My apologies in advance for digging up a two year old thread, but stumbled across this thread and just had to register to add my "Tribute to the BigFoot" launch set. For the real sentimentalist (which I borderline myself sometimes) perhaps a sacrilege, else a slightly creative repurposing of a broken launch pad.
I hadn't launched a model rocket in 25 years, but thoroughly enjoyed this very set-up in my youth. Long story why I just had to show my wife one in action recently (and more recently the neighbor kids enjoyed a launch too) - but I dug up the old launch set. 25 years in a closet with my mom stuffing more things on top of it did no favors - a broken leg, and broken rod clamp/part missing. Some creative gluing my have brought it back to life, but thought I'd see whether a whole set was on sale at the hobby shop.
Recalling how stable the old BigFoot was with those 4 D batteries adding ballast, the PortaPad set-up in the complete kits seemed way too light. But they had a great sale on an Estes Spirit and the Booster for it. Yeah, I'm sure there's always a sale on some rocket, in hopes you'll be back to buy engines, but I digress. Anyway, with that D12-0 booster, the big deflector plate on the PortaPad-E had caught my attention - still not as stable, to my grandiose recollection anyway, as the BigFoot, but seemed better than a messy glue attempt, and that big deflector plate did seem nice. Oh, the Spirit comes with 1/8 guide, but a small mod had it in business for the 1/4 rod.
Anyway, still trying to keep it on the cheap, I wasn't going to spring for a $30.00 controller, and, like my recollection of the launch pad (admittedly again memories often grow fonder) the "A" cell ones just looked cheesy. I was now sure my controller was close enough to usable.
Well, it was CLOSE to usable. The wires were beyond even a single use. But I had a roll of 4 conductor 16ga copper trailer light wire....hmmmmm; split 15ft to two 2conductor: 15ft to the "battery box" another 15ft to the controller; plenty of distance...... I had a couple new alligator clamps handy; why not! That 16 wire needed a little drilling to get into the handset, but with drill in hand I made a hole for a key fob too - a chunk of the old wire and a wire clamp became the fob and replacement for the long lost key.
WOWWW! I'm sure it's more the 16ga copper than D vs. A cells, but when I tested an ignitor, the lag time wasn't even discernible. Launches have been just as snappy. I suspect the new ignitors take a bit less voltage than 30 years ago too, but reading comments about the new controllers on the Estes website, there a still longer (from happy reviewers) lag times than the one or two count I recall.
Yeah, I know a portable battery charger, and all sorts of other options, many of which I probably also had on hand, would have been even easier and even more reliable. But the mix of old and new, with a little modifying seemed cool to me.