Model Rocketry Discussion Thread

[B787_300]

it seems like someone made a replacement fuel (RP180 it seems) that is not so enviromentally terrible yet....

In other news i started epoxying my rocket

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Ooh boy, this makes me want to go dig those out of my garage and fire 'em off.

[LordFerret]

Was a NAR member for many years. Had most of my fun with 'D' engines, multi-stages, clusters, etc. Where I live, didn't permit much larger... had to hold a class-C license and carry 1 million in liability insurance (through NAR, at the time) just for C & D operation. These days, I don't think my state permits it anymore at all. Nicest most meticulous builds I ever did were an almost full Nike arsenal (Ajax, Hercules, Zeus, Pershing, and Sergeant)... all were D-class, multiple flights, recovered. Had lots of fun with the early Camroc... I still have the rocket (camera nosecone), but I don't know if the 110 film is still available. Somewhere I've got a boat-load of pictures, Camroc, launches... if I ever find them again, I'll scan and post.

http://www.poweredmodelairplanes.com/fmr/camroc.html

[Charzy]

Heh, a while ago I had a little homemade thing with a card fuselage and a nosecone made from the lid of a pen, some blu-tack and superglue. It used little 1/4A motors, and for recovery the motor's own ejection charge would send it flying out of the back of the fuselage (instead of pushing a parachute out).

I made the mistake of launching the thing in a field with tall grass and many cow pats. It was quite sad watching the entire thing work perfectly only to disappear.

[Bunsen]

It was quite sad watching the entire thing work perfectly only to disappear.

Wait, was that not the point of model rocketry? I... I may have been doing it wrong.

[ZodiaK]

hopefully I can show you some pictures of my launch soon.

for those interested, it's an Estes hunter.

[Charzy]

Wait, was that not the point of model rocketry? I... I may have been doing it wrong.

I think the idea's to find it again

[ZodiaK]

Long-Promised, Here are my chronicles of my escapades into the world of model rocketry. this was a few summers ago, say 2013, so I look a bit older now.

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[lajoswinkler]

Wow, that's one tiny, but excellent performing rocket. Good job!

[Ikaneko]

Man, that's a cool rocket!

Also, I didn't realise how young you are. I mean, SERIOUSLY.

Back on track, that looks like a pretty high powered rocket. What was the apogee?

[ZodiaK]

We estimated 500ft, perhaps 600

regarding the youngness, I would've been 12 then, and I'm 14 now, for the record

[lajoswinkler]

I've used this simulator. I highly recommend it.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/rocket/rktsim.html

[ZodiaK]

Here's my second rocket, the Atom II. This was in late 2013, so I was 13 by then. It's an Estes hunter 45.

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[Yukon0009]

damn I am so jelous of you guys for being able to launch model rockets....here where I live, if I luanched one, i would probably get arrested r the rocket would smash into an airplane...

[lajoswinkler]

damn I am so jelous of you guys for being able to launch model rockets....here where I live, if I luanched one, i would probably get arrested r the rocket would smash into an airplane...

Where do you live? Unless it's Los Angeles or similar gargantuan anticity, there are open spaces outside towns/cities you can use.

[One-Way Films]

Where can you order these things?! I need to launch one of these! So far in my model rocketry career, I've used water bottle rockets to fulfill my need for some sort of real-life KSP recreation. They're decent, but they ascend to about 2ft when I use them... how someone made a water bottle rocket rise to 4Km amazes me...

[B787_300]

One-Way-Gaming. If you have the right sized tubes you can make rockets out of them... or you could just buy kits from Estes

[TythosEternal]

Where can you order these things?! I need to launch one of these! So far in my model rocketry career, I've used water bottle rockets to fulfill my need for some sort of real-life KSP recreation. They're decent, but they ascend to about 2ft when I use them... how someone made a water bottle rocket rise to 4Km amazes me...

There are a number of kit manufacturers, on addition to Estes, that you'll want to consider when looking at rockets bigger than your average foot-long A/B/C kit. One of my favorites is Public Missiles Limited; they have a large variety of sizes and supported rocket classes, and many types of rockets (from scales replicates, to high-performance, to the plain weird/cool).

https://www.publicmissiles.com

[B787_300]

Tythos I certified lvl 1 on the Callisto... Great rocket

[TythosEternal]

Where do you live? Unless it's Los Angeles or similar gargantuan anticity, there are open spaces outside towns/cities you can use.

Even the Los Angeles area is home to one of the largest and most successful high-power rocket clubs in the nation. You have A LOT of engineers who love blasting stuff Kerbal-style out in the desert north of San Bernardino, including a number from JPL and other organizations in the local aerospace industry. The bay area and San Diego also have their own successful clubs, but only one of these was recently featured on NPR (heh heh heh...):

http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2014/12/13/rocstock-california-rocketry-organization-mojave-desert

The big event of the year (well, twice a year) is ROCstock (the host organization being the Rocketry Organization of California, or ROC). Three full days of non-stop rocket launches off of several dozen launch pads, of every size imaginable, from A-class Estes (sometimes launched in large groups for drag races) to multi-stage M-class behemoths pushing tens of thousands of feet (every few launches, someone has to call the local FAA office to get a waiver for a high-altitude launch).

I'd be a cruel teaser if I didn't give you some links after that little expose. Here's the ROCstock website:

http://rocstock.org

And, of course, if you search for "ROCstock" on YouTube, you'll be sucked into a multi-hour black hole of high-power awesomesauce.

[B787_300]

TythosEternal are you a member of NAR or Tripoli and are you HPR Certified?

[TythosEternal]

TythosEternal are you a member of NAR or Tripoli and are you HPR Certified?

NAR-L1. I've been meaning to get L2 for years, but life's been getting in the way. I'm going to get my daughter (who is a crazy-huge Kerbal fanatic) into it this year (probably for this summer's ROCstock), though, so hopefully that should give me the excuse and imputus I need. =p

[B787_300]

hehe i am working on my Level two right now... it is a Binder Design 4in Excel DD

[ZodiaK]

I have no Idea about what any of the words on this page mean

[B787_300]

Zodak... NAR is the National Association of Rocketry, Tripoli is another Rocket Association, they are the regulatory bodies (in the US)

As it stand in the US the general public can buy motors up to G class motors, to launch H or higher you have to be certified (ie you have to prove that your rockets wont be a danger and stay intact) Level one Cert allows you to launch up to I, then you have to get Level two, which involves bigger motors and a written test covering rules and regulations, that qualifies you to launch up to L motors, then you go for Level 3 which technically allows you to launch any size motor you can afford...

I dont know the rules in britain but http://www.ukra.org.uk/ is your organization