocket looks great!


I wonder if the 3600mah 6 cell packs have enough juice to light off a cluster? I would think so but don't know how much juice the igniters require to fire.

Your Scrambler looks cool, that would be fun to "fly" and doesn't require fair weather, just an empty street which isn't a problem where we live.

vicman

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I used an older 12v field starter battery that wasn't doing the job on the flight line anymore for the clusters.

Pm me with an email addy and I'll forward a vid of the car. It was tons of fun. Pretty cool for a design from a 5 year old eh.[8D]

vicman

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SD, My daughter asked to build a car for her this week. Here is progress so far. I need to run out an pick up some pink paint to finish it out. I've got a good feeling about this one.
It was cool to build, she used the engine lathe for the first time while making the axles.

swathdiver

That's awesome!

I was thinking of adding a second tube on top about 1/3 as long with a detachable nose cone on the back to deploy a chute. Not really functional but would look cool!



Merry Christmas!

vicman

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Well, it's Krylon watermelon now. A chute would be ok but they slow down pretty quick after burn. The bigger problem is getting the ejection charge not to zip the tube when it lets go. That was the problem with car #1. Car #2 just wouldn't go straight for some reason but had some cool vents cut in the side. I may put a vent hole in the bottom of this one.

vicman

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I think it's ready to go now.
Hopefully she likes it.

swathdiver

That looks really nice! Why not use booster motors instead?

vicman

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Thanks.
The main reason for using regular motors is availability. I've got about a hundred laying about in the shop. The extra smoke is cool too.

At the end of car #1 I started to remove the eject charge with a screwdriver to help cut down on damage.

Tareeva

These are very beautiful Rocket Toys as well as Plane ....legit work from home business