What's your most expedient, rat rocket you've ever made,

[Knuckledragger]

something you threw together without concern for spirals, fillets, or colors just so you could fly the bejeezus out of it?

 

[jd2cylman]

Most of my rockets...

 

[tsmith1315]

3"/38mm scratch built from whatever I could scrape up immediately to feed my building jones. Centering rings from 3/8" plywood, 1 length of LOC body tube. NC, chute, etc borrowed from another rocket. Divided my only piece of fin stock into thirds, used a straight edge to make roots, then shaped what was leftover and cut it. Homely in all white, but it's the only rattle can I had. The maiden flight on I300T alleviated any concern about it's worthiness. Instantly became my favorite flier.

Well-deserved upgrades and changes followed, including it's very own nose cone, parachute and black paint. This is the only picture I can find, on J350W in DD mode.

 

[MClark]

My level 2 rocket.
Was at LDRS at Black Rock, first day a L2 cert flight could be done, the motor on first attempt was a single use J125 that ejected right at burnout. I had to do the flight on that day, doing it on the second day would be not as good.
So I needed another. In the motor box I had a K125 single use 98. 20 second burn.
I bought from PML a 4” Patriot with a 29mm mount, glued the fins so they didn’t protrude inside airframe tube so the motor would fit, with the fin tabs they stuck way out. We did a quick estimate on CP and added weight to nose using dirt and epoxy.
It was an ugly spud.
I launched it 45 minutes after first attempt shredded.

M

 

[dhbarr]

My L2. I haven't been able to fly much these last couple of years, but I was at the UPS store and they had these 3in mailing tubes.... so I woodglued a tubefin, added a strap from one of the boys' old carseats, stuck in a Big Daddy nosecone, then drove straight to LDRS.

 

[mooffle]

I slapped together some 13mm MD rockets for my kid and I to paint together after he inadvertantly crushed a rocket I had put more effort into.

Basically I wanted something he could play with, leftover fin cans and scrap parts made for a pair of 20 minute builds.

One was crushed after flight #1. It's half bent but still flies straight!

 

[BBowmaster]

I used to glue fins and nose cones to 13mm engines and launch out of a paper towel tube “silo” in my sandbox. That count?

 

[GalantVR41062]

The middle rocket is the first mpr I built in 2017 as a BAR. Its named "Recon 1 1/2", its first flight was not stable but landed. I have sense made the canards much smaller and added a short piece of body tube and nose cone over the conical cone. The booster started life as a Estes snap shot camera rocket. The fins have broken off and glued back on a lot. I had issues with the recovery gear but after 17 flights ranging from a 18mm c6-3 to a econojet F44w-8 it's a nice straight fling rocket and my go to test flight for launching at local parks.


On the left a MD single use c6-7 with a golf tee nose cone and steel fishing line recovery harness/tumble recovery. If flew great at the HP launch to 1200-1400'. OR simed to 1650'. I should have brought a golf ball for the recovery shot.

 

[jqavins]

I had a box of miscellaneous parts that I'd bought en mass from someone leaving the hobby. It sincluded some parts I didn't think I'd use, like a one piece molded plastic fin can, motor mount, and engine retainer (18 mm) for BT-60, and a nose cone with a ribbed shoulder that was really a little too big for a BT-60. Then one day I needed something to test a home made propellant, so I took a full length of BT-60; sanded down the ribs on the nose cone, and it still was a really tight fit so I glued it in; cut the tube below the cone and installed coupler; glued in the fin can; added a shock cord by the tri-fold on both ends; and a parachute. I gave it a shot and the motor was a complete failure. It burned nicely but generated no thrust to speak of, and the rocket never even moved.

Later I gave it a paint job with no filling anything. It's still yet to fly. It's name is "Dispensable".

Pictures later.