wsmalley

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Looking for some ideas to build an 'exploding' bomb for my Stuka. I was thinking of using a section of metal can for the main body- I have to have bolts, or studs, fixed mid section for the 'trapeze' swivel point. Usually you hear of the Talcum powder technique, any other ideas? I guess one needs to build a supply of nose cones that essentially crush on impact. The small commercial bombs I've seen leave me kind of unimpressed.

driedjello

I hope they don't shut this thread down because I wan't to learn more. I was planning on making a hard steel one with a nose pin that struck a .22 blank to blast talcum powder out the back. There would be a safety pin on the striker pin that would pull away as the bomb releases.
Is there anywhere I can just simply buy a 1/7 scale dummy 500 or even 250LB bomb at? I heard of a company call vortec or something but could never find any retailer that sold them.
Please people, post everthing you know on this subject. I am your loyal student whose mind is thursty as a sponge!

wsmalley

My Feedback: (6)

Check Ziroli and some of the others, like the jet manufacturers/sellers like BVM, I know the pre-made ones are out there. Saw some recently, on the web,just don't remember where.

bhole74

I tinkered with the idea with empty shot shells in a bomb shaped case, had a firing pin which would ram the primer. Worked fine droping it on concrete, but not grass or dirt.[&o]

TAZ

Driedjello the company that you were looking for is it called "vortec" or "vortex vacform" the address is here for vortex http://www.vortex-vacforms.co.uk/

wsmalley

My Feedback: (6)

Hmmm. How about a black powder percussion cap? Mounted on a small protruding piece of tube? Might be the same problem as the shotgun shell, but cheaper. Might be enough to create a 'puff' of talc.

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

All sounds great for a neat realistic effect, but the AMA safety code (item #8) specifically prohibits any kind of pyrotechnics that can be launched or dropped. Anything that creates smoke and is securely fastened to the airplane, or up to a "G" rocket motor, is allowed.
Kind of a shame, I think it would be cool to simulate a rocket launcher, or machine gun tracers, or bomb explosions, but at some point you have to draw a line between "simulated" and "for real", and the safe line is not to do it at all, I guess.

Taildragger

My Feedback: (204)

I used the Shotgun cap with a nail firing pin and a small sample shampoo bottle for the body. Once cunstructed I filled the bottle with black powder( I used too much though.) It blew a hole in my gravel driveway. Also brought all the neighbors out.

da Rock

I've got a friend that's blind in one eye. Want to guess what he did that blinded him?

Percussion caps and rifle, pistol, or shotgun caps are all too "hard" to use in this application. To get them to blow, you're going to have to hit them with something that's got mass and move that with some force. I do gunsmith work and reloading. A lot of the problems I see are guns with hammers that're not hitting with enough force. You have to have mass striking the primer and mass that forces the primer to stand and be crushed. Mass and mass.

A nail worked for one of you. Where did it go after the explosion?

Wrapping your charge in enough mass that your firing pin meets some resistance is going to put some mass around your charge. Where do you think that mass is going to go when the charge explodes.

Your explosive charge is going to be an unknown to you. If you want to use as little as possible, you're going to have to constrain it. If you constrain it loosely it won't blow at all. If you constrain it "some" it might blow gently and you decide you need more charge. If you constrain it strongly, it might blow strongly. You are not going to develop the right amounts and constraints just by reading a cook book. And you're going to wind up with mass constraining a quantity of explosive. And you're not going to have a clue if it's highly dangerous or just somewhat dangerous. And you're certainly not even considering what might happen if everything didn't go perfectly by plan. What if your bomb happens to fall off the airplane before you planned to drop it? Do you want people stomping around in the fields looking for it? What if it doesn't release at all?

This topic really needs to be deleted.

wsmalley

My Feedback: (6)

I had a friend who lost an eye from a piece of piano wire while working on a model, he still continued to build them. He owned a hobby shop and wouldn't sell you a piece of wire until he taped the ends. I, too, do gunsmithing, guns have been known to blow up. I have cuts from spinning props. I've burned my fingers touching the wrong end of turbines. I was in a car wreck once or twice, I still drive. No one is suggesting high explosives, I don't believe.

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

and other than the AMA does not allow any explosive devises to be dropped from
an aircraft, gee, I dont see anything at all that could go wrong here

cliff600

My Feedback: (3)

Why does it have to explode? I like the idea of a blasting cap for sound, but why could you not use power in something that will pop open when it hits the ground so it looks like it exploded? That way it should conform to all the rules and make everyone happy.

CaptainHook

My Feedback: (80)

Ditto Todd![sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

wsmalley

My Feedback: (6)

Jeez, guys, lets forget any thing that explodes made from gunpowder or other pyrotechnic. How about air pressure, a balloon inside or something that can spray talc a couple of feet. The sensitivity we've developed for the AMA is gratifying. BTW, Merry Christmas, everyone!

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

really, I dont give a rat's ass whether you, or anyone else makes it happen.

I also am not "sensitive" to the AMA, but, they have rules for this. all it will
take is someone to get hurt, and than more problems arise. pretty simple.

its all about common sense

wsmalley

My Feedback: (6)

Gosh almighty, gee whiz, I'm sorry as all ........................ I ever mentioned this. As for this topic, out here!

stuk_at_work

My Feedback: (111)

Whether the AMA sanctions the use of incendiary devices or not is not the issue here. Their use may however, be subject to legal action by the community where you fly. For example, Colts Neck, NJ, where I fly, prohibits the "discharge of firearms" within the city limits. Anything that "looks like" fireworks is illegal for unlicensed individuals (you and me) to set off in the state of NJ. Guess where some of the suggestions above fall in?

Having a "bomb" drop and release talcum powder or similar agent on impact is certainly okay, but some of the suggestions above may get some folks in hot water if they tried this in their town or worse had to face the consequences if something recommended here "went wrong".

What you do or say privately is your own business, but what you post in a forum such as this falls under the RCU public domain. As one of the moderators of this forum, I am asking all to keep their suggestions posted in this forum in the "safe" category, so that something you recommend doesn't unknowingly cause harm to someone who "tries" your suggestion. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Stuka Jon N

My Feedback: (33)

You better find out what your insurance liability will cover if your AMA will not cover any accident outside of their rules. I,m sure any lawyer would be able to find a problem with a small projectile or fireworks type explosion. What about your own club members who will claim you caused then to crash when you scared them with your bomb. I,m only being ficitious. Stuka Jon

cliff600

My Feedback: (3)

Is my idea safe?? I just want a big boom mainly and maybe some powder if the canister will break open. Nothing would be exploding

da Rock

Safe?

As long as you leave out the percussion caps, black powder, smokeless powder, etc etc, it will be as safe as the bombs that're dropped all the time from RC planes. Matter of fact, I think AMA even gives points in scale competiton for "scale operations" that I think still include bomb drops.

Back to the safe side of this topic.........

I once took some "blown" eggs and opened the larger blow hole and filled 'em with powdered chalk. Glued on a note card fin and they looked like some of the concussion bombs that were dropped in WWII. Gave them to the RC power guys that were going to do a bomb drop event in their coming fun fly. Turns out they needed a bit of mass to get them to hit hard enough, but they worked good. I used marking chalk I got from a home improvement store. Nowadays it comes in colors. What'da'ya think a big cloud of red would do for 'ya.

da Rock

As for the "big boom", you're simply not going to get that legally. It's not just the AMA that doesn't want you carrying aloft things that go BOOM. Since 9/11, I'm fairly certain that the Fed has put some laws on the books that very specifically target people who try to make anything that could make a loud boom. And their laws don't cut "toy BOOMS" any slack. And I think they've not only put blanket law on the books covering bomb making that'd cover darn near anything you think would be safe, but I think they've also specifically included detail about "remotely piloted" craft carrying almost anything and everything.

ZoomZoom-RCU

[8D]Been there done that. Your not going to get anything remotely satisfying as "bomb simulation" unless you use some sort of propellant. I have a simple and very effective impact detonation system I've used many times, and as long as you are safe and logically concientious with its use, it will work safely and effectively. I will tell you though, that you CAN blow your face off with it if you do not use the normal requisite safety steps, and it will in no way be my fault, only yours for messing with it in the first place. That being said, I have succesfully dropped numerous impact detonated charges from my plane. Its a lot of fun. I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. The AMA means little to me save as a suppository, (yes I chose this word correctly in place of repository) for a bunch of rules with which people with too much time on their hands can brow beat others. Frankly, I'm not interested. This is a fun sport, not a court room. Just use your brain when handling these things so you don't end up in one!!! Are the original posters of this request still interested in this design? Or have you been deterred by all the flak?? If you would like me to give you the details, I'm sure there is a confidential way to do it, so some 12 year old with no parental supervision whos following this will not use it to kill himself. Let me know, and we can PM (can we do that here?) or email each other. By the way this design can be constructed out of common items, and will detonate anything from a flour bomb, to a full on metallic casing. Your choice.

Regards ZZ.

dionysusbacchus

My Feedback: (25)

I'm not going to get in the live bomb debate, seems a little risky to me. Read where a guy loaded his B-25 with "live" bombs, when he released them over the runway they exploded with far greater ferocity than he expected and it startled him so much his B-25 continued on it's slight nose down path right into the ground! lol

Anyway, I make *simulated* bombs. As far as having them pop apart on impact, haven't worked that one out, never thought about it really. The best material to load one with is barbecue pit ashes, it really makes a cloud. I'd like to try it with one of my 1/7 scale 1,000 lb bombs because they can hold a lot of it for a nice cloud.

Dion

ZoomZoom-RCU

[8D]Sounds cool dionysusbacchus. Ever tried eggs. They work too.

ZZ.

wsmalley

My Feedback: (6)

Guess only the Southern boys like to hear thing that go 'Bang'! Sound of gun shots in the Fall are kind of reassuring to me, I know my neighbors are armed! Used to live in the Free State of Winston for you 'Bama boys, and Blackstone for the Virginians. Up here in the Hills of Tennessee, smoke and loud noises are just part of the landscape. Kinda feel sorry for the rest of........... Ashes, huh, that sounds like a winner! That's how I wanna be buried.