Source for streamer material

[pdooley]

Hello, what is good source for nice streamer material?
Is mylar the best? Maybe chrome color or something?
Looking for something highly visible to recover high flying roc..

 

[flying_silverad]

Originally posted by pdooley
Hello, what is good source for nice streamer material?
Is mylar the best? Maybe chrome color or something?
Looking for something highly visible to recover high flying roc..

This is what I do. Buy yourself a 10-50 foot roll of mylar at your local party store usually sold in 30 " widths. Then unroll the length that you want your streamers...say...40 inches. Cut it to that length and set aside the rest of the un-cut roll. Take the cut portion and roll it back up evenly and with a ruler or something flat. cut 1-2 inch sections of this roll. Ta-Da now you have a streamer that's the right width and length. Adjust according to your needs but i think you get the idea.

At the same party place, they will also sell crepe paper as well which makes an OK streamer.

Use a clear re-enforcements for the anchor points.

 

[sandman]

I have used crepe paper since the 60's for streamer material.

It may scorch sometimes but it cannot melt and stick together.

The best stuff I found...and the coolest...was from my local drug store right after the 4th of July.

They had red, white, and blue patriotic crepe paper streamer on sale for $0.10 a 50' roll.

Looks kinda cool too!

Pocket change!

sandman

 

[Micromeister]

pdooley:
That depends on what kind of model you are flying??? Very high altitude competition S/D models use .5 mil aluminzied mylar with folded 3/4" to 1" pleats the first 2/3rds of the 10 to 1 ratio streamer.
for Sport models, flying Siver has one source metalized gift wrap papers make good "visual" streamers but don't hold a pleat well to flap back on forth in the airstream as well. they will slow your model down somewhat.
I've seen rip-Stop nylon 4" x 40 and 6" x 60" streamers used in some LRM's with fair to good success in models up to 2 lbs.

Back to standard size models up to 1lb. here are some streamer materials I've personally used and found useful.

1" plastic surveyer's tape, many colors can be ganged with more then one strip...My Comanchee-3 has a 6 foot long yellow and green tape streamers.

2 & 3" crepe paper party ribbons. These were at one time a favorite of competition and sport flyers, usually good for several flights the old Goblin D powered model used crepe streamers.

2" Caution or Police plastic tape. Works very well for model rocket streamers, some manufacturers actually supply this material with kits. Pratt hobbies is one.

1/4" to 2" expanded PTFE (teflon) military colored tapes from McMaster-Carr supply or plain old 1/2" and 3/4" white "Plumbers" thread sealing tape. This stuff can be used as your streamer recovery system with or without wadding. Teflon being flameproof doesn't require additional wadding. The trick to using plumbers tape for streamers is to babypower the heck out of both sides before fold/rolling it the first time. then add a little powder ever so often to keep it from sticking to itself. simply tie the tape directly to your shock line.
Hope this helps

 

[powderburner]

You can order streamer material from Totally Tubular
https://www.buyrockets.com/buyrockets/tt.html
He sells aluminized mylar in two- and four-inch rolls, and sells other mylar in metalized colors.
You can probably also find it at places like FlisKits and others online----do a little looking around.

If you are in a really big hurry and are really cheap (like me), you can drive across town and buy a 'space blanket' for about $3 at your local sporting goods store (Academy, Oshmans, W-mart sporting goods section, etc). This thing unfolds into a full sheet of silvered mylar, about six by six feet, from which you can cut lots of streamers of any width you like.

And welcome to TRF!

 

[doxiedog315]

What a neet idea,going out for one today! Ps. any good ideas on gluing mylar?

 

[pdooley]

Thanks for the quick responses!!
The rocket in question is a Commanche, I wanted to upgrade the Estes streamer.
looks like i will be heading to a sporting goods store or party supply place.

thanks again to everyone that replied

 

[prowlerguy]

Originally posted by doxiedog315
What a neet idea,going out for one today! Ps. any good ideas on gluing mylar?

I have used the household cement/Glue-all type of adhesives for this. They aren't very tacky and take a while to set up, but if you press it flat while drying (while being careful with excess) it will bond just fine. I can get the exact trade name if you need it (Elmer's makes one, as does Duco and others).

 

[lalligood]

Another LPR streamer idea is a plastic (disposable) tablecloth from a party store (or party section of your neighborhood mega-department store). They come in all different colors & are less than $1.50. I bought a neon lime green one (thought that would be the brightest, most obnoxious color at the time) that's 54" x 96". I'll be cutting strips from that for....like, FOREVER

 

[edwardw]

With crepe paper has anyone just used a whole roll and ejected that out of the top and watched it unfurl? I thought it might be a cool idea.

 

[Fore Check]

I second the notion on the surveyor's tape. Bright colors, easy to work with. And a roll of it is around $2 and you'd have to build a lifetime's worth of rockets to use a whole roll. We use it at work as "flagging" material - to mark stockpiles of stone that are not in spec, tie on to conveyor idlers that need changing, that sort of thing. In other words, I get flourescent orange, blue, yellow, and/or green and don't have to pay for it (even though it is extremely cheeeeeeeep.)

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by edwardw
With crepe paper has anyone just used a whole roll and ejected that out of the top and watched it unfurl? I thought it might be a cool idea.

Actually, as a kid I would stuff 2 or 3 15-20ft long streamers in my rockets (or however much could fit rolled into the diameter of the rocket being flown). On the end of the streamer I'd put a penny for weight. At apogee these LONG streamers would drift down very slowly and produced a really cool effect.

 

[teflonrocketry1]

Originally posted by Micromister
1/4" to 2" expanded PTFE (teflon) military colored tapes from McMaster-Carr supply or plain old 1/2" and 3/4" white "Plumbers" thread sealing tape. This stuff can be used as your streamer recovery system with or without wadding. Teflon being flameproof doesn't require additional wadding. The trick to using plumbers tape for streamers is to babypower the heck out of both sides before fold/rolling it the first time. then add a little powder ever so often to keep it from sticking to itself. simply tie the tape directly to your shock line.
Hope this helps

Of course I second the Teflon streamer idea as per my alias. The Teflon Pipe Thread Selant Tapes come in different colors, but they look like they are faded or washed out. I have used them in my rockets for years, No Wadding required!

Bryuce S. Levison, NAR #69055

 

[astrowolf67]

Originally posted by edwardw
With crepe paper has anyone just used a whole roll and ejected that out of the top and watched it unfurl? I thought it might be a cool idea.

I remember reading in Sport Rocketry, about making a St. Louis Arch using crepe paper streamer. Seems like it was layed next to the pad, and some how attached to the rocket before launching. As the rocket went up, it unrolled the streamer, making a giant arch. I bet clean up would be fun!

 

[el chubbo]

I went to the a store called "Everything for a Dollar" here in Kansas....they had *thin* mylar giftwrap in (6) colors - (4) sheets to the pack...$1

This stuff works great! I punch a hole and add a "hole reinforcer" that you find at the office supply stores for each side - a strand of kevlar thread and you're off!

I'm sure everyone knows this already. Oh well.

 

[powderburner]

I really love how everybody pitches in here and shares their tips and secrets. There are outstanding contributions all over TRF!

I am not proud of the following story (why am I telling on myself?) but it kinda fits with this thread. When I first started flying model rockets, I felt like everything from Estes was somehow made especially for rockets, and NO substitutions could possibly be made. I religiously ordered official plastic parachutes, official shroud lines, and all the rest, direct from Estes. Equivalent materials were probably available at the local hobby shops for the same prices, or in the trash for free. It took me years before I dared to deviate.

 

[edwardw]

Originally posted by astrowolf67
I remember reading in Sport Rocketry, about making a St. Louis Arch using crepe paper streamer. Seems like it was layed next to the pad, and some how attached to the rocket before launching. As the rocket went up, it unrolled the streamer, making a giant arch. I bet clean up would be fun!

A little off topic but I think I will try that with my fiance's airplane, attach crepe paper to tail, fly

 

[Micromeister]

Originally posted by astrowolf67
I remember reading in Sport Rocketry, about making a St. Louis Arch using crepe paper streamer. Seems like it was layed next to the pad, and some how attached to the rocket before launching. As the rocket went up, it unrolled the streamer, making a giant arch. I bet clean up would be fun!

The ARCH is great fun! remove the recovery system from you Big bertha, tape a new roll of crepe paper to one fine (along the long edge) install a C6 motor in the model...any delay it makes on difference I use a C6-0... Launch the model, make sure to trail the streamer out away from the exhaust about a foot. makes a really cool flight.. touching down without a scratch.
It's really Kewl if you can get 3 or more folks to launch an arch at the same time.