6 replies to this topic

[psiborg]

Hi, I'm Tom, 14, from North yorkshire and I've always had a casual interest in rockets. I have a never-flown estes astrocam rocket on a shelf in my room, awaiting estes flameproof wadding, so what is estes flame proof wadding, and can I make my own? 'cos from the description, it sounds like a bit of flame proof tissue paper or something.

also, what is the best way to get into high power rocketry?

[StarScream]

Hi Tom

You are correct... Estes recovery wadding is pretty much just facial tissue treated with a fire retardant, probably borax or something. A lot of rocket guys, myself included, use what is known in rocketry circles as "Dog Barf". It's a type of home insulation material that is made of shredded newspaper treated with a fire retardant. Here in Canada I bought a HUGE bag of it at Home-Depot for $10... enough to last a few lifetimes!

As far as high-power rocketry goes... my advice is to find a local club or other people nearby that are into it, try to attend a HPR launch, ask lots of questions, search the net for info on HPR and HPR events near you, etc.

[YT2095]

plain tissue sprayed with a soln of Boric acid or Borax and allowed to dry works perfectly for this purpose

[psiborg]

cheers guys. My only other problem is finding somwhere worth taking an aerial photo of!

[portfire]

I have the estes astrocam,(arent i a big kid) great fun.I only used the the cam 3 times though and never got the film developed .The only reason i bought it was because it was cheap and got 3 free C6-7's.I did have doubts about the picture quality been any good,so please keep us posted.

dean

[icarus]

the ideal cameras now are the miniature wireless cctv cameras about 1 cubic cm 3 x 3v hearing aid batteries as a power pack they cost about £20 complete with reciever the reciever aerial needs replacing by hi gain directional aerial then view on portable tv aldi sell a box to turn a laptop into cctv recorder then you could use directional arial as aid to rocket recovery / location i am too mean to risk it yet but its very tempting

[psiborg]

the ideal cameras now are the miniature wireless cctv cameras about 1 cubic cm 3 x 3v hearing aid batteries as a power pack they cost about £20 complete with reciever the reciever aerial needs replacing by hi gain directional aerial then view on portable tv aldi sell a box to turn a laptop into cctv recorder then you could use directional arial as aid to rocket recovery / location i am too mean to risk it yet but its very tempting

>drool< lol.