Lil Crayon

After building my MPR/HPR crayon out of a Toys 'r Us crayon bank, I was at the dollar store searching for an umbrella for parachute material when I found a box full of small plastic crayon banks. I couldn't resist and bought a few. The idea was a downscaled version of the MPR/HPR crayon that would fly on C/D/E/F motors. The first problem that I encountered was that these things are pretty flimsy so some form of reinforcement would be needed. I thought about doing a tight inner tube however nothing was a perfect fit so I elected to extend the motor tube pretty much all the way up the body using cardboard centering rings every two inches.

Here is a pic of the inspiration next to its big brother. Attachments follow with open rocket file and pics from open rocket.



I am going to try to start on this thing tomorrow. Cutting the cardboard centering rings (all 8 of them) will likely be the longest part of the build.

View attachment Lil Crayon.ork

Dang it.....
I've been looking for those. The stores have no idea what I am talking about and the DollarTree website says they are out of stock.


Looking forward to seeing your build pics!

Disaster_Guy said:

After building my MPR/HPR crayon out of a Toys 'r Us crayon bank, I was at the dollar store searching for an umbrella for parachute material when I found a box full of small plastic crayon banks. I couldn't resist and bought a few. The idea was a downscaled version of the MPR/HPR crayon that would fly on C/D/E/F motors. The first problem that I encountered was that these things are pretty flimsy so some form of reinforcement would be needed. I thought about doing a tight inner tube however nothing was a perfect fit so I elected to extend the motor tube pretty much all the way up the body using cardboard centering rings every two inches.

Here is a pic of the inspiration next to its big brother. Attachments follow with open rocket file and pics from open rocket.

I am going to try to start on this thing tomorrow. Cutting the cardboard centering rings (all 8 of them) will likely be the longest part of the build.

Click to expand...

Thats a good one. I got a few.Hard to find one with the decals that are not wrinkled.Size?

Pem Tech said:

Dang it.....
I've been looking for those. The stores have no idea what I am talking about and the DollarTree website says they are out of stock.


Looking forward to seeing your build pics!

Click to expand...

What color do you want?

Scotty Dog said:

Thats a good one. I got a few.Hard to find one with the decals that are not wrinkled.Size?

Click to expand...

I had to dig through the box to find a few where the decals weren't too bad.

Size? The main body tube portion is 59mm ID and 61mm OD and overall 23" long.

Pem Tech, I would be willing to ship you one for cost although I am not sure that the cost to ship it would be worth it.

If you look around at Dollar stores and Thrift shops you'll find all kinds and sizes of Crayon packages and things. I've been flying 2.6" and 4" (Toys R Us) crayons for a long time and have found a number of smaller 1-1/2", 1", 3/4" and smaller Crayon "packaging" for other Odd-Rocs. Keep looking you'll be amazed at all the things out there stuffed in a crayon tube

I think I have 4 different sizes (11 Crayons) flying with 3 more sizes waiting for the spirit to move me

It's almost done...











Waiting on second application of aerogloss to dry and then the fins will be sanded, glued to the MMT, epoxied to the BT, and painted. Final check of CG for nose weight and then the nose cone will be sealed and it will be ready to fly.

WOW,Get r Done!!!!! Youll be coloring the rainbow in the sky real soon. Quick Draw!!!!!

Scotty Dog said:

Thats a good one. I got a few.Hard to find one with the decals that are not wrinkled.Size?

What color do you want?

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PM sent!

Disaster_Guy said:

I had to dig through the box to find a few where the decals weren't too bad.

Size? The main body tube portion is 59mm ID and 61mm OD and overall 23" long.

Pem Tech, I would be willing to ship you one for cost although I am not sure that the cost to ship it would be worth it.

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James, thanks for the offer but two other nice guys have already volunteered to send us a few.
I am very grateful that you started this thread since it has ended up supplying us with a few of these little crayons.

And to everyone on TRF, this is why I hang around this forum almost exclusively. Make a comment about needing something and suddenly three people have step up to help out. The folks here are wonderful people that have a sense of community and display a striking level of care, concern and conscientiousness.

:clap:

I just went back to the dollar tree yesterday and they were all gone (they had two boxes full earlier in the week). If you find these things, snatch them up. They are flying off the shelf.

Disaster_Guy said:

I just went back to the dollar tree yesterday and they were all gone (they had two boxes full earlier in the week). If you find these things, snatch them up. They are flying off the shelf.

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I might swing by the one up here sometime here in the next few days. If they have any..Im on them like stink on poop!!!!!

Scotty Dog said:

I might swing by the one up here sometime here in the next few days. If they have any..Im on them like stink on poop!!!!!

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Like Green on Grass?:roll:

James,

Thanks for the build thread. I, too, had seen these little crayons at Dollar Tree and picked up one of each colour. Yes, they are kinda flimsy plastic. I'm thinking of trying a rear ejection version to avoid cutting off the top but have too much going on right now to give it much thinking time.

Another little trick you can do with these little crayons is peel a 54mm tube to fit inside the crayon and epoxy it in. You then can use standard 54mm centering rings and couplers. I have a couple started this way (some 29mm and some 38mm).

Found a green and yellow bank at the local Dollar Tree while visiting relatives in Salina, Ks.

I like the idea of one long centered tube. What about through the wall fins? Possibly from light ply. If I go with clear fins, how thick should I use?

Will follow the thread to see how well this Lil' crayon flies.

See ya,
Rod

Rod, Mine was build with TTW fins. They are 1/8" balsa secured to the MMT with wood glue and secured to the plastic body tube with 5min epoxy. I am a little light on proper tools and used a hot nail to slot the tube for the fins.

I put a bt70 inside of mine, had to heat the tube to get it to go all the way, then through the wall fins, to the 24mm motor mount.Monokote on the fins, and I used hot glue for outside fillets on the fins, and the Launch Lug. Not completely permanent but has held up well so far. Flies great on E9-6's. It is the yellow one in front.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/32642375@N07/4612188483/
Mike

The delivery llama arrived today with not one, not two but five little crayons!!!

Much thanks to Scotty Dog and Chadrog for the time and effort they put into sending me crayons.
:handshake:


Sat down with one tonight and in about 10 minutes had all the components cut and ready to assemble. Like MikeyD I inserted a length of BT-70 inside the crayon, almost the perfect diameter, and inside this is a length of BT-50 for the MM. A sort length of tube and a BT-70 coupler go inside the NC. Final assembly will be this weekend, and there will be pics.

Very cool. Can't wait to see how it turns out. I have been out of town and hope to finish mine up Sunday. I was able to pick up 4 more at a dollar tree on the way out of town. I plan to try the BT-70 lining method but I am going to have to order some as none of the shops that I have tried carry it.

So did you run the BT-70 just far enough for the motor mount or is it full length to the nose cone? Held up a Big Daddy fin next to my Lil' Crayon and it would look good with three of them, so will pick up some light ply soon and get started.

See ya,
Rod

Rod- My next build of these (I now have 5 colors of them sitting in que) will have BT-70 down the full length. These things are not nearly strong enough without it. That is the reason that I extended my MMT almost the full length of the rocket with CRs every couple inches in the build pictured here.

RodRocket said:

So did you run the BT-70 just far enough for the motor mount or is it full length to the nose cone? Held up a Big Daddy fin next to my Lil' Crayon and it would look good with three of them, so will pick up some light ply soon and get started.

See ya,
Rod

Click to expand...

I had cut off the top, and attempted to run the BT-70 from the top down, got to about 4in from the bottom, and could not get it to go more. I then cut the bottom off, put a length of bt70, and the motor mount in it, with coupler, then heated the crayon with a hair dryer, and inserted this assembly up from the bottom, to mate to the bt70 piece inserted from the top. I think that if I had heated, and expanded th whole crayon at first, I could have inserted it from the top down.

I then did through the wall fins, to the motor mount, and then coverd the fins with Monokote, so no paint.

Mike D.

Excellent, sounds like I need to get some BT-70. Is there a restriction on launch lug materials. Had an idea to glue a small wood block inside and then drill a pilot hole for an eye screw. Two maybe three should work.

Thanks, gonna be a fun project.
See ya,
Rod

Here is the closeout pic for this build... I will get around to the 4 others I have sometime down the road (built with BT-70).

My Dollar Tree finally got some of these in. Picked up R.B. & Y. left the G. behind as I would'nt want to look for it in the grass. Keep up the good work as I'll incorporate the ideas in later builds.

Nice work! I think I need to pick up a few of these myself, Oh wait I already did. Too many in fact. Same story here with them at Dollar Tree. Sometimes they have them and sometimes not. I started out with one that a buddy gave me, then my wife picked up a couple when she saw them at the store, then I saw them again a few months later and picked up a few more in the colors I did not have. Next my kids come home with two more when they were there with mom, and now I feel like a crayon rocket hoarder!!

I have flown them many times on AT single use and RMS E's and F's with no problems. They may not feel like it but are pretty sturdy. All I did was cut the tops and bottoms off, added a tube into the nose to act as a coupler, 6" eye bolt in the nose to serve as nose weight and attachment point for shock cord. couple of plywood rings and a 29mm mount all just glued / epoxied in after roughing up surfaces real good. Attached a length of braided kevlar to forward CR, and fins are TTW and just attached with CA. They fly great!!

...Fudd

Fuddrucker said:

Nice work! I think I need to pick up a few of these myself, Oh wait I already did. Too many in fact. Same story here with them at Dollar Tree. Sometimes they have them and sometimes not. I started out with one that a buddy gave me, then my wife picked up a couple when she saw them at the store, then I saw them again a few months later and picked up a few more in the colors I did not have. Next my kids come home with two more when they were there with mom, and now I feel like a crayon rocket hoarder!!

I have flown them many times on AT single use and RMS E's and F's with no problems. They may not feel like it but are pretty sturdy. All I did was cut the tops and bottoms off, added a tube into the nose to act as a coupler, 6" eye bolt in the nose to serve as nose weight and attachment point for shock cord. couple of plywood rings and a 29mm mount all just glued / epoxied in after roughing up surfaces real good. Attached a length of braided kevlar to forward CR, and fins are TTW and just attached with CA. They fly great!!

...Fudd

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I love Olives!

Back to visit family for christmas and was out running around today and thought, ah what could it hurt to check the dollar tree again. Sure enough there was a box and a half of them by the registers. Picked up two more, now I have four colors to choose from. red, blue, green, and yellow.

Found a motor mount adapter kit that might make a good starting point on this rocket. It has a 29mm motor tube and could easily make an adapter for 24mm.

Took one of the crayons to the hobby shop I visit and tried to find some tube or get ideas and the motor mount kit just happened to fit. I will need to make some simple paper layers to build up the tube to fit tighter into the base of the rocket. When I get home I can look as see what the part number is.

Made a tracing of the Big Daddy fin before I glued that rocket together to use as a pattern for the crayons fins.

Now gonna get some building hardware gathered up to make the fin slots. I like the dremel saw bits with spacers to make the slots. Will make up a jig to hold the body tubes on the drill press table.

Everyone have a great christmas.

See ya,
Rod

Rod, i think I posted to open rocket file for mine above. You can print fin templates from tgat. I tried a dremel for the slots but ended up using a hot nail on that thin plastic.

My grandson and I worked on our crayon rockets today and this is what mine looked like afterwards. I used 4 centering rings, BT50 thru center, 1/16th plywood ttw fins, and a 16" parachute. I hope to give it a go, tomorrow morning.




Update: Success

I found that a 54mm tube will fit inside the plastic Crayon.

Just warm the crayon up really warm so it is nice and soft, then freeze the 54mm tube.. now slide it in in one fast shot.

Works pretty decent!