Just starting out

Rocketbuilder said:

Apparently if you call the power company and tell them the rocket is stuck on the wire, they might consider it a hazard and come get it down. I've never done this, but I've heard it works.

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Haha knowing my power company they would fine me for having too much fun! On a side note could I make my own igniters? I had two duds in a pack and after losing my rocket we fired my buds but had two out of three igniters not light and all three light on another pack. So can I make my own? It can I buy just the igniters?

Pic of my son and me launching the ill fated rocket.

I know some people make they're own igniters, but I'm certainly not an expert on the subject. You have to have pyrogen (the black stuff) to put on the nichrome wire, and I'm not sure what it is or how it's regulated.
There are certainly some folks on here could give you much more useful info on this; start a thread about it here in the Beginners and Educational Programs section and I bet you'll get some good answers in no time.

You can buy the igniters by themselves at Hobby-Lobby. I think its like 6 bucks for 6 of them in a pack.

First off, welcome to TRF, and good choice of rockets to get your feet wet again!

Second, try to get your rocket back. Nature will get it down eventually, but it will be totally unusable. I would at least give the power company a call.


As for the bigger kits, wait a little bit before taking the plunge. There is alot of great rockets in the A thru D motor range that will keep you busy for a long time. E thru G motors are reeking of awesomeness, but the higher you go, the harder it is to get your prized model back, and there is the old saying in car racing that applies here:

"How fast you wanna go? How big is your wallet?"


Just my 2¢, the 13mm motors are cheap thrills. You can get 2 or 3 stage rocket kits that use these motors and gram-for-gram they are probably one of the highest performing kits on the market. Also they can get pretty high, chances are that you will recover them easily over and over again.

Make had a "how-to" make your own igniters a while back. You can check it out here - https://makeprojects.com/Project/Make-your-own-model-rocket-igniters/386/

This method doesn't use pyrogen and is only good for black powder (Estes / Quest) motors. However, as rrlc said, you can buy them in a 6 pack for a few dollars; it might just be simpler and easier to buy them.

Krusty

Welcome to TRF! Good to see the father-son rocket bonding.

Rocketry with kids is, in my opinion, better than rocketry AS a kid. My little ones will build their own, now... my my oldest (age 9) is showing himself to be a good designer, as well (he came up with the idea of 4" upscales of his and his sister's current favorite rockets). The high powers we build are considered "everyone's," as everyone takes part in some aspect of the process. While it's great to hear the roar of a high-power motor launch your latest creation skyward, it's the kids saying "whoa...." and giggling, and having your five-year-old tackle you for hugs that makes the launch a success.

It's brought me and mine closer together--and should work for you as well. Welcome to the grand adventure!


Later!

--Coop

One of the things i like about the estes blast off flight packs. (24 motors.... 6 A8-3' 6 B6-4, 6 C6-5, 6C6-3) is they come with extra ignitors-- i believe 36 ignitors with the 24 engines. I hate buying ignitors just by themselves.

The packs of motors I buy at Michael's have an extra plug and an extra ignitor, as well as a dozen or so sheets of wadding. Pretty soon I may have to set up a bin on my folding table at club launches with a sign that says "Free plugs, ignitors, and wadding." :eyepop: Especially the wadding, now that I'm switching over to dog barf. (Cellulose insulation, not actual dog barf. Don't worry Scottmh, we're not that weird. )

Rocketbuilder said:

The packs of motors I buy at Michael's have an extra plug and an extra ignitor, as well as a dozen or so sheets of wadding. Pretty soon I may have to set up a bin on my folding table at club launches with a sign that says "Free plugs, ignitors, and wadding." :eyepop: Especially the wadding, now that I'm switching over to dog barf. (Cellulose insulation, not actual dog barf. Don't worry Scottmh, we're not that weird. )

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Man ima have to go check out michaels I feel like I'm being gipped now haha. I looked all over hobby lobby for the igniters by themselves. Like I said I need to go check out michaels. What other chain carries the Estes brand?

Most hobby shops --like Hobby Town USA-- will carry the Estes stuff, as well as maybe some Quest and Aerotech kits, but they typically have very large retail markups, and no coupons.

Bummer. 38acres and it ends up on the power lines.

scottmh said:

Well we got one shot off! Everything went great up and away. Chute deployed and went off to get it. Looked and looked and couldn't find it. Finally found it!

Off to hobby lobby I go haha

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Next purchase needs to be either a staged rocket or a payload bay. Nothin' says fun to a kid like chasing down a grasshopper as the newest member of the astronaut corps. I generally prefer Quest kits over the Estes ones, because I like their recovery gear a little better.

scottmh said:

Man ima have to go check out michaels I feel like I'm being gipped now haha. I looked all over hobby lobby for the igniters by themselves. Like I said I need to go check out michaels. What other chain carries the Estes brand?

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my hobby lobbies have ignitors... check the empty spaces on the shelves they are also in little white bags so check them all out... alot of times ive noticed things like motors ignitors chutes and all the misc stuff gets mixed up on the shelves (damn kids)... every once in a while i will pick up a package of ignitors or two and put them in a little tupperware container... i also do this with plugs too... I feel the motor packs at michaels are a waste of money since i don't use wadding... dogbarf is awesome... and supper cheap... you can get it at lowes or home depot for ~$13... out of my bale i have gone through half of a gallon zip lock bag with somewhere around 50 launches... and that is with giving some away as well... the last time i picked up ignitors they were around ~$4 for 6 of them...

JordanT said:

Next purchase needs to be either a staged rocket or a payload bay. Nothin' says fun to a kid like chasing down a grasshopper as the newest member of the astronaut corps. I generally prefer Quest kits over the Estes ones, because I like their recovery gear a little better.

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payload bay rockets are awesome... i havn't had a staged rocket since i was kid and so i dont have one currently in fleet as of yet... but they are fun... for a payload rocket i would recommend the magician... she is a nice screamer and fits the lego space men perfectly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=635beRThJUA&feature=g-upl

The Edmonds gliders are reasonably priced, very VERY easy builds, and fun to fly. Most of them have no moving parts so they are pretty reliable birds.

krusty said:

Make had a "how-to" make your own igniters a while back. You can check it out here - https://makeprojects.com/Project/Make-your-own-model-rocket-igniters/386/
Krusty

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I wrote that article. Please note that these simple nichrome igniters work best with 12v launch systems.

Building your own sturdy 12v (or greater) launch system is a nice project! You can use a car battery as a power source.

Bubba02STi said:

I feel the motor packs at michaels are a waste of money since i don't use wadding... dogbarf is awesome... and supper cheap... you can get it at lowes or home depot for ~$13...

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I only buy the Michael's packs because it's so much more convenient to go there than to Hobby Lobby. As for the dog barf; I found a damaged bale at Lowe's, so I took it to the contractor desk and asked if they could sell to me at a discount. Much to my surprise, the guy told me I could have it for $5!

GDJ said:

Second, try to get your rocket back. Nature will get it down eventually, but it will be totally unusable. I would at least give the power company a call.

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Please, please, PLEASE don't try to retrieve the rocket yourself. Call the power company and have them do it. I've heard stories of people who electrocuted themselves trying to retrieve rockets from power lines.

Okay back to "Welcome to the forums and welcome back to the hobby! You and your kids are gonna have a blast!" (hehe - see what I did there?)

Also, one thing to watch out for with the estes ingniters: it can be pretty easy to get a shot circuit if the wires touch (inside the motor) below the pyrogen, so be careful when inserting the igniter plugs.

I really like Quest Q2G2 igniters for LPR stuff. Longer leads, and platsic coated wire to avoid shorts. I usually get them from my club's on-site vendor and then I keep the estes igniters that come with my motor packs as backups. (I burned through almost my whole stash of those at my son's cub scout district Rocket Jamboree replacing bad igniters on the pads.)

kruland said:

Bummer. 38acres and it ends up on the power lines.

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I know right?! What's the odds it happened on the first flight?

if you used the estes shock cord it should be down in 3-5 days .
rex

I'd say most guys here have been into rockets since they were kids... I'm one who is a grownup kid, I only got into rockets about a year and a half ago and haven't kicked the habit yet. (Always wanted rockets as a kid but parents wouldn't let us!) Here are a few suggestions:

As for igniters, I say don't bother buying a pack of them. Just buy more motor packs with igniters. You will develop a stash of motors and will soon need to fashion some sort of storage and organization container for them. Anyway, once you launch some multi-stage rockets, you will have an abundance of extra igniters since you only use one igniter for two or more motors.

It's good to get some more experience before moving up to the larger Pro Series II models. Technically they're not difficult to assemble- it's more about using the right adhesives in the right places in the right amounts, preparation of the materials, etc. You just want to know the "gotchas" and failure modes from smaller models to reduce the probability of failure with the larger ones, since failure there is more dangerous.

When you have little ones about, be prepared for failures- be the proper distance, etc. It is rare, but motors do explode. I've launched more than one hundred so far and had one explode. The likelihood of this happening (referred to as CATO around here) increases with the size of the motor. If I had kids I'd have hearing and eye protection on them starting with D motors.

Hobby Lobby and Michael's accept the coupons from the mobile site on your smartphone, so no need to print them.

Finally, can I come fly at your field?

I hung one on a power line a few months ago. I called the power company and they cut the shock cord two days late and left the rocket lying under the power line. There was no charge, but you should ask.

A recent storm knocked it down but I now I can't find it. Ill have to do some more searching one afternoon. This time of year is hard for outdoor activities its dark by 6pm and its either too windy or too cold to want to be outside

scottmh said:

A recent storm knocked it down but I now I can't find it...

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Not to be Debbie Downer here but that storm could have taken it UP as well and it could be long gone! :bang: I would definitely keep looking though you never know.

I love the pictures of your son with the rocket and of the launch too. I have a 2 year old girl and hope that she thinks her dad is cool enough to hang out with on the launch field some day.

My son is 2 will be 3 in march and he loves counting down and pushing the "choom" button as he calls it. Here are some pictures of our first flight with a new rocket! I never did find the one we lost.

Getting setup


Counting down


Blast off!


We were firing B rockets then I put a C rocket and it scared him a little haha

scottmh said:

My son is 2 will be 3 in march and he loves counting down and pushing the "choom" button as he calls it. Here are some pictures of our first flight with a new rocket! I never did find the one we lost.

We were firing B rockets then I put a C rocket and it scared him a little haha

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Choom! That's great You should visit this thread - https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...d-a-name-for-coming-soon-kit-from-3D-Rocketry and suggest it as a name for 3D-Rocketry's new rocket!!

Wait till you get him to a high power launch, some of those motors even give me brown trousers :eyepop:

Krusty

Welcome to the hobby.

Right now you’re feeling the excitement of building and launching your very first model rocket.

That “Newby” excitement will eventually wear off.

Then the insanity sets in and the real fun begines!!

You should check out NAR (https://www.nar.org/) and see if there is a club near you. You'll get organized launches, friendly/knowledgeable/helpful people and more.

I re-entered the hobby when my son was what looks to be about your son's age. We had lots of good times. As an added bonus my dad joined in with us. My dad passed way this past spring and my now 30-year-old son is out of the hobby but we have wonderful memories. My son still gets a kick out of my "exploits" so who knows? Maybe he will get the bug again too.

Oh, sure, you got money for rockets but won't get your kid a pair of shoes.