4th of July Rocket - Why I love rocketry with my kids (scratch build)

This morning my younger daughter decided she wanted to design some rockets. One looks like a puppy, one looks like an elephant, and the third has a 4th of July theme.



After her mother and sister left for morning activities, I asked her if she would like to build one of the rockets she designed. She agreed, and picked her 4th of July rocket.

We went downstairs to the rocket cave, and we looked at different body tubes. We tried a BT-70 with an Apogee nose cone, but that was too long and too pointy. BT-50 and 55 were a little too small. So I opened a different box, and BT-60 was just right (I think these are Starlight tubes). She selected a short ellipsoid nose cone. We concluded that one tube wasn't quite long enough (she wanted it to be waist high), so I grabbed a second tube. Found an ejection baffle that would double as a coupler, dug out the motor mount bits, and we went back upstairs to begin.

First, we built the motor mount.



Then we went to my laptop to draw the rocket in Open Rocket. I put the design together, then turned it over to her to design the fins. A few tweaks later, and everything was all set.

View attachment Fourth of July Rocket.pdf
View attachment Fourth of July Rocket.ork
View attachment Fourth of July Rocket.rkt

We printed out the fin template and the placement guide, and got to work.

I cut out the fins (utility knives are contraindicated when you are 6), and we sanded the edges.



Then she cut out the fin marking guide, we taped it around the body tube, and she marked where the fins go. We used a piece of angle aluminum, and she marked the lines for the fins. We ran a bit of glue down the back of the fins, and set them aside to dry.

Next we assembled the ejection baffle. Did you know that you can use the pieces that you punched out to play Tic Tac Toe

Once we concluded our game of Tic Tac Toe, we returned to the rocket. We added more glue to the fins, and she put them on the body tube. We then set that to dry a bit in the corner of the living room where rockets grow.



I took the second BT out to the garage, and made short work of it with the chop saw. She ran a bead of glue around the inside, and we slid the baffle in. Tied the two shock cords together, and tied the nose cone in place.



We put some more glue in the sustainer, then glued the upper and lower sections together. Put some glue in the bottom, sanded the centering rings which were just a hair too big, and glued the MMT in place.

And there you have it. From conception through completion was under three hours! This is why I love rocketry with my kids. They can be creative, and we can turn their creativity into something that flies within a matter of hours.

Tonight we'll fill the fins and tube spirals. Tomorrow it will get a base coat of white. We're going to use some red reflective tape for the stripes. The NC and fins will get masked and painted later, and we've already found white star stickers that we can add.

This is just so great!

BTW, sims to about 150 feet on a B6-2 or B4-2, about 500 feet on a C6-3 or 5, and about 1000 feet on a D24-7. Optimum delay times for the B motors is 3 seconds, for the C motors looks like about 4, and maybe 5 or 6 on the D. Will probably weigh it after completion, then add a bit of weight to the NC to try to get ejection right at apogee.

Love it! I have a ten year old daughter and a four year old son, so we're having some fun with rockets too. Using a chopsaw for body tubes! Who knew? Well, at least I didn't. You know I'm trying that now.