Brief:
As we all know, not all rocket flights go as planned. As a result of some of those flight failures, I found my parts boxes with an abundant supply of material to build a recycled rocket for one of the requirements in the 2007 EMRR Challenge. This recycled rocket consists of scraps from an Estes Fireflash, an Estes Echostar, an Estes Screamin’ Mimi, and various other unidentifiable rocket parts.

Construction:
For this design, I decided to invert the portion of Fireflash body that I had on hand after the upper half decided to detach and was forever lost. I had the booster section of an Echostar that would be perfect to be used for the motor mount and main fins. The Echostar was a perfect fight until the ejection charge failed to deploy the chute (the results are much different when the rocket hits pavement instead of grass). No lawn dart here.

I did not have the proper centering rings, so these were fabricated with recycled cardboard sandwiched between cardstock and glued with CA. Before I glued the two rocket parts together, I choose to cover the mid section of the Fireflash with a small portion of BT-60 to hide the plastic coupler with the built-in launch lug. I used some extra centering rings and balsa scraps to give the rocket a futuristic look. This turned out to be the perfect place to attach a couple of extra whistles and tubes from a Screamin’ Mimi.

The final portion of the recycled rocket was made from some ring fin supports and a small piece of BT-80 that were left over from my design for the “EMRR Spaceship Design Contest 2006” that was never completed. These were attached to the existing fins and body tube. The cone was from some unknown rocket that happened to fit perfectly in the end of the Fireflash once the motor mount was removed.

Finishing:
This rocket did not require too much finishing. Most parts were already painted since they came from other rockets. For those parts that were not, I painted them all red prior to attaching them to the rocket.

Flight:
I choose to launch this rocket at a monthly club launch. I prepped the rocket with a B6-4. The LCO/RSO called for a “heads up” flight since the forward sweep plastic fins at the nose cone look quite worrisome. The rocket slowly left the pad and made a large arc away from the flight line. The chute finally deployed close to the ground and the rocket was not damaged. Because of that flight, I am skeptical of launching with a larger motor and have retired the rocket.

Recovery:
I used the existing plastic chute and shock cord from the Fireflash. I rerouted the cord through the tail end of the Fireflash body. I attached the shock cord to the hollow nose cone with the standard Estes paper mount.

Summary:
Using extra parts to scratch build a rocket can be fun. I was trying to create something that would catch the attention of people and make them say “What the heck is that?” I accomplished that but was not happy with the performance of the rocket. The nice thing is that I can disassemble the rocket and try again.