LPR Special Effect Engines???

At several HPR launches, I have seen special effect engines used. One throws a shower of sparks. One was designed for a large roiling smoke cloud. One had a long fire trail in takeoff.

Are there any for LPR that have effects like that?

Those motors are APCP motors... they have different chems mixed in to get the different effects. APCP motors are available down to D (but the selection is smaller as you go down in size). The Estes and Quest black powder motors always look the same, because they only have 1 composition.

Kruegon said:

At several HPR launches, I have seen special effect engines used. One throws a shower of sparks. One was designed for a large roiling smoke cloud. One had a long fire trail in takeoff.

Are there any for LPR that have effects like that?

Click to expand...

No. While there are F and G impulse Sparky motors, they are classified as high power motors by NAR, TRA, CAR and NFPA safety codes because they make sparks (which can start fires), so being classified as high power motors, the users be high power certified.

Bob

Kruegon said:

At several HPR launches, I have seen special effect engines used. One throws a shower of sparks. One was designed for a large roiling smoke cloud. One had a long fire trail in takeoff.

Are there any for LPR that have effects like that?

Click to expand...

No. Not any more, technically speaking. There used to be something called "FX" motors (as in "special effects" back in the 80's made by Cox IIRC, but they haven't been available for well over a decade or more. Basically all they were was delay grain (lots of smoke, no thrust) in a motor casing, designed to be installed in/under a rocket (in a second motor tube) and ignited by a second ignition system at some point before the actual launch. The FX "motor" would then produce big billowy clouds of smoke as a special effect for several seconds, and then the second launch controller with ignite the regular rocket motor in the rocket itself which would then lift in the usual manner. As far as black powder model rocket motors are concerned, that's all that's ever been available in "special effects" motors.

HPR motors are composite propellant, which is entirely different, and they can be formulated out of different chemicals to give different colors of flame (red, bright white, extremely smoky, blue, green, etc) and/or have special burn properties (Warp 9 and Blue Thunder propellants which burn very fast, down to say "Smoky Sam" propellants which burn very slow with prodigious smoke but little/no visible flame). They can also include titanium sponge (dust, basically) in the propellant grain when its cast, and when the motor burns, the titanium burns and is ejected from the nozzle as a shower of white-hot sparks (sparky motors).

While it's probably POSSIBLE to engineer BP motors with different colors or other such effects, none have ever been produced or offered for sale. Really such motors would be "fireworks" since the effects would solely be for visual purposes and serve no purpose relating to the propulsion efficiency of the motor (and usually detract from it actually). This would further blur the hard-won separation between model rocketry and fireworks, causing more difficulty in getting launch fields. It would also cause a lot of issues related to flying fields and what motors are allowed and what ones wouldn't be.

For instance, I DO NOT allow *ANY* sparky motors to be flown by the clubs flying on our farms. I don't need the additional significant risk of grass fire that they present. Fortunately, since we don't have HPR flights either, it's not much of an issue, but there *are* some sparky motors that are not *technically* HPR motors, but actually MPR. Still, just to make sure "everyone's on the same page", the standing rule is, NO sparky motors allowed whatsoever, regardless of power level, certification, etc. I can imagine the amount of confusion and problems with folks showing up with a fistful of "effects" motors in ALL power ranges, regardless of propellant formulation (either BP(black powder) or AP (ammonium perchlorate composite propellant, or APCP).

There are special requirements necessary to minimize the risk of fire when flying sparky motors, but it really depends on the vigilance of the local club and conditions as to how they're enforced...

Later! OL JR

The only special effects in BP engines is most commonly known as CATO's :shock: :eyepop:

Try a night launch, BP is sparkier than most APCP.

No: Not technically!
As Ol JR mentioned MPC had a now Oop FX smoke engine that generated about 7sec of dense white smoke but they are all but gone now. Occasionally they pop up on E-bay and such. They still Work well for on pad prelaunch smoke if you can find them.

another option many scale models use is a series of Micro-Maxx motors used to produce smoke effect on pad prior to the actual model launch. In design the model must be weighted to not allow the 1/8A.5-1 thrust level motor(s) to move the model before the Main motors start.

Some Scale modelers have used standard 13 and 18mm motors mounted in the base of their launcher base to produce smoke effects before the model is launched. The practice does create another set of concerns but does create a lot of launch site smoke.

No Fire starting sparkies in BP motors Thank Goodness. They are a SUPER BAD Idea for HPR motor everywhere but in the Sandy Desert.
We must think "Safety First" in all our hobby rocketry activities.

Bill S has a point only in that we don't see much of the exhaust fire from either our BP or APCP motors during daylight hours. The difference between the BP sparks and those in "Sparkie" Motors is they Burn themselves out Much faster then the Magnesium and other metals used in sparky motors.
Here are a couple Night launch Photos that may helps your understanding. a single BP motor, A 4-D12 Cluster, G80 APCP & G20 APCP in a monocopter.

I built a launch pad based on a description of a Dr Zooch pad that came from a post by Luke Strawwalker. I modified mine to hold a -0 motor under the rocket so that a lot of smoke would be produced before the rocket was ignited. I used it to launch my Dr. Zooch Saturn V rocket and it turned out pretty well.

Don't forget there once was a black powder motor manufacturer that produced sparky motors, the Rocketflite Silver Streak. Their F50 was a very nice motor, available in both plain and Silver Streak versions.

There was a small manufacturer back around 68-70 that claimed to have different colored delay smoke. I never saw anything from them, so can't confirm if they worked.

I remember reading about the tracking smoke in colors. Blue, white, green, purple & black I think.
But so many years ago....

I was working on plans for a fantasy rocket modeled after a costume I saw a fellow bicycle rider wear for a halloween group ride.

Basically was a center tube approx 4in diameter and three strap on boosters about the diameter of a pop can. I was going to try a main APCP engine in the center tube and small BP's in the boosters. Idea is that when the launch button is pushed the BP engines will instantly start and make smoke couple seconds before the main engine starts and gets up to pressure. The booster engines would be there just for the smoke show and the main engine is doing the work. Can't draw up a good plan in Open rocket so it is set aside for now.