Halloween Flying Saucer model for little over a Dollar

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I found two left at Target. I got a motor mount kit out of an Alpha 3 bulk order left from a school build. I've got some plastic epoxy I'll use for the assembly. Would anybody really use these as serving bowls?

Don't forget to paint the spiders black. I'm going to use a sharpie marker.
 
Would anybody really use these as serving bowls?

I actually saw them used for their intended purpose at a car dealership yesterday.
I never managed to make it to Target this past week. I'm hoping the one of the two near me might have some left. If not, I'll just have to keep this project in mind for next year.
 
Would anybody really use these as serving bowls?

I bought 4. 2 of them became saucers and before I had a chance to chop up the rest, 2 of them ended up at my wife's work to hold candy on Friday, so yup... they are used as intended.
 
I flew my example of this twice yesterday at the BEMRC launch. Both were on C6-0s. What a hoot. The first flight almost rethreaded the launch lug on the rod when it came down. I'd say it gets to maybe all of 60 feet into the air on a C, so I can see why some of you are putting 24mm mounts in 'em. We still have one with candy in it - when the candy is gone it may well get a 24mm mount. Great fun. Thanks again, George, for posting this!

Oh - after breaking a rib on the first attempt to cut one with my best side cutters I cut the center out of the one I built already with a little Dremel saw chucked up in one of my 4-AA-cell-powered cordless MotoTools. I just looked and this saw must be no longer available....probably came in my original Moto-Tool kit I've had for close to 30 years. *sigh*
 
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Glad you folks liked them. I was a bit amused when people would mention only getting them for Halloween. Because these fly so well and are so easy to make, they are great saucers all year round. That open web allows for them to be larger in diameter than other saucers yet fly to a nice altitude.

And when launched in a drag race, they fly in formation SO well. I wish I'd done video of one of the drag races, to help show how unique that is.

The day after Halloween, I was shopping in Target. They had one purple one left, 70% off, got it for 30 cents!

For cracked ribs near the center, and for a BT-50 tube for a D12, I'd suggest using a larger diameter centering ring, such as BT-20 to 55 rings, or BT-50 to 60 rings.

- George Gassaway
 
I found two left at Target. I got a motor mount kit out of an Alpha 3 bulk order left from a school build. I've got some plastic epoxy I'll use for the assembly. Would anybody really use these as serving bowls?

Don't forget to paint the spiders black. I'm going to use a sharpie marker.

I think it's entirely possible, that after we're done flying our bowls, that one or both of them will be put away with the Halloween decorations... used as a candy bowl, with that most unusual candle holder in the center. That would allow dual purpose (assuming the spent motor casing is removed with it's brimstone smell) and have it come out again next November 1st for another round of drag races and flying.

At least, that's what I'm going to suggest to the wife...
 
BobH48 and I did a drag race at the CMASS launch this past weekend. Bob's launch rod was angled more than mine, so we didn't really get the formation flying effect, but still pretty cool.

Jim Flis took a picture, but he hasn't posted the photo album yet
 
I am delighted to report that after I showed up at the Club Launch on Nov. 15th, and distributed the remaining Halloween bowls, that we had a "drag race" and were judged by a completely impartial group of old hands and vendors who had gathered to witness the show down.

Before we get to the results, let me tell you that I cut out my center with side cutters, breaking a number of other web pieces and having to reglue them with thick CA. I used two centering rings and an internal motor block to hold an 18 mm motor housing in place along with a metal motor clip.

My competitor used the black plastic bowl (since mine was purple) and disappeared over toward the vendor's table to assemble his. To my great surprise, he came back in record time and told me he was ready, having hidden his finished product behind his back.
Sensing something was amiss, I insisted to see what he had done, as I attempted to load a B6-4 into my motor mount, and discovered some wood glue had CA had leaked into the tube, requiring a hobby knife to carve it away, before the motor would settle in to any depth at all.
During this time, I got a good look at his supped-up bowl and discovered that all he did was CA glue a D12-3 motor onto the bowl without cutting anything away or building anything remotely like a motor mount. (I had thought that he dopped his motor with black powder or something until I realized that he had just tried to out-class my motor!)

Knowing that I was out-matched, I agreed to race anyway, and after a bit of stuggle to get the ignitor and clips in place, we finally were ready. We had a single person press both launch buttons at the same time while others were assigned to watch for:
1) first off the pad
2) highest flight
3) last to land on grass

I crossed my fingers and warned everyone to take cover as we were flying untested scratch-builds and honestly didn't know what might happen.
The buttons were pushed, and I realized our club secretary wasn't present to record the race. And I forgot to whip out my new smart phone, so there is NO video of the race.
But trust me, this is what happened... I thought they went off the pad together, and would have assumed so, except the watcher who launched said No, that mine was off the rod first! Point one for me!

Second, there's little doubt that his black basket went higher than mine, but not an outlandish amount! So he got a point for that.

But in a close heat, they both dropped fairly gently back to earth, and against all odds that I would have given, his impacted the ground within a second or two before mine did!

There was great joy in Mudville, as the old hands cheered my victory! I had scored two points to his one, and so, the little engine that could, won!

I can only think that two things happened in my favor. One, I suspect my launch lug, which was a plastic soda straw, almost immediately sheared off, giving my basket a little less friction to get off the rod.
I don't know what he had used, but it may have been a paper straw or a bigger McD's straw cut to fit. I didn't examine his build closely...he wouldn't let me.

His motor was at least four times as strong as mine, and so I assume it went twice as high as mine did, but it was hard to gauge from my location.

As his motor was so much larger and heavier, I am assuming that that additional weight made the basket heavier so when it flipped downward, it was overcoming the slight air resistance more than mine,
and so came down faster to close the distance and edge mine out to impact the ground sooner.

At least, these were my private thoughts.
As it was, there was a good deal of teasing and general good humor all around for this bit of light hearted fun in a chilly cold of 40 degrees and slightest of breezes.

So, I'm counting the experience as a success. My opponent asked if he could keep the bowl, which I heartily agreed to (I have a third, purple one held in reserve that I almost passed out to another competitor.) and I suspect that he's going to either re-work his craft to be lighter, or cut away the centerpiece or fashion something and ask for a rematch next time we launch...probably March or April.

I asked around and yes, one other rocketeer who was there had seen this thread on the forum, and verified that this was an actual nationwide Halloween project that many had tried. So I think that helped to convince my competitor to jump in.
Again, many thanks for the support and instructions for this bit of Halloween fun for all!
 
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Well, I wasted two more old suspect motors today... and managed to 1) hit a parked SUV while the owner was watching (I apologized off camera), 2) destroy the rocket in the process.

 
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I think I figured out what caused the failure. I bent an Estes engine hook out to get rid of the finger tab, and installed it backwards leaving a lot of it still attached. I think the flames deflected off of the metal and focused in one spot, causing it to burn through... The damage is obviously opposite of the metal.
 
Today, I finally tried to get a video of a triple drag race of three of the converted Halloween bowl-saucers.

Well, one misfired. But the other two do show sort of well how nicely they fly in formation. Though of course the one time I finally get video, there is more dispersion horizontally than usual.

[video=youtube;7szMNcHJKXY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7szMNcHJKXY[/video]

Also, it won't be too long before Target starts getting Halloween stuff again. So, hopefully they will have these spider-web bowls again. Also, some Dollar Tree stores had them last year.

Below, a photo on the rack, with one of the sometimes hard to find copter-discs from early summer which is also a great conversion.

- George Gassaway

4Uq3jmG.jpg
 
bump.
Tis the season to try to promote this halloween drag race again...
 
I keep looking at Target and the dollar stores... haven't seen any candy bowls yet this year.
 
Hey George,

What are you flying that copter-disc on? I just picked one up about a month ago at Target ($3) and was thinking of the same. May end up using it as part of a German WWII experimental jet rotor craft down the line.

Also great idea with the bowls! I'll keep an eye out for them at Target. :)

Edit: Nevermind! I found the copter thread: https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...disc-at-Target-great-flying-rocket-conversion :)
 
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What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday, I looked and found that there were no spiderweb candy bowls... today, Dollar Tree had Orange, Purple, and Black in stock. I scored one of each.
 
What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday, I looked and found that there were no spiderweb candy bowls... today, Dollar Tree had Orange, Purple, and Black in stock. I scored one of each.

Nice. For Target, I figure they still have the last bits of the summer stuff to clear out, and all the "Back to School" stuff, then a lot of Halloween stuff ought to show up. Did already see some Halloween plastic buckets in the $1-3 section, though there were also other buckets of the same type with non-holiday coloring. Do not recall when I first saw the Spider-web Halloween bowls in Target last year, and of course no guarantee they would have them again this year.

Meanwhile, at Michaels, 2 weeks ago, they already had Christmas stuff in a store that only opened August 1st!

- George Gassaway
 
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So, with St. Patrick’s Day this month, I decided to add a hat to one of the Halloween web bowl Flying Saucers, and fly it:

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Well, OK, the story is backwards. A few weeks ago, I saw a 5-pack of little St. Patrick’s Day hats in a Dollar Tree (of course), and figured they’d make for good 13mm motor conversions. It is so easy to convert one. Use a centering ring to hold a 13mm tube in in say a BT-55 or BT-50. Glue a 13mm motor tube flush with the ring. Add a plug inside the 13mm tube, I cut off the last 3/16” of an old balsa nose cone base, and glued that into the 13mm tube. Drill a 3/16” hole in the ring, just touching the 13mm tube for the launch lug to go thru, and glue a lug to the tube and thru that hole (flush). Apply contact cement to the top of the ring, and press into place in the center of the hat. Hold until it is dry enough to sit by itself. After dry, use a model knife to cut a hole into the top of the hat for the rod to slide thru the lug. See photo below on the right side, for the engine mount inside (used a BT-5 to BT-55 ring)

I actually built it with the intent to fly it by itself. But once it occurred to me to stage it on top of the Halloween saucer…. that was it!

Oh yeah, did I leave that out? It wasn’t being “worn” by the saucer, it was using the saucer as a first stage booster.

It flew nicely. I used an A3-4T engine in it, which worked well.

I found out on recovery though, that the ejection particles had shotgunned a bunch of melt holes into it. It’s still flyable, but not as pretty. I’ll probably pry the mount out and put the mount into one of the 4 leftovers. So, this needs to be flown on a plugged motor , or a booster motor. Well, I could go to the trouble to do a different assembly using an 18mm tube so that the 13mm mount could vent the ejection gases rearward between the 13mm tube and 18mm tube. Hmmmm, maybe. I really don’t like tiny saucers flying on A10’s, just too fast and it’s over, so it might be worth going to the trouble to do that for flying on A3’s.

- George Gassaway

hdLgpps.jpg
 
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I found out on recovery though, that the ejection particles had shotgunned a bunch of melt holes into it. It’s still flyable, but not as pretty. I’ll probably pry the mount out and put the mount into one of the 4 leftovers. So, this needs to be flown on a plugged motor , or a booster motor. Well, I could go to the trouble to do a different assembly using an 18mm tube so that the 13mm mount could vent the ejection gases rearward between the 13mm tube and 18mm tube. Hmmmm, maybe. I really don’t like tiny saucers flying on A10’s, just too fast and it’s over, so it might be worth going to the trouble to do that for flying on A3’s.

- George Gassaway

hdLgpps.jpg
You could always cut a hole to vent the ejection charge, and then retain the motor (tape, or motor hook) to stop the damage.
 
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You could always cut a hole to vent the ejection charge, and then retain the motor (tape, or motor hook) to stop the damage.

Maybe. The plastic (VERY thin vac-form) is likely to get melted by the airflow blowing the hot gases back. Also the hole in top kind of hurts the aesthetics (I win bonus points for using that word today!), a lot more than the lug hole.

- George Gassaway
 
Maybe. The plastic (VERY thin vac-form) is likely to get melted by the airflow blowing the hot gases back. Also the hole in top kind of hurts the aesthetics (I win bonus points for using that word today!), a lot more than the lug hole.

- George Gassaway

I dunno George, having the hat all melted and all, kind of hurts the aesthetics too. Who knows, it might stop the hat faster, and you won't get the hot gasses blown back at the hat. Nice thing is... They're cheap (if you can find them).
 
I dunno George, having the hat all melted and all, kind of hurts the aesthetics too.

Oh, definitely melted is not good, regardless.

But I did mention two other possible fixes. One being to use plugged or booster motors - pretty much A10's, but in general I don't like A10's in saucers. The other being, for A3-4t's, what I described where an 18mm tube could have a 13mm motor tube mounted in it, in a way to vent the ejection out the back between the two tubes.

In the Astron Falcon 2.5X R/C RBG scale-up I did recently, for a totally different reason I rigged up a rear vent system where the gases vent out between the 18mm motor tube and the BT-60 pod tube. That one was done that way because I did not want to eject the motor out, but could not vent it forward, and venting out the sides would not look good.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?132422-Estes-Astron-Falcon-Boost-Glider-kit-K-13

So, anyway, that is why a 13mm to 18mm system for venting the gases out the back came to mind for this, the recent work on the Falcon's rear vented pod.

- George Gassaway

s6WrwkJ.jpg
 
I picked up a purple version of this year’s spider web bowl at Dollar Tree the other day. It is heavier/thicker than the prior version and more like the snowflake bowls. Similar more brittle plastic as well. After it serves its candy dish purpose this year it’ll probably get a 24mm mount so I can use up D12-0s in it as I have done with a snowflake.

My snowflake bowl rocket has been used quite a few times as a S.M.E.V. by the way, especially after we found a number of E12-6s with no ejection charges last winter by crashing a TARC rocket with the first one... :(
 
It's that time of year again.

Saw Spider Web Bowls at Dollar Tree last Sunday. Same as the originals, not thicker.

So, get 'em while you can.

Though maybe not all stores may carry them, so YMMV.
.
 
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