Attaching smoke bombs?

Larry Curcio said:

Years ago I tried a flameless smoke generator. Basically the chute line pulled two cotton swabs, held closely together, out of isolating plastic tubes. One swab had HCl solution; the other was ammonia. The gasses from the two solutions on the exposed swabs made NH4Cl smoke with no geat evolution of heat. The mechanics of the device worked well enough, but the amount of smoke was inadequate.

Another possibility is "Tickle" Smoke. Tickle is TiCl4, which reacts with moisture in air to produce TiO2 as dense white smoke. It's what the Nike Smoke used to carry. TiCl4 is borderline nasty, but it's used in skywriting and things like that. Once again, no flame.

Wikipedia has an article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_tetrachloride

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Are you serious!
why would you put such harmful chemicals into a stupid Estes rocket?

Use your head SLoan. Don't fly if it's too windy, use smaller motors or go to a larger field. Spending an extra $5 bucks for the other streamer options is sound advice also.
Don't be lazy and selfish.

Mike Di Venti said:

Don't fly if it's too windy, use smaller motors or go to a larger field. Spending an extra $5 bucks for the other streamer options is sound advice also.

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That's all you had to say.

Frankly, given his responses to the previous suggestions, I think some harsh words were in order.

Rocketman248 said:

Frankly, given his responses to the previous suggestions, I think some harsh words were in order.

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I disagree completely, especially when he had already responded like this:

Thanks all, I will add a streamer and hope that will help. I am surprised that a engine hasnt been made that emits more smoke. thanks again for your help and steering me in the right direction.

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Well after that, he got called selfish, lazy, and several other not so friendly replies.

Consider it from the perspective of someone who's new and thinking about asking their first question. Then they read and someone get verbally smacked upside the head, well after they'd already acknowledged there was a better way than the original thought.

Would you ask that first question under such circumstances? That question isn't directed just at you, but at everyone whose responses weren't exactly friendly or inviting.

-Kevin

troj said:

I disagree completely, especially when he had already responded like this:



Well after that, he got called selfish, lazy, and several other not so friendly replies.

Consider it from the perspective of someone who's new and thinking about asking their first question. Then they read and someone get verbally smacked upside the head, well after they'd already acknowledged there was a better way than the original thought.

Would you ask that first question under such circumstances? That question isn't directed just at you, but at everyone whose responses weren't exactly friendly or inviting.

-Kevin

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i think they were talking about mike not the op.

No, I was talking about the OP.

I'm sorry, I hadn't seen that response. I kind of gave up on the thread when he kept arguing that a smoke bomb was harmless.

Mike Di Venti said:

Are you serious!
why would you put such harmful chemicals into a stupid Estes rocket?

Use your head SLoan. Don't fly if it's too windy, use smaller motors or go to a larger field. Spending an extra $5 bucks for the other streamer options is sound advice also.
Don't be lazy and selfish.

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Estes rockets? I was thinking mid power, but... OK.
HCl and NH4NOH evaporate pretty quickly. We're talking open fields, here.

Tickle is hypothetical, but I think an experiment or two is not out of the question.

To answer your question... Why yes. I'm serious.

Rocketman248 said:

No, I was talking about the OP.

I'm sorry, I hadn't seen that response. I kind of gave up on the thread when he kept arguing that a smoke bomb was harmless.

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Rocketman248:
Don't feel bad, I missed that post by the OP as well. and made my comments for the same reasons you stated.
As long as the OP got the message, I'm sure we all did exactly the right thing for the hobby. Dang this PC crap.

Larry Curcio said:

Estes rockets? I was thinking mid power, but... OK.
HCl and NH4NOH evaporate pretty quickly. We're talking open fields, here.

Tickle is hypothetical, but I think an experiment or two is not out of the question.

To answer your question... Why yes. I'm serious.

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Sorry. Meant NH4OH. (Force of habit)

Micromeister said:

As long as the OP got the message, I'm sure we all did exactly the right thing for the hobby. Dang this PC crap.

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I disagree.

Potentially turning people off or offending them isn't doing "the right thing for the hobby."

There are ways of telling people what they're doing is a bad idea, without being rude. Discouraging rudeness isn't "PC" -- it's the encouragement of good manners and public civility.

-Kevin

troj said:

Discouraging rudeness isn't "PC" -- it's the encouragement of good manners and Public Civility.

-Kevin

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I thought you said it wasn't PC.

jk

Rocketman248 said:

I thought you said it wasn't PC.

jk

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:bangpan:

One point for Nick!

-Kevin

Just hit me that my post could be taken as Nick getting an infraction, which is not what I meant....

-Kevin

Sorry guys for posting a harmful topic. In the beginning, I really thought that smoke bombs were innocent. Once some experts from the forum steered me away from them because of dangers I said I would be going a safer route. I am completely new at this and just wanted to get some feedback on the thought. Calling me lazy is a little uncalled for. My last flight I used some of a silver happy birthday banner and we were able to follow the rocket. Thanks to the guys on here that helped me out, my kids thank you also.

Sloanhaus

Great! Thanks for the update Sloanhaus.

Greg

Neat! I think some people were just getting worked up. Even if they were ready-to-fly rockets, you should still post some pictures. Also, look into fliskits.com. They have some nice stuff.

I would like to apologize on behalf of some of my fellow members - sometimes we get a little too passionate about our hobby and let our fingers run away from our good sense and manners. Please stick around and please ask more questions - that is the only way you'll learn new things (I've been back in the hobby for 8 years now and I'm STILL learning new things!).

You should understand, however, that we have had a number of new people come on the board, and in their first post tell how they've never launched a rocket in their life, but they want to build a big rocket and make their own motors. This is, of course, a big no-no here, and we're a little sensitive to people who start out asking about breaking the rocketry code rules. Nine times out of ten they seem to be teens who are ready and willing to do something stupid regardless of any advice to the contrary. Thankfully, you seem to the one out of ten who turns out to be an adult and willing to actually listen.

Given that, my best advice is to search out a club launch near you and take your boys to it - You'll be amazed at some of the things they do there and most groups are more than willing to answer any questions you might have. You'll learn a lot and make a lot of new friends in a short amount of time.

Using radio shack parts I made a little piezo screamer. Haven't actually flown it yet, but the thing is just a tiny 12V battery in a holder, a switch, and a piezo buzzer. Clip to nose cone (it stays inside the BT during flight), turn it on, launch. Then if you lose track of the rocket you can listen for the persistent "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" sound.

Marc

As Kevin and Micro said above, one of the skills that you develop in model rocketry is learning how to avoid "overflying" your launch field. You learn how to gauge the field size, wind direction, wind speed and size of your rockets to help you determine where to set up your pad and which motors to use for your flights. Not every motor can be used in every field. If you are consistently losing rockets, then the first thing to do is to dial back the power a bit. Start off a little bit on the conservative side, making flights that you can track from lift-off to landing, and see where they generally come down. Once you become confident that you can keep the rocket in the field, you can step it up a bit if it looks like you will still have more room to land in.

There is a technique to finding your rockets after they have come down. Stay in one place and visually track the rocket back to the ground before setting off to retrieve it. Then find a landmark, such as particular tree, that is directly in line with where the rocket appeared to have landed. Then turn around and find a similar landmark along the same line, but behind you. (The launch pad itself is often used for this.) You create an imaginary line in your mind that stretches between these two landmarks and goes right over the spot where your rocket appeared to land. Once you have "fixed" these coordinates, start walking along that imaginary line in the direction of your rocket. Use the landmarks in front of you and behind you to periodically check your position to insure that you are staying on that general line. This technique will usually take you right to your rocket. My club launches in a hay field, and at times the hay is high enough that we cannot see our rockets on the ground until we are right next to them. Yet by using this method, we rarely ever lose any. Sometimes my rockets are much further out than I think they are, and sometimes they come down closer than they appeared to me. But it is simply uncanny how often this technique will take me straight to my rocket. I'm still stunned on occasion when I come over the crest of a small rise and find my rocket lying on the ground right in front of me, right on the line that I was walking. I ought to be used to it by now, but it still amazes me sometimes.

Marc_G said:

Using radio shack parts I made a little piezo screamer. Haven't actually flown it yet, but the thing is just a tiny 12V battery in a holder, a switch, and a piezo buzzer. Clip to nose cone (it stays inside the BT during flight), turn it on, launch. Then if you lose track of the rocket you can listen for the persistent "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" sound.

Marc

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I was wondering when someone would mention using a locator beacon. There are several out there dedicated to rocketry that work very well. You can either turn them on before launch or have a pull pin activate it on ejection. Some are VERY loud. Good luck.

Ya, I thought about that. I am on a golf course and my only fear and with my luck, I can see it getting stuck up in a tree right around the green pissing off every golfer that plays the hole lol. Thanks for all the feedback, I went with a streamer that I made out of my sons birthday banner and it worked great. I am really happy with this option. I also am using a smaller engine now and have realized with my small children, they can only see so high, so going higher doesnt really achieve anything. Thanks again