Mylar Spotting Streamer

Had this thought and wondered if A: it's been discussed before and B: whether this is a good idea. I'm working on a build for a smallish rocket that I'm going to send up pretty high. I know that on previous club launches, one of the things I've heard on higher launches is "There....there's a glint!" because the sun catching a shiny bit of the rocket is a good way to spot it. So I thought: What if I cut a strip (say 12"x1") of Mylar emergency blanket, then tied it to the shock cord? I figure the weight is minimal, the drag of such a small streamer on a 300g rocket shouldn't slow it down much, and it ought to catch the sun pretty well to help keep an eye on it as it comes back to earth.

Thoughts?

It will make spotting easier, you can even make it longer with very little weight penalty and increase visibility.

A very good idea. However, Mylar emergency blankets are finicky to cut. Cut it clean and leave no places where it could tear, because it will! Especially around the attachment hole.

Zeus-cat said:

A very good idea. However, Mylar emergency blankets are finicky to cut. Cut it clean and leave no places where it could tear, because it will! Especially around the attachment hole.

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Thanks! My plan was to reinforce the last inch or so with some clear packing tape, then tie it to the shock cord with a little thread.

Just so you know, you could buy one and save cutting and taping.

https://www.rocketarium.com/Build/Streamers/Mylar

https://www.rocketsrus.com/mylar-streamers.html

I use emergency blankets from Walmart. They are an excellent visual aid in all kinds of sky. And I can attest to Zeus-cat's point about them being finicky to cut. If you do get a nick along the edge just add a small piece of cellophane tape folded over the cut. And reinforcing the end you attach to the shock cord is a good idea as well. A wrinkled surface provides more drag; the competition guys have all kinds of tricky Z folds and accordion arrangements to win the big prize.

First - yes it's a very good idea. I've used "spotting streamers" on a lot of rockets, including my L2 cert flight - works great.

Second - the cut-up mylar blanket won't do. It will shred very easily, and you will find yourself looking at a piece of mylar just floating away in the sky, thinking it's your rocket descending. Not good.

So....here's what I do. I purchase a roll of mylar "3D" or "reflective" ribbon material. This is much thicker than the space blanket stuff, and you can often find it in party supplies or holiday stuff. It comes in either rolls or long "banner" type things (saying "happy birthday" or having ponies and flowers on it!). Then I get some ripstop nylon repair tape - also available in rolls. I cut my streamer to size/length, and then put a strip of the repair tape on one side. This both gives the streamer a bit more body and also makes it virtually tear-proof. I attach a looped piece of Kevlar cord to one end (folded and taped in place). Lastly, be sure to crease and accordion-fold the streamer every half-inch or so. This makes it easy to fold up and pack in your rocket, but more importantly it increases the drag quite a bit.

The "3D/holographic" stuff really catches the light. On a sunny day it sparkles and is very easy to see in the sky (I've used them with success up to 12,000' feet). It makes finding your rocket in the sky much easier.

I can't post any photos right now, but will try to do so later.

good luck with yours,
s6

Yep, party streamers work great too.



But I'm still not going to throw away my emergency blanket streamers. :blush:

I looked at the original post again and I will add that a 300 gram rocket will put a mighty strain on a light, emergency blanket streamer and could very likely shred it like stealth6 mentioned. I use my streamers on much lighter models, 2,3,4 ounces tops.

Mylar streamers make great visual aids, as does chalk line powder (albiet a tad messy). Years ago, I had a Estes Banshee, that loved being launched on the 18mm D21's. I made 3x30 inch mylar streamers from emergency blankets. I always cut them with fresh Xacto blades and never had a tearing issue. I would attach them by using a hole punch, then put self stick notebook reinforcements on either side, and tie on a kevlar string leader. Since this rocket would go so high, I would also put a pouch of tracking powder in with the wadding (chalk line powder in a cupped piece of sheet wadding). This little rocket (1"x16.5") would easily hit 1500-2000 feet, and was trackable throughout the descent.

I've had good results with these:
https://www.asp-rocketry.com/ecommerce/Silver-Dura-Lar-Streamer-Kits.cfm?cat_id=100

I've found that cutting the Mylar with a hot knife, like you do ripstop does a whole lot to stop rips and tears from nicks in the edges.

I've also use aluminum foil tape over the leading edges of plywood fins. At +mach and over 9,500 ft, it protected the leading edge from separating and flashed and glinted the whole way down. Worked great.

Years ago, I used to use "mylar bird tape" . I used to pick it up at a local nursery.

https://www.lowes.com/pd_338492-74129-TAPE-25___?productId=3678524&pl=1&Ntt=mylar+bird+tape

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-B-Gone-Deterrent-Flash-Tape-MMFT050X/202347479

Tony

tfish said:

Years ago, I used to use "mylar bird tape" . I used to pick it up at a local nursery.

https://www.lowes.com/pd_338492-74129-TAPE-25___?productId=3678524&pl=1&Ntt=mylar+bird+tape

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-B-Gone-Deterrent-Flash-Tape-MMFT050X/202347479

Tony

Click to expand...

Thats a good idea. I have also heard that the mylar party door hangings thats kinda like lots of stringy confetti works well too.

One thing that I found that really helped for my L1 certification flight was a narrow strip of Trim Monokote Chrome mylar. I had a strip wrapped around the shoulder of the nosecone and a couple of places on the body tube. I noticed that it kept flashing as it descended. It wasn't meant for that reason (I was simulating a metal aerosol can) but I was pleased with the result.

You can see the flash of the chrome even in this video of the first launch of the rocket...

[video=youtube;lUy7qOt6mWw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUy7qOt6mWw[/video]

I know Apogee sells them too. I think two different sizes and colors. I'm positive that one comes with their mile high Aspire rocket kit.

Streamers make it much easier to track--shiny ones even more so. It's a Hell of a lot easier to track a 24"x 24' streamer than it is a couple lengths of airframe separated by a length of shock cord.


Later!

--Coop

I bought a shiny silver party door curtain thing that works great for this. it is precut into about 1/4" stips. I just pull off a few and tie them around the shock cord.
you can get them for $5 on amazon

I've made a few, but out of calendared nylon--I prefer streamers for apogee events. The biggest is the 24x24 I mentioned before, down to a 4x4 I'm putting in a DD Painkiller Micro.

Later!

--Coop

Zeus-cat said:

A very good idea. However, Mylar emergency blankets are finicky to cut. Cut it clean and leave no places where it could tear, because it will! Especially around the attachment hole.

Click to expand...

I have had a space blanket idea for a minute now as a regular chute, not streamer. You'll have to pardon me a little here but the model rocket handbook says to tie a knot in the end of recovery shrouds, loop it around designated attachment location to tape it down.
This in my mind "should" hold it down without tearing holes into the mylar.
I was wondering what issues you ran into while attempting to cut out your space blanket chute? Mostly so I can think of something to counter issues.
Already thinking of low, I mean LOW heat ironing the edges to seal it better in line with hot knifing the cut out...I'd rather use sharp scissors, than hot knife if possible.
The space blanket is so cheap for so much material I am having a hard time giving up on it.
Thoughts?

Go to Home Depot and buy that anti bird reflective strip roll. Cheap for 50ft.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-B-Gone-Deterrent-Flash-Tape-MMFT050X/202347479

mccordmw said:

Go to Home Depot and buy that anti bird reflective strip roll. Cheap for 50ft.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-B-Gone-Deterrent-Flash-Tape-MMFT050X/202347479

Click to expand...

This one pop-up when I went to that link, as a suggested/other people purchased. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bird-X-Irri-Tape-Bird-Repellent-Ribbon-TAPE-100/202347262

I like the holographic pattern I should work as well as the other one and its a 100' roll.

Another advantage of mylar space blanket material is that it is so thin that you pack a big streamer into a small rocket. I used a 6' x 1' mylar streamer in a small 29 mm minimum diameter rocket. It was very easy to spot at over 4000 ft on a sunny day.

I just use a cheap 25W soldering iron with the tip flattened as a hot knife. It works for mylar, ripstop nylon, etc. Harbor Freight has a 30w for $4 or check your local flea markets.

I wonder how heat resistant the Mylar is compared to PTFE (Teflon) tape? I have a kind of rear eject gap stager that has a very small space for a streamer wrapped around an engine mount tube that may get pretty hot while the sustainer lights up. I might be able to wrap a little wadding around it, but I don't want the packed streamer to melt into a wad. Maybe I could layer a streamer of wadding with the streamer before folding to keep the streamer material from heat bonding to itself?

GlenP said:

I wonder how heat resistant the Mylar is compared to PTFE (Teflon) tape? I have a kind of rear eject gap stager that has a very small space for a streamer wrapped around an engine mount tube that may get pretty hot while the sustainer lights up. I might be able to wrap a little wadding around it, but I don't want the packed streamer to melt into a wad. Maybe I could layer a streamer of wadding with the streamer before folding to keep the streamer material from heat bonding to itself?

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Mylar melts pretty easy from ejection charges.

I guess the thicker heat rated PTFE tape would be the better option in that scenario. It won't exactly be in the path of ejection charges, but it will be wrapped around a coupler tube around the sustainer that will ignite, then blast the coupler tube off from the gap stage, so it might get a brief direct blast of the engine plume as the stages separate.

https://www.shadowaero.com/page2/page2.html

Their Flash streamer is all you need.

Yup! Very nice and packs like a dream.

GlenP said:

I guess the thicker heat rated PTFE tape would be the better option in that scenario. It won't exactly be in the path of ejection charges, but it will be wrapped around a coupler tube around the sustainer that will ignite, then blast the coupler tube off from the gap stage, so it might get a brief direct blast of the engine plume as the stages separate.

Click to expand...

I'm not a huge fan of purchasing a new item for every single tiny thing. I think your idea could work. If you have barf laying around, maybe roll a light puke layer in before packing with a ply or two of wadding?