Estes model rockets... anyone still fly these things?

going though some stuff a while back I came across my old Estes model rocket launch kit... only had 1 rocket in it (broken) as all the other rockets inevitably got lost in flight lol...

we're heading up to spend Memorial Day weekend with my dad and I thought it was fitting that we shoot some rockets off with my kids with the same guy who helped me build and launch my first :)... (I recall one time the SP's coming on out because we where on base... dad being the Chief of weapons safety saw nothing wrong... but someone thought we where shooting off bottle rockets on base... and we weren't to far from the flightline... SP stayed to watch us do another launch ;-)... (this was obviously pre 9/11 lol)... heck now that I think about it I think every time i've launched it's been on a military instillation of some sort...

ANYWAY.... so I fixed the old rocket I had left (I built it as a quickie with hot glue for the wings back when I was 13 or 14)... I let my kids each choose some smaller rockets from the local hobby store (pretty short range = less likeliness of getting lost first time out haha) coops was one of those new fangled ones with plastic fins and motor housing that you just glue the assembly onto the tube and a little glue on for the bungee that attaches to the nose cone and parachute... add stickers and you are done

daughter picked up a super small one... reminds me of the Mosquito... super small and tumble recovery (blows the motor out and falls down lol)

also found the last one i'd been given when I was 16 or so and never built... a 15th Anniversary model STAR WARS TIE fighter... never built it as I had moved on to bigger and better toys by that age (cycling mostly lol)

so should be a fun weekend :)...

on a minor side rant... i'm amazed at how much these things cost these days... :-/... but still should be fun :)

I remember launching one with my neighbor. We watched it race toward the heavens--and we all watched it drift into the middle of our neighborhood. We never saw it again.

I do, I do, I do! Me and my brother's 'bought each other' kits for xmas a few years ago. They got 'star wars' kits. I bought the 'payloader.' I think we both know how that plays out :)

lol I never got beyond the single stage rockets... always wanted to play with the multistage kits but knew i'd loose them for sure :)...

I still think my fav was the one I built from a toilet paper roll, the less pointed side of a plastic Easter egg, found another smaller tube that I wrapped with news paper to get centered into the TP tube, a straw for the launch rod, cardboard for the stabilizer wings, it was very versitle... I could use motors from C on down to A... I'd wrap the motor with tape to get a nice friction fit into the smaller inner tube... A rockets only got it about 30 ft up or so (that thing was HEAVY)... we found the best thing to do was go to the top of a fairly steep hill in the area and launch it at about a 45* with the biggest motor I had... typically found it 1/2 stuck in the ground... with the fins up... sure would have hurt if you got hit with it lol... but was a good example of what weight does for the rocket lol

David S. Wallens wrote: I remember launching one with my neighbor. We watched it race toward the heavens--and we all watched it drift into the middle of our neighborhood. We never saw it again.

I have literally gone swimming in alligator-infested water to retrieve a rocket...pansy. ;)

David S. Wallens wrote: I remember launching one with my neighbor. We watched it race toward the heavens--and we all watched it drift into the middle of our neighborhood. We never saw it again.

We never saw ours come down.....Of course, we shoved an oversize motor into it so it could go higher. The logical conclusion is, naturally, that it reached orbit.

oh hell yea back in the late sixties, went by the book at first then figgered out to put the largest engine in the smallest rocket.. never to be seen again. I still have a kit on the shelf that needs finishing, good winter project. Estes had design competitions back then too, lotta fun

Who amongst us could take a good sniff of the burnt sulfur smell emanating from a freshly flown model rocket and not go back for seconds, thirds…

y'all will like this

http://www.tripoli.org/

I did a bunch of them. I think the coolest was a scissor-wing arrangement similar to this, but blunter in shape...

Some friends of mine and I have done a couple of "rocket days" in recent history, but not for a couple of years.

One friend picked up a rocket which was supposed to by hydrogen-powered (achieved via electrolysis). This was the rocket which gave birth to the phrase "stupid elusive fruition" which has since become a regular part of the group lexicon...

Get psyched by watching October Sky beforehand for some inspiration.

Also, even though the rockets are more expensive now, all you need is a cheap GPS tracker and you will lose far less of them if any at all...

RX Reven' wrote: Who amongst us could take a good sniff of the burnt sulfur smell emanating from a freshly flown model rocket and not go back for seconds, thirds…

Dear god it's delicious. Smells kinda like bacon-wrapped chicken livers.

Good memories- we did rockets too- couldn't get that darned electric ignitor to ever work, but dynamite fuse was easy to get- so we used that.

I also did a TON of string controlled flying, with 0.049 motors. That was really cool. Set up my own test stand to just run the engines when I felt like it.

I did a few, the most fun was rigging up one a plane. One of those styrofoam gliders with the ~5 foot wingspan that they used to sell at mall kiosks. I went through a few of them before I got it right.

I had to run string from the wingtips to the nose to keep the wings from popping out and I also had to wrap the fuselage in foil to keep the motors from burning it in half.

Then I made a ramp up the patio hadrail with some 2x4's and would launch it out across the field. My very own JATO launched glider

I loved those things. Closest I ever got to being an Astronaut. :) I did get past the single stage and into multistage, and I never did lose one. It was fun.

Hocrest wrote: I did a few, the most fun was rigging up one a plane. One of those styrofoam gliders with the ~5 foot wingspan that they used to sell at mall kiosks. I went through a few of them before I got it right. I had to run string from the wingtips to the nose to keep the wings from popping out and I also had to wrap the fuselage in foil to keep the motors from burning it in half. Then I made a ramp up the patio hadrail with some 2x4's and would launch it out across the field. My very own JATO launched glider

We did the exact same thing!!!! Foil and all!

Joey

poopshovel wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: I remember launching one with my neighbor. We watched it race toward the heavens--and we all watched it drift into the middle of our neighborhood. We never saw it again.

I have literally gone swimming in alligator-infested water to retrieve a rocket...pansy. ;)

We sent our a search crew--okay, it was us on our bikes--but they came back empty-handed.

Yes! The kids and I have built and launched several. Most of them fly once, maybe twice, and then head out of the area on a steady wind that seemed non-existent from the ground. I have abandoned parachutes for this reason and embraced the technology of streamer recovery. Some of the landings are a bit hard, but I'd rather have something I can fix than nothing at all!

Neighborkid bought one at a yard sale last year that we played with. I lost a few of my own, built a few too.

Toilet paper tubes or paper towel worked good. used a Christmas paper tube once

I launched a few back in jr. high. Lots of fun. Never had the money for good paint jobs though. It's hard to find a cardboard brown rocket in field of tall grass. Never did launch my 3 stage monster.

I always wanted to do the JATO rocket thing... and I remember building a drag car to be powered by a rocket engine.. but parents nixed both ideas

yes - i saw them at a store last week. i thought the engines and rockets were expensive though..........and the hobby shop also had AMT model cars 1/25 scale, nothing fancy for $25.00 too.

My son and I love them. We built one as small as we could and still get it stable with a D Engine. It really does go darn high! I didn't even realize they have E Engines now! We would have done that if we'd known.

I don't think I ever lost one. I did get busted by the Mounties for launching one on National Capital Commission property - we fired it at night right as he came around a corner. Got his attention

My grandfather and I used to shoot them off at his cottage over the lake. We built rockets out of waterproof materials and used the non-Estes motors (forget the name) because they wouldn't swell up when they got wet.

Love that smell.

ya I bought the sub 10$ ones for a reason lol... seems there are way to many pre-built "ready to fly" types... not near the kits there used to be :(