Tracking Powder

Can anyone offer some recommendations for tracking powder. I have a few rockets that I know will exceed 2000 plus feet and they are only BT-60 size and I thought having some tracking powder would aide in spotting them.

Where can I buy it and what colors do you recommend?

Thanks guys!!

Orange chalk line chalk from your local DIY store, maybe?

AfterBurners said:

Can anyone offer some recommendations for tracking powder. I have a few rockets that I know will exceed 2000 plus feet and they are only BT-60 size and I thought having some tracking powder would aide in spotting them.

Where can I buy it and what colors do you recommend?

Thanks guys!!

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Well, blue would be the worst color....

I've used this from Amazon, about $7.50 shipped if you have Amazon Prime, and it works well.

One box of white chalk, one kitchen blender....don't tell wife. Blame the gravy taste on off brand bullion.....

fyrwrxz said:

One box of white chalk, one kitchen blender....don't tell wife. Blame the gravy taste on off brand bullion.....

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My vote for post of the week.

s6

Hey S6- you're invited for dinner...I'd just pass on any of the sauces....

too funny!

AfterBurners said:

Can anyone offer some recommendations for tracking powder. I have a few rockets that I know will exceed 2000 plus feet and they are only BT-60 size and I thought having some tracking powder would aide in spotting them.

Where can I buy it and what colors do you recommend?

Thanks guys!!

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Sully-seriously, I use the construction line marking chalk they use for concrete foundations, etc. I like the florescent orange and the bright yellow. Depending on cloud ceiling and background-I've actually used both black and white. The key is to get it out all at once, you need a good size cloud to see. If it comes out too slow or there is not enuff, it disperses too thinly to be of any use. Any of the aluminized mylars out there help to make a 'flash' if it's on the tube or fins. Tracking an alt bird can use all the help you can get-try a lime green chute or streamer to help aquire a visual prior to landing. Other than that-hold yer breath and don't blink!

How do you contain it until ejection... that marking chalk goes everywhere (Aye Jared! ). It gets on everything.

When I flew my Shockwave 29 I just dumped tracking powder in the NC and packed the shock cord behind it. At apogee I saw a poof and a thin trail for maybe 1 second. That gave me enough time to get a "bead" on the rocket as dropped to the ground. Without it I bet I would have never had found my rocket. I'm working on something to dispense powder slowly through the decent. I'll post it when I get the bugs worked out.

Alex

Some of the colored marking chalks can leave stains that are very difficult to get off, so some pretesting is in order.

Been flying modroc competition since 1968. I use powdered tempra paint, orange or red, cut with talcum powder. It still stains, but the talc helps preventing the paint from clogging the tube. Same with using chalk. The powdered tempra paint has been tough to find of late. I was able to get some on clearance at Hobby Lobby.
Others use paint pigment which is a higher density of color, but pretty expensive compared to tempra or chalk. We have found over the years that pink or chartruse also work, but it really depends on sky conditions.
I usually put a square of Estes wadding on top of the model, press it in a bit, add the tempra/talc, and then fold the rest of the wadding over to isolate the tracking powder a bit. Body tube diameter will determine the best method for your rocket.

Chas

What I do is take the sheet of wadding, pour the powder in it, loosely crumple the wadding, and stick it in the tube.

Works great.

When I ran out of chalk that I normally use in my rockets, I replaced the chalk with good old flour. I powered the chute with it and added a ball of wadding and flour on top of the chute as I packed it. It worked supprisingly very well and was visable at altitude. No staining and if something goes wrong, then, your rocket is already breaded. :lol:

Tracking power colors depend a lot on the sky conditions. No one color works in all situations. Someone mentioned Blue would be worst. which is not at all correct. sometimes plain old blue chalkline chalk is the best color, particularly on overcast or heavily cloudy days. Black also works well on those cloudy days. personally one of my go to's is Yellow dry tempra color for cloudless or very high thin cloudy days. Fluorescent red chalkline or Red tempra color on those more "NORMAL" mostly sunny days.
One thing about all Tracking powders the more you add the more you really need to watch the weight. As a competition flyer I used to cut the weight by about 1/3 by mixing in Talc Baby powder 50/50 color/talc. This does not alter the density of the ejection cloud but does reduce the overall added mass. any amount over 2oz also needs some sort of ejection canister or paper wrap to keep the powder for acting like a concrete plug during the vibration of flight.
You have almost unlimited choices in tracking powder color...but you need to have squeeze bottles handy for changing field conditions. I always have at least 3 different color bottles in my range box.
Hope this helps a little.

When I fly altitude events at our regional contests, I usually use fluorescent orange epoxy pigment. It is super light (a lot lighter than either tempera paint or chalk) and makes a nice big cloud at ejection. To contain it, I cut a piece of paper into what we call "tie fighters" (after star wars). It is a circle just a bit smaller than the diameter of the tube, with two tabs attached at either side. 1 to 1-1/2 inch out from the circle is a good height. I cut them out, fold the tabs up and roll them around a dowel to form a cup. This goes in the tube on top of the chute and gets filled with tracking powder. The I put on the nose cone. DON'T use it with a hollow nose cone/shoulder - the powder will get pushed into the nose cone and won't make a good cloud. If your nose cone has an opening into the body tube, plug it with a piece of foam or wadding - tape it closed if needed. At ejection, the "tie figher" gets pushed out of the body tube, spreads open immediately and releases it's payload. Keep plenty of baby wipes handy to clean the residue from your rocket afterwards (trust me - it'll most likely go through that cloud of tracking powder)

gdjsky01 said:

How do you contain it until ejection... that marking chalk goes everywhere (Aye Jared! ). It gets on everything.

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It makes a huge mess, but it sure is visible at altitude.

tightwad said:

When I ran out of chalk that I normally use in my rockets, I replaced the chalk with good old flour. I powered the chute with it and added a ball of wadding and flour on top of the chute as I packed it. It worked supprisingly very well and was visable at altitude. No staining and if something goes wrong, then, your rocket is already breaded. :lol:

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Flour when dispersed is actually quite flammable. If you do this you may end up with a highly visible fireball at ejection, which would make it easy to spot but would potentially cause other problems...