Carry case / Transport organization

I just got back into rocketry a few weeks ago. I still had my original Phoenix missle from when I built it 20 years back. Now I went out and built about 15 rockets over the last couple of weeks. I'm not doing anything fancy, just the typical A-E engine rockets you get at Hobby Lobby.

I am running into an issue transporting rockets safely from the house to the park/field. Right now I just lay them down in the back of the car, but I have a feeling at some point I will have casualties from breakage. Additionally I don't have any kind of organized bag of wadding, engines, ignitors, launch pad, launch rods, controlers, etc. I was surprised that I wasn't able to find anything doing an internet search. I was thinking of using an old Laptop bag for the supplies, but for the rockets I haven't come up with any really cool ideas yet.

Anyone have any suggestions on how they organize their rockets at home, how you organize your supplies and how you transport them without risking something getting broken?

regards,

John

Welcome back!

For supplies, I use various things. I use small clear boxes up to fishing tackle boxes. For example, I have one box for BP motors, one for AP motors, and one for recovery (parachutes and such). Use whatever suits you and if you go to a club launch, you will find all sorts of ideas in play.

Here is one idea for bigger rocket transport:

https://www.quickburst.net/rocket_racks.htm

Greg

Thanks for the quick feedback. I looked at the rocket rack and that's a simple design but not quite what I was envisioning.

I started drawing out my own idea and came up with a pretty cool concept that I might try to build but I'll need a real carpenter to help me. My idea would be a rocket rack much like a gun rack with drawers for organizing engines, etc. I have some ideas for a hard cover as well as docking/undocking it and quick connections for SUV's and trucks to transport. If I get it built I'll post some photos.


Regards,

John

I save the long cardboard boxes from my rocket kit and supplies orders and use them to transport my rockets to launches. I don't do much to protect the rockets; I usually just lay a few into each box, and then use large rubber bands to hold the top flaps closed. I did pick up some bubble wrap from the post office and wrap pieces of it around some of my more delicate nose cones and fin cans. I save flat square boxes for my gliders. But in each box, everything is just laid in loose. I do, though, pay attention to how the fins are arranged so that nothing heavy lays on them. Then I stack the boxes up in the back seat of my sedan. Last summer I drove 10 hours each way to attend NARAM with my rockets packed that way in my car, and none of them suffered a scratch. And the cool thing is that, aside from the sheets of bubble wrap, the cost of my system is... free!

MK

johnt75 said:

Anyone have any suggestions on how they organize their rockets at home, how you organize your supplies and how you transport them without risking something getting broken?

Click to expand...

John,

I use the boxes from my sons' wrapping paper orders to transport the rockets for flying; at the moment they also double as storage, but I need to change that.

As a kid, I used soda cases (6 or 8 32 oz. glass bottles in a cardboard box with dividers) for storage; wine boxes might do some of the same today.

I'm thinking I'll build a rack with 1/8" rods to hold the collection-mount it on the wall and just slide them down to the rack-love to see what you designed.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Jon

As for storage, right now it's the top of my desk. But I have to find an alternative soon, because I'm running out of room. These pictures are over a year old; there are more rockets now.



I do keep my saucers, pyramids, and paper rockets in clear plastic boxes.

I keep some of my micros on a thread rack, but it's hardly enough. This photo is three years old.



MK

I haven't done this yet but I'm thinking that one of those big plastic tubs and some thick foam board might do the trick. For the foam I'm thinking something about 2" thick - kind of like the blue board insulation. Fasten two or three strips of this in the bottom of the tub and lay your rockets across them. Mark where they cross the foam and then cut the foam to hold the rocket. The foam would have to be thick enough that the fins on the rockets wouldn't hit the bottom. Then make another layer with a sheet of cardboard. Attach the foam to the cardboard and repeat the process for the next layer. For some of the bigger tubs you could probably fit a 3 foot long rocket and depending on the span of the fins you could probably get 3 layers of rockets. So the layering would look like:

Lid
Foam
Rockets
Foam
Cardboard
Foam
Rockets
Foam
Cardboard
Foam
Rockets
Foam

All of the foam pieces would be attached to either the cardboard spacers or the tub and each rocket would have a customized location. Just be sure to label the locations so you remember what is supposed to go where.

,,,

johnt75 said:

I just got back into rocketry a few weeks ago. I still had my original Phoenix missle from when I built it 20 years back. Now I went out and built about 15 rockets over the last couple of weeks. I'm not doing anything fancy, just the typical A-E engine rockets you get at Hobby Lobby.

I am running into an issue transporting rockets safely from the house to the park/field. Right now I just lay them down in the back of the car, but I have a feeling at some point I will have casualties from breakage. Additionally I don't have any kind of organized bag of wadding, engines, ignitors, launch pad, launch rods, controlers, etc. I was surprised that I wasn't able to find anything doing an internet search. I was thinking of using an old Laptop bag for the supplies, but for the rockets I haven't come up with any really cool ideas yet.

Anyone have any suggestions on how they organize their rockets at home, how you organize your supplies and how you transport them without risking something getting broken?

regards,

John

Click to expand...

It really depends on your vehicle, models and what or how many you plan on flying for the given day.

Most with just passagener car transportation; develop some sort of boxed backseat or trunk arrangement to carry models for the day along with a Toolbox type "range box" and whatever shelter/seating you fell a need for.

Others with Vans or Pickups. have it a little easier. I developed a nesting set of 1x3 x 48" carry/transport/display stands that work well for most 13 to 24mm molds up to about 60some models.

Or you can fabricate Foamcore carry, transport and storage boxes in any size,shape and complexity you want using a hobby knife, foamcore, staightedge, and yellow carpenters glue. Clear lexan top/windows are optional