FOAM, are you serious??? FOAM???

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Lowpuller

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That's right foam, as in coffee cups, an entire rocket made of coffee cups with a glider!

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The Fliskits Decaffienator, with a few slight modifications.

The rocket comes with a D size engine hook, I increased this to an E size hook and changed the launch lug to rail buttons.

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1503282893.894868.jpg

This is a really fun and easy kit to build, and challenges your thinking about rocket construction.

I also have to say Jim, as in Jim Flis, provided customer Service second to none, I needed this Rocket in a hurry for a competition and he made it happen and answered all my questions about possible mods. Thanks Jim!!!

The rocket is recommended to fly on a C11 or a D12, but I just may have to shove an AT E18 in that baby and see what happens!

And yes that is a Leviathan and a Mega Der Red Max both NIB, hanging in the background.

I can't wait to fly this thing.

I'm very impressed with the Fliskits, and their out of the box thinking, several just went on my build list, either a Deuces Wild or a Recker is up next.

The only down side is this slows my L3 pursuit, but it also broadens my building horizon.
 
LOVE IT!

If you re-did this with 5 gallon buckets, and didnt fly it (for one flight) with the glider (also scaled).... you could do a L3 with it!!
 
My club has competition with coffee cups all the time except we don't bother with fins!
 
I had the chance to tour a EPS (Expanded Poly-Styrene) manufacturing plant when I was a roofing foreman.
They make that stuff in blocks 48"x36"x24' and dry them on end. They cut it with hot wire machines for tapered 4'x4' panels length wise, then cut to 4' long with a single vertical hot wire.
They did custom moldings for shipping packages, panels for insulated garage doors and entry doors and lots of other stuff. The glue they used was activated by a UV light.
The density is determined by how much steam they pump into the mixing chamber.
They start with little tiny beads of hard styrene, and mix with steam. The less steam, the more dense the final product is. This is where they get the "Expanded" part of the name.
I will never drink out of an EPS cup...EVER.
While the tour was quite interesting and I learned quit a bit about many things, the place was filthy. The molds for the different sized cups they made was...well...Filthy.
If you pour water into a new cup and see a film on the water...that is the food grade (?) release agent they use. The wand they sprayed the molds with was just yucky.
And when the cups went to the coloring/print room for branding...I don't think the floor was ever swept.
I did walk away with some new knowledge, a couple T-shirts and ceramic coffee mugs and baseball caps.
While I would never drink out of an EPS cup, I would fly them!
 
My sons and I have been flying our Decaffeinator, and frequently repairing it, at least since the 1999 NARAM in Pittsburgh
 
I have been really intrigued with the foam cup construction. The rocket is a lot stronger than it looks. With Jim's permission I am posting a few other of his suggested designs. I'm gonna have to give one of these a try.

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1503453930.451578.jpg

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I've been thinking about building the Humongous with rail buttons positioned so that the rail goes through the center or at least close to the center of the rocket.
 
In case you ever wondered what a Decaf looks like off the rail on an E-18.

Let's just say to much thrust. You could literally see the rocket bend but continue to follow the nose cone ending in a lawn "dart" ok more like a mud pie than a dart.

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1504569655.016123.jpg

The glider shredded on the way up, before it even left the rail.
 
The pictures above are on E-11s, nice black smoke, flew great.
 
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