OH!!! I Gotta Get Me One Of These!!! AIM-54 Phoenix Missile (Water Rocket Edition)

[K'Tesh]

Posted in the Vintage Estes Rockets et constructions personnalisées FB page by François Herzig

Making a missile into the mind of the American Phoenix, in a water rocket version, has kept me busy for a good week.

I could fly one of those here in China...

 

[K'Tesh]

Got this response from the builder... In both French and English.

François

Hello Jim!
Cette fusée à eau est constituée d'un réservoir de 4 litres (éléments collés). La tuyère est en plein goulot (22 mm) et le système d'ouverture de la case à parachute est commandé par une minuterie (Tommy Timer).

This water rocket consists of a 4 liter tank (glued elements). The nozzle is full neck (22 mm) and the opening system of the parachute box is controlled by a timer (Tommy Timer).

Jim

I'd love to know how you made the nosecone... It looks like the actual tip is made from a material like aluminum, or perhaps wood. However, it's the bottle behind it that has me confused. Did you find one that shape, or were somehow able to mold a bottle into that shape?

J'aimerais savoir comment vous avez fabriqué le nez... On dirait que la pointe réelle est faite d'un matériau comme l'aluminium, ou peut-être le bois. Cependant, c'est la bouteille derrière qui m'a confondu. En avez-vous trouvé une de cette forme ou avez-vous réussi à façonner une bouteille dans cette forme ?
Veuillez excuser les erreurs de traduction (j'utilise Google Translate).

François

Hello Jim.
No problem for the translation because I do the same...
The warhead is turned in balsa and the rest of the fairing is a bottle of Canada Dry...

Jim

Merci pour l'info... Comment avez-vous rendu la section Canada Dry si pointue ? Je suppose que vous utilisez des bouteilles de 2 litres.

Thanks for the info... How did you get the Canada Dry section so pointy? I'm presuming you're using 2 Liter bottles.

 

[viney266]

Here I was thinking "water rocket"...MEH I'll go have a look. Wow, am I impressed. I am still taking it all in.

 

[Cape Byron]

Got this response from the builder... In both French and English.

Thanks for contacting the builder. I get more interested in water rockets every burn ban season.

 

[K'Tesh]

More from the builder...


François

Les bouteilles ont une contenance de 1.5 litres. Pour la mise sous pression, j'utilise une base de lancements à bouchon compressible, contrairement à Raketfued qui utilisent une base de lancements à système Gardena. Pour le collage des éléments, j'utilise la colle PU bois classique mélangée à la Sikaflex 11 FC.

The bottles have a capacity of 1.5 liters. For pressurization, I use a compressible plug launch pad, unlike Raketfued who use a Gardena system launch pad. For gluing the elements, I use the classic PU wood glue mixed with Sikaflex 11 FC.

My response

Merci pour l'info... Avez-vous un lien vers quelque chose qui explique le fonctionnement de la "plateforme de lancement de prise compressible" ?
Tous mes vœux!
Thanks for the info... Do you have a link to something that explains how the "compressible plug launch pad" works?
All The Best!

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[modeltrains]

That is a good looking model & seeing its "x-ray version" is doubly interesting.

 

[Sandy H.]

Interesting. I hope the dialog between you and the builder continues and maybe a few here start posting about water rockets. Might be a fun side project for summer (and burn ban times, as mentioned above). Hmm, if you used Perrier for the fuel, would it be a sparkly motor or maybe 'le sparkly'?

Sandy.

 

[K'Tesh]

Here's a video he posted on FB showing the Tommy Timer which controls the deployment of the parachute.



And here's a tutorial on making your own Tommy Timer:

 

[Johnly]

Way Cool!!

 

[K'Tesh]

Another video on the recovery system:

https://fb.watch/crZ_z_vTL1/