Rocketry

Yesterday was a good day out with the kids. All four kids launched rockets multiple times. Miranda and her friends were launching their Whatchamacallits plus Miranda also launched her Giggle Powered once. Matthew launched his “Steam Fly” Thing-a-ma-Jig a few times but didn’t choose to launch Amazon this time around.

It was very hot so we didn’t stay there all afternoon, but we all enjoyed the day very much.

Trying to watch all of the rockets at once I didn’t have much time for shooting photographs or videos, but I did get this video of Matthew’s Steam Fly launching on a C6-5.

And here it is again in 1/8 speed slow motion (I love this new video camera)…

[The larger rocket is the Thing-a-ma-Jig. The three small rockets are Whatchamacallits.]

The Thing-a-ma-Jig is a nice, moderately sized, skill level 1 rocket from FlisKits. With my help my three (now four) year old son was able to build it. I really like the fin design. They lock together in such a way that aligning them on the rocket is very simple and does not require any sort of jig. We just used a little tape to hold them together while the glue was drying.

To make the kit a little easier for my son I replaced the parachute with a party streamer.

This rocket has a 24mm (BT-50) body tube and an 18mm (BT-20) motor mount. It flies on standard 18mm engines such as the B6-4 and C6-5. As I mentioned above, it includes a parachute as the recovery device.

Matthew launched this rocket at the CMASS launch in Amesbury. It flew very well on the B6-4 and C6-5 and it was recovered safely with no damage every time.

I think this is a very nice, well designed, clever kit and great for the beginner. If you are going to give it to a young child I suggest you assemble the pieces once or twice by yourself first to make sure you understand how they go together and to make sure they fit. On the similar Whatchamacallit kits I’ve found several centering rings that did not fit properly. I got them to fit by removing a layer on the inside and/or the outside, but it is better to have everything just right before your child attempts to assemble it themselves.

This is a video of the Thing-a-ma-Jig flying on an Estes C6-5.

And here it is again in slow motion (I love this new video camera)…

I’ll provide an update on the dual deployment system after one more test, probably tomorrow, but it looks like it works now!

After working on that today I decided to try out the parachute. I have never been successful with a parachute before so I wanted to make sure that I was folding it in a manner that would work. One time when I was a kid I tried a parachute without enough wadding and it melted. Since then I’ve focused on other types of recovery systems. Now I’m building a huge rocket that is going to rely on not one but two parachutes!

This first video is a super slow motion capture, about 1/16th normal speed (3.75fps versus 60fps), of the parachute unfolding. I folded it exactly the way I’m planning too in the rocket and threw it off my deck with a five pound weight attached to it. You can see that it finishes opening right as the weight hits the ground. It’s only fully open for one frame, but it clearly worked.

Having seen that the folding technique works, I wanted to see what this parachute would look like flying through the air fully open. This time I left it unfolded when I threw it. It looked very good floating quickly to the ground.

Here it is at full speed in case you want to see it. Just don’t blink…

On May 22nd my two kids (3 and 8 years old) launched their first rockets.

Matthew built an Estes Amazon and Miranda built an Estes Crossfire ISX.  I let them each pick out one spray paint color at the local hardware store.  Matthew picked a horrible florescent green, but once that was sprayed onto the black rocket, it turned into a decent green.  Miranda picked a super glossy dark blue.

I originally planned to let them draw on the rockets with markers, but the marker didn’t stick to the glossy blue.  Even a Sharpie marker couldn’t touch it.  So we tried model paint.  That didn’t work out well either.  The glossy blue was just too slippery.  In the end I bought a bunch of stickers.  The kids had a blast covering their rockets with stickers.  Miranda just used a ton of smiley faces and named her rocket “Giggle Powered”.  Matthew used various stickers plus the original Amazon sticker that came with the kit.  He stuck with the name “Amazon”.

[Clicking the image will display a slideshow of photos from the day.]

Matthew’s Amazon flew six times on Estes C6-5s without incident.  Each flight was perfect with a nice slow lift-off and safe recovery.  On one flight it landed in some tall grass and took a few minutes to find, but we found it easily.

Miranda’s Giggle Powered on the other hand had a much more adventurous day.  The shock cord broke on the first flight.  The body landed without any recovery system attached, but it bounced on the grass and survived without damage.  I tied the shock cord together and it broke again on the second launch and the third.  Before the next one I added a long section to the shock cord. That did the trick.  This time it landed safely under the streamer.

The fifth launch went without incident as well.  On the sixth launch it hit a wind gust and flew off course.  It went well into the trees and I thought it was gone forever.  I spent a while beating my way through the overgrowth and finally saw it hanging high in a tree.  However, the guys running the launch had a 30 foot pole with a hook at the top.  Using that I was able to bring the rocket back.  Despite all the broken shock cords and a crash into the trees Giggle Powered survived the day.

Despite launching on Estes B4-4s instead of the C6-5s Giggle Powered was still very fast and flew very high. Following it with the camera was next to impossible.

Each kid now has their rocket hanging on their bedroom wall.  They both enjoyed building and flying them.  It was a great experience for all of us.