[Frank Klenk]

OH YA! That's looks pretty cool. I've also heard of guys mounting rockets on gliders to get altitude. Not a problem though. Use a high start to get it up to a safe altitude and then IGNITION! Have fun experimenting and be careful too! Some pics on how the motors are mounted would be nice too. We all love pictures

Frank

[recon]

First of all, about the rocket going off in the basement. I insisted to my friend to keep the igniters out of the motors until we got the electronics hooked up. But he didnt really listen. So, while hooking up the wires to the 9 volt battery, he must have touched the opposite terminal for a split second setting off the igniter. The engine was securly mounted to the spad, so it didnt fly anywhere. It was a good thing no one was directly behind it.

In the earlier version he had the rockets at the back of the plane near the tail, but once it was balanced it weighed 5 pounds, so now he has them at the cg. Ive attached a pic that gives you an idea of how they are mounted using good ol' zip ties ! To set them off he has a switch that is activated by a servo plugged into the gear channel. He uses a servo arm to move the switch from off to on and vice verca. It is pretty neat how it is set up. To set off the igniters is just a normal 9 volt battery, but after one time setting off both motors the battery was not powerful enough to set off another 2. This plane is powered by a os .40 fp, and with this set up the rockets are activated while in flight.

[AJCoholic]

Why not use a nicad? A pair of cells in series will have more than enough voltage, and the current is way more than a 9V alkaline.

Are you using booster engine (DXX-0) or ones with timed smoke delay and ejection? When I fooled with rocket cars and some other stuff I bought a bunch of the boosters. They have a "-0" on the end of the designation and you can see the propellant at the end opposite the nozzle. Just put a bit of wadding on the open end so when the propellant burns through it doesnt ignite anything in front of the engine. I beleive they used to be cheaper than the standard engines too, and lighter weight.

[recon]

Yeah, he has been using the d12-0 boosters. I had some old d11P which are plugged, so I gave him those. The older versions of those engines have been known to explode from time to time. I buy the newer ones for my astroblaster which is a rocket boosted glider.

[AJCoholic]

Yes, I remember blowing up a few of my favourite rockets when the engines exploded... I think I had a bad bunch one time (the older estes ones came in a carboard sleeve, 3 pack) and all three went BLAMO!

You just may have rekindled the spark for me... maybe I will have to try a RATO plane next summer....

[recon]

If your interested: This is the same plane as mine, the astroblaster, with one of the defective d11P motors.

[AJCoholic]

Looks familiar... oops!

[JimMoss]

I've had them mounted in the tail of my GP F14 for a few years now.

I usually just use that at shows and different contests.

Jim Moss