1. Building Tips:
A. Find a good place to build your
rockets. Something that is perfectly flat to
build on is
a must. I cover my work area with wax paper to keep from
gluing the
rocket or parts to the board.
B. Lengthen the shock cord. On small rockets,
I lengthen it to at least the
length
of the rocket. (Two to three times the
length of the rocket if it will fit
into
the body tube.) For heavier rockets,
I use 1/4" wide shock cords
instead of
the one that comes with the kit. I use sewing elastic for this.
There are
several types available. I have heard mixed reviews
on using this,
but I have
had no problems due to the shock cord burning in half.
C. Use epoxy on plastic to plastic or plastic
to paper/cardboard joints. It will be
much stronger
than plastic cement.
D. Buy a fin jig. They make attaching the
fins to your rockets much easier.
They have been discontinued,
however there are a few still out there to be
bought.
E. Save the instructions that came with
your rocket. You may need them later.
You could also photocopy
them and use the copy to make the rocket with
and save the original
instructions for later. I keep most of my instructions in
a binder for later
use. (The ones that haven't been lost in moves from state
to state.)
F. Trace your fin patterns onto a journal
or something that you are going to
keep. This will
make replacing broken ones a lot easier.
G. Fillet in the joints to your rockets
fins. A small fillet of about 1/8" wide will
make the
rocket more aerodynamic.
H. On parachute and shock cord knots add
a small dab of glue.
I. I carefully cut the
bag that the rocket comes in open at one end. Then I put
the rocket
in the bag and tape it off when it is time for painting.
This is
used when
I paint the rocket different colors.
J. When painting your rocket different
colors, paint the first color then allow
the paint
to dry for at least two days. Next, mask that section
off with
masking tape
and paint a coat or two of clear coat around the tape
to seal it
off. Let the
clear coat completely dry and then paint the next color. It
took me a
long time to learn this, and now my rockets look a lot better.
K. Before building your rocket, measure
everything that comes with the kit. If
you need to
replace something or decide to build another rocket
like that
one you will
have the information you need.
L. I run a thin layer of glue on the
inside of my body tubes from the end of the
tube down
to as far as I can reach. This should strengthen the
rocket and
help prevent
zippering.
M. When gluing your fins to the rocket,
run a thin layer of glue on the fin and
rocket where
the fin will attach. Let it dry and then run a bead of glue on
the fin and
attach it to the rocket. This will fill in the pores in the rocket
and body tube
and make the joint a lot stronger.
2. Flying Tips:
A. Find a flying site that is large
enough to fly the engines that you are planning
to use. It
should also be far away from houses, power lines,
and rocket
eating trees.
B. I always fly a small rocket or two just
to get a good feel for what the wind
is doing.
Sometimes it is blowing a lot harder at higher altitudes than it is at
ground level.
C. Use a little baby powder on your streamers
and parachutes. This will help
ensure that
they open, and will provide a "cloud" when the 'chute
opens
allowing you
to see it better. You can also do this on windy days to help
weight the
rocket down, so it doesn't go as high, thus reducing the chance
the rocket
will drift away.
D. On rockets with plastic fin units, use
an expended engine to lift the rocket
off the launch
pad a little. This will help prevent your fins from
melting.
You could
also use a clothes pin for this. This is a must for the Estes
AstroCam.
E. Use something to anchor your launch pad
down for large rockets or in
windy conditions.
I use coat hangers that I cut to about 10" long and
fold
them into a straight-lined
"u" shape.
F. Take your time when trimming your
gliders. It is best to trim them in a field
that has fairly
tall grass, just in case the glider crashes it won't break, or if it
does break it won't
be as bad. It is better to trim them this way than to find
out when they are
a few hundred feet in the air that they need trimming.
Also, it is better
to trim gliders early in the morning or late in the evening
when the wind is
not blowing as hard.
G. Do not become too
attached to your rockets. They have a way of ending up
broken or at the
top of the tallest tree around.
H. I always use a piece of recovery
wadding to wrap the parachute in. After I
stuff several sheets
of wadding into the rocket, I take one last sheet and
wrap it around the
'chute to help protect it from the hot gases.
I. If you have a rocket like the SpitFire
SSI that has a nose cone that is not
typical and it does not
fly straight up you can try rotating the nose cone to
different positions to
see if it will help. NOTE: This tip was sent to me
through this page to help
me with a problem I was having. It worked for me.
J. Make a list of the rockets that
you own and what engine(s) they fly on to
keep in your field box.
This might save you from flying your rockets with
the wrong engine and may
prevent you from ruining your rocket, due to too
long of a delay charge
or too powerful of an engine.
K. Things to take with you to the
flying field besides your rockets, launch pad,
and controller: an extra
parachute or two, some extra streamers, extra
batteries for the controller,
scissors, an X-acto knife, baby powder for the
parachutes and streamers,
a quick drying glue to make on-the-spot repairs, a
pen/pencil and paper to
take notes on, tape, string for your
parachutes/streamers,
a list of what engines your rockets fly on, A couple of
spare keys for your launch
controller, recovery wadding, extra igniters,
needle nose pliers (they
can be handy for removing used engines from your
rockets), a wire brush
for cleaning the clips on your controller, and if you
have rockets that use
rubber bands or anything special, you should take
spares just in case you
need them. NOTE: This list may not have everything
you may need on it, or
it may have things you don't necessarily need to have
for a fun day of flying
model rockets. It does have most of the basic items
you will need if you are
going to fly a few rockets and don't want to have to
quit for the day because
of something relatively simple to fix.
L. Other items that I take with me to the field, just
in case: A wooden spoon to
help insert the recovery
wadding, a ruler, putty to help balance gliders or to
add to a nose cone to
help stabilize a rocket, a small paintbrush to clean the
lens of my AstroCam when
I am flying it, the instructions for two-stage
rockets, my AstroCam,
and trimming instructions for gliders. two extra
controllers, the clothes
hangers that I bend into stakes to hold the launch pad
down, as mentioned in
step E above, paper reinforcements for my
parachutes/streamers,
swivels, used engines to help prop rockets with plastic
fin units up above the
blast deflector to help keep them from melting,
extra shock cord, and
a timer to time how long my flights are. All of this fits
neatly into a small tackle
box and a medium sized parts container, both of
which have carrying handles
and are easy to carry into and out of a field. I
almost forgot three other
things, I have a 10' pole with a hook on the end of
it to help me get rockets
out of trees, a fire extinguisher, just in case, and I
have a wagon to load everything
up in to make walking into a field a whole
lot easier.
3. Tips for repairing your rockets:
A. Coming Soon!