Estes Rockets Model Scale 1:100 Replica of SpaceX Falcon 9
estesrockets.com
estesrockets.com
The timing worked out that I got to enter it in the local model rocketry club's "sport scale" contest, and the judge dinged me for having windows--at that time there was no crew dragon that had flown. (I still won the contest).
The rocket has only flown once, but I still have it. Eight of the nine A10-3T motors lit, and the chute deployed just before hitting the ground. It really could use a shorter delay time but you don't have many options with motors of that size.
I had ambitions of building a falcon heavy, but I really wanted the boosters to fall off and have the central core continue under thrust. Then I had kids and haven't had time for rockets, but I still have hopes of doing that build--probably with high-power motors--at some point in the future.
Model rocketry is maybe the one thing I miss the most after moving to California. Between airspace regulations and wildfire risk, I don't think it's something I can really do without a long drive to the desert. I guess it probably wasn't really allowed for us to go do it in fields in rural New England either, but that felt different.
[1]: http://lunar.org/
Do you have a video of it flying? I'd love to see that
I got into model rockets after I had kids, when my then 5 year old son asked me if we could “build a rocket to go to the moon”. I suggested we start small and work our way up. He lost interest after several rockets and a hundred or so launches — well before we reached that goal.
But it was a blast. We even had a birthday party with rocket launches and a moon shaped-cake. So my suggestion: build (small) rockets with your kids — they’ll love it!
As for a heavy design--put high thrust engines in the sides and low thrust/longer burn engines in the core. The pieces are *not* attached, the core is basically riding on pins on the sides, when the sides burn out the core simply lifts off the pins. Arrange the fins on the sides so they have a desire to fly a bit off straight--once they separate they'll start to spin outward from the core and hopefully not get fried. Put some engines with a very short delay that blow out streamers and a longer delay (once the streamers have a chance to kill the spin) for chutes. I'm not sure how to build compartments for them, though, the standard deployment won't work.
You'll need a very powerful ignition system to get everything to light close enough together.
More recently (circa 2019) I set off some pressurized carbon capsule based rockets in the exact same park. Similar idea without the fireworks ordinance problems.
In theory an urban environment should be far more hostile to this sort of activity (and for good reason) yet it everyone seemed fine and even encourages it. The spirit is alive and well. Maybe its just your specific area?
They know what they're milking - as it is, that thing costs more than the Lego Saturn V did at launch, and almost as much as you can get it now after-market.
(Even if it looks like it belongs in a bedside drawer...)
/s
Would it be better if the price was $30, they sold out their inventory immediately, and then the models were available from scalpers on amazon for $149?
If they sell out at $30, do another production run and sell more rockets to more people.
Someone needs to do some copy editing hehe, as they seem to be confusing the scale model for the real thing.
I'd love to know if it will ever be possible to build tiny liquid-fueled rockets (with 3d-printing of the a model rocket engine being possible at some point).
but...liquid propellents are either pretty dangerous (hydrazine et al), or impossible for an amateur to work with (cryo requirements, pressures required, complex starting sequence etc).
The plumbing, extra parts, materials required, tolerances mean that what you might consider as a "classic" liquid design ends up being pretty heavy at a small scale, so you have to build a bigger engine to cope with the extra weight. So you would end up with an engine not really that analogous to what you would consider "classic" liquid designs (gas generators/tap-offs/staged combustions).
However.... Frank Malina and Jack Parsons essentially did what you're proposing in the 1930s without any new fangled 3d printing technology, so it's possible! Just don't end up like Jack Parsons.
Robert Goddard’s first rockets were basically model rocket sized.
(Many model rockets don't get above 500 feet, so they never can even get into controlled airspace (usually 1200 ft above ground level) unless you're launching at an airport, which can be totally legal depending on where you are - most places have model rocket clubs and you can find where you can launch)
When it's not 1200, it is 700 ft AGL (above ground level)
I was poor and could only launch a few times. My go-to rocket was a "park toy rocket" I could fill with water, pump up manually, and launch over and over.
Pretty cool, I think. You can pull down the PDF if you like.
Covers the physics of model rocketry, shows you how to build a wind tunnel, talks about recovery, lifting capabilities, rocket-powered gliders, multi-staging, clustering, determining altitude.... (Stereotype humor on 2nd to last page depicting a Chinese man - near Peiping - holding an American model rocket.)
But it certainly feels like today’s 14 year olds couldn’t be trusted to do that since they’d do it with zero experience and only for the Youtube/Twitch fame.
My activity of choice is a pretty safe one: hiking. The number of idiots I see out there who know nothing of wilderness safety or what they're getting into, though, is insane. Most of them have no plan B if there's a problem.
This price is a little steep, in my opinion.
That and "Hobby Wick" which ensured takeoff because those electric fired ignitors hardly ever worked right..
Around 2010 in Ireland the motors became virtually unobtainable - there were a handful of shops importing them, and one day they stopped as customs had seized their stock.
Apparently what was a growing hobby with puff pieces in national media was now gone because someone decided to classify the motors as fireworks (illegal, under the same laws that ban importing your own Semtex).
There was a national rocketry club that managed to import motors for a few more years for club launches, but that seems to have fizzled out a few years back with the loss of their launch site.
So many good memories of trying to build my own rocket bodies, trying to get fins cut from balsa wood aligned, doing math, painting the things, etc. Estes have a whole guide on building em yourself. Then going down to some field and launching it, seeing if it worked, etc...
Beyond that I'm really happy to see this model simply because it's REALLY HARD to find toy or model SpaceX rockets.
Science stores and museums are still packed full of the same old space shuttle and rocket models and toys that were there in the 90s which is kind of ridiculous considering we have way cooler rockets now and the space shuttle has been retired for over a decade.
The official SpaceX store only sells t-shirts and hoodies.
> The SpaceX Falcon 9 is the world’s first human-rated reusable launch vehicle.
Thanks for the youtube link!