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samb

samb

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The latest transgression against our hobby was committed last night on black-ish. (Yeah, I watched it, SO WHAT ! :p I'm a big Laurence Fishburne fan. ;)) The family built an Estes Mercury Redstone in memory of the Challenger Heroes. At the end of the episode the dad walks out to the backyard and proceeds to light the fuse !?!#@$% They had a nice new Estes plastic tripod pad so how hard would it have been to use the controller ? Maybe they had too many misfires with the stock igniters ? Maybe take it to a park or school yard ?
 
Not to make light of your concern, but I think this is no big deal. TV and movies get a lot of stuff wrong and yet the earth still rotates on its axis, people go to work, Cleveland has a lousy football team, etc. How many times have you seen people use a defibrillator when someone "flatlines" on TV? Pointless, as a defibrillator is used to shock a heart out of abnormal rhythm, not start a stopped heart, but you see it all the time. With defibrillators being put in many public places the misuse of one of those is far more problematic than the fuse scenario you saw on a TV show.

Anyway, if people decide to go get a model rocket and motors they will get igniters with the motors and realize that is how they are started. Besides, where would most people get fuse? I have never seen any in a hardware store. I suppose you could get some at Al's Explosives and Stuff, but not everyone has one of those in town.
 
Zeus-cat said:
Not to make light of your concern, but I think this is no big deal. TV and movies get a lot of stuff wrong and yet the earth still rotates on its axis, people go to work, Cleveland has a lousy football team, etc. How many times have you seen people use a defibrillator when someone "flatlines" on TV? Pointless, as a defibrillator is used to shock a heart out of abnormal rhythm, not start a stopped heart, but you see it all the time. With defibrillators being put in many public places the misuse of one of those is far more problematic than the fuse scenario you saw on a TV show.

Anyway, if people decide to go get a model rocket and motors they will get igniters with the motors and realize that is how they are started. Besides, where would most people get fuse? I have never seen any in a hardware store. I suppose you could get some at Al's Explosives and Stuff, but not everyone has one of those in town.
Click to expand...

Cannon fuse is actually sold on eBay in the rocketry section. Referred to as old school model rocket starter LOL. I am 57 years old never used it to launch a model rocket. Mabey I am not old enough.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-SKOOL-...009997?hash=item3fd685748d:g:dAEAAOSwBDlatP5J
 
Still, we do not want to promulgate this kind of inaccurate depiction of our sport to the mass public.
How hard would it have been to get it right?
Trying to save a couple of bucks by using the studio set?
And a kid seeing that could easily get a hold of an Estes motor and try to light it with a fuse pulled from an unlit firecracker.
Educate yourselves, producers!
 
I remember years ago seeing an episode of the Drew Carey show that had a scene where Drew built a rube-goldberg machine that ultimately hit Mimi in the face with a pie, but one of the components was a model train engine with a match that lit the fuse on a rocket (looked like an Estes Alpha III with wrong stickers). All within an office building. That one always irked me.
 
Even the king of the nerds, Josh Whedon, got it wrong when they lit the fuse on Wash's memorial rocket at the end of Serenity. [SIGH] It's a conspiracy I tell ya !
 
I don't think this is that big of deal. Hopefully most people who decide to get into the hobby have some type of common sense and will take the time to read the instructions provided.
 
Brent said:
Cannon fuse is actually sold on eBay in the rocketry section. Referred to as old school model rocket starter LOL. I am 57 years old never used it to launch a model rocket. Mabey I am not old enough.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-SKOOL-...009997?hash=item3fd685748d:g:dAEAAOSwBDlatP5J
Click to expand...

Well, thanks, Brent.
Now I WANT one too !
:D

You have to admit it - NFPA or not, lighting a fuse is way more visually stimulating and exciting scene than pushing a plastic button.
And visual stimulation is what TV is all about.
 
Zeus-cat said:
Besides, where would most people get fuse? I have never seen any in a hardware store.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention the fuse and hardware store because that’s where I used to get fuse back when I was a younger man. Also the gun shop that used to be in my town many years back used to ask if you needed any fuse with that when you bought black powder. Maybe that’s why they are the gun shop that used to be there instead of the gun shop that is still there.
 
solid_fuel said:
Funny you should mention the fuse and hardware store because that’s where I used to get fuse back when I was a younger man. Also the gun shop that used to be in my town many years back used to ask if you needed any fuse with that when you bought black powder. Maybe that’s why they are the gun shop that used to be there instead of the gun shop that is still there.
Click to expand...

Is there a crater and what looks like scattered toothpicks where the building used to be?

When I was a kid our Estes Solar Igniter crapped out on us and we used green M-80 fuse. My older brother got a roll. We cut it to uniform lengths so we know about how much time we had to run away and turn around before it went. Not safe at all, but I still have all my fingers and both eyebrows (slowly morphing into one large eyebrow as I age)

The TV thing doesn't bother me. It's entertainment, not an instructional video on how to launch a rocket. If anyone happens to show up at our launches with fuse, we'll point out the safety code and show them how to use our launch controller.
 
Brent said:
Cannon fuse is actually sold on eBay in the rocketry section.
Click to expand...
Yeppers, I picked up the 2mm fuse. It's diameter is small enough to fit into 18mm nozzle throats.
I needed it not for launches, but for the retro motor firing of a kit I have.
https://store.heavenlyhobbies.com/01-024-0001.html
Plus NAR rules stipulate that all launches need to be done electrically.
0108202010.jpg
 
I wonder if the fuse could be used like the old Centuri igniters; a short length of fuse in the motor nozzle with nichrome wrapped around it to get it going.
 
As a kid we used to do some very stupid stuff with black powder and fuses. It makes me shudder now to think what we did without injury.

A friend had a toy cannon that he'd put 6" of fuse into, then pack with a few pinches of black powder, and it would fire with a very loud boom. Neat.

When that got boring we took a 35mm film canister and cut a hole for a long fuse, filled the bottom half with black powder, stuffed the rest with tin foil, and put the cap on. To get the very loud and powerful explosions we'd wind it with strapping tape (the kind with strings in it) round and round until it had about an inch thick layer of tape. Set in the middle of the street, fuse lit, metal garbage can lid set on top, and we'd run like hell. The sound was incredible, the lid flew 50' or more in the air, and it was amazing.

Want to hear what we did to launch a tennis ball up and out of sight?
 
jlabrasca said:
I didn't know we had a king! I thought we were autonomous collective. Or an an anarcho-syndicalist commune, where we take turns as a sort of executive-officer, week by week...
Click to expand...

Bloody peasant ! :angiefavorite:


Of course we have a king, The Lady of the Lake lobbed a scimitar at him. ;)
 
I do think the tv misrepresentations are a big deal only because there are people not in involved in our hobby and never will be. They see that, lighting a rocket with a fuse, and it causes them to believe this is a dangerous situation and should be grouped in with explosives and be banned or heavily restricted.
We dont need any negitive input. The right to fly as we do is a fragile thing I believe. A lot of effort has and is being done to make our hobby as safe as practical. The public needs to be educated about the safety of the hobby we enjoy and not be exposed to the BS on tv.
 
Mushtang said:
As a kid we used to do some very stupid stuff with black powder and fuses. It makes me shudder now to think what we did without injury.

A friend had a toy cannon that he'd put 6" of fuse into, then pack with a few pinches of black powder, and it would fire with a very loud boom. Neat.

When that got boring we took a 35mm film canister and cut a hole for a long fuse, filled the bottom half with black powder, stuffed the rest with tin foil, and put the cap on. To get the very loud and powerful explosions we'd wind it with strapping tape (the kind with strings in it) round and round until it had about an inch thick layer of tape. Set in the middle of the street, fuse lit, metal garbage can lid set on top, and we'd run like hell. The sound was incredible, the lid flew 50' or more in the air, and it was amazing.

Want to hear what we did to launch a tennis ball up and out of sight?
Click to expand...


A gang of us guys in the 60's early 70's did the same thing, along with Kno3/ sugar, zinc/sulfur and a few other chemical mixtures. We also used the film canisters and spend prescription pill bottles. Duct tape was the favorite for us. It abruptly ended when my uncle blew a couple of his fingers off. We were very lucky through the years that that was the only incident other than a few burnt fingers at times.
 
given that motors come with starters included(and plugs). I wouldn't worry overmuch.
Rex
 
Mushtang said:
As a kid we used to do some very stupid stuff with black powder and fuses. It makes me shudder now to think what we did without injury.

A friend had a toy cannon that he'd put 6" of fuse into, then pack with a few pinches of black powder, and it would fire with a very loud boom. Neat.

When that got boring we took a 35mm film canister and cut a hole for a long fuse, filled the bottom half with black powder, stuffed the rest with tin foil, and put the cap on. To get the very loud and powerful explosions we'd wind it with strapping tape (the kind with strings in it) round and round until it had about an inch thick layer of tape. Set in the middle of the street, fuse lit, metal garbage can lid set on top, and we'd run like hell. The sound was incredible, the lid flew 50' or more in the air, and it was amazing.

Want to hear what we did to launch a tennis ball up and out of sight?
Click to expand...

Danger . . . GOOD . . . Fire . . . GOOD . . . Explosion . . . GOOD ! ! !




 
There was an episode of 'Bunkd' on the Disney channel about a year ago where the camp kids had a rocket contest. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8096974/ It was handled very sensibly for the flight operations and launching. The drama was that the counselors were helping the dorky kid with his rocket so he wouldn't be out shined and embarrassed by the nerd kid, but they helped him 'too much' and the dork out scored the nerd. It's actually a fair lesson for TARC mentors.
 
Mushtang said:
Want to hear what we did to launch a tennis ball up and out of sight?
Click to expand...

My freshman roommate and I built a tennis-ball cannon per the classic design (from the days when tennis balls came in metal cans). We sent a few shots down the length of the hallway outside of our room, Friday before finals. A few days later the two guys who lived at the other end of the hall tried to duplicate our accomplishment and managed to set the carpet on fire. Three dorms were evacuated and about 200 students sent out into the quad for two hours in the middle of the night during finals.

I launched a lot of rockets with green "rocketry fuse" back when I was a not-yet born-again rocketkeer. I had an Estes Astron Launch Control System, but lantern batteries were expensive and I could rarely count on a parent or sibling to open a car hood for me. I still have about a meter of fuse, almost certainly purchased at Allied Hobbies when I was in middle school.
 
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