where can I launch a model rocket? the package says it can go about 1500ft, so I'm assuming anywhere near RDU is out of the picture lol.

I did find an old thread regarding this, but it was from 2006, so looking for updated info.

anyone else wanna go launch some rockets? I only have one, but I bought a shitload of rocket engines maybe I find something that I strap an engine to and see if it will fly or just get blown the fuck up.

2/19/2009 10:56:21 AM

I dunno an answer to your question, but it would be fun to take a boat out in the ocean (or a large lake) and shoot it off of the boat

2/19/2009 10:59:21 AM

yes it would.


also, anyone have suggestion as how to have some sort of video capability on the rocket, so I can record the launch from the rocket's point of view? (that would be kinda cool).


I used to do this shit a lot as a kid, and my thoughtful girlfriend listened as I reminisced about doing that, and she bought me a rocket.


LAUNCH A ROCKET!! (I wonder if I can do it off the roof of my current workplace the day that I quit). lol

2/19/2009 11:03:41 AM

Hahaha, mikey99cobra and I did this not too long ago. At night. And like dumbasses we couldn't find it afterwards.

My wife was recording from the porch and all she got was the initial whhhhhhoooosh and then me saying, "holy shit!"

2/19/2009 11:08:32 AM

I have an Alpha 3 sitting in a box in my attic. I keep meaning to shoot it, but I never get around to it.

We used to do some crazy shit with rockets back in the day. We loaded 2 Cs into a buddies plastic F16 model and tried to launch that. It managed to go about 20 feet into the air, nose over and set a pasture on fire.

We tied kite string from the top of a couple of trees several hundred feet apart and launched just the engines (with hot glued ball point pin bodies for the guides) down the string. That wasn't so interesting.

We packed gunpowder into the top of older rockets for our own fireworks.

We attached Ds to RC cars and remotely triggered them.

We made homemade rockets out of PVC pipe and caused a small stampede with the neighbors cows.

We chopped down a 30 ft tall cedar tree to get back one of our more expensive rockets.

We tried shooting down (with a shotgun) another rocket that was 60-70 ft up a big oak with limited success. We got the rocket back...full of holes.

etc

[Edited on February 19, 2009 at 11:11 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2009 11:08:42 AM

I strapped a G engine to a GI Joe once when I was younger. It flipped and bounced around and went maybe 10 feet up into the air before the straps broke. The engine just spun wildly and never really got any higher than 15 feet. It was quite the adrenaline rush, trying not to get hit by the engine.

As for the video



[Edited on February 19, 2009 at 11:09 AM. Reason : ]

2/19/2009 11:09:13 AM

^ I got one of those for my cousins for christmas. They LOVE it.

2/19/2009 11:16:30 AM

Most places are class g airspace up to 1200 feet so just as long as you stay away from any airports you should be fine.

2/19/2009 11:47:50 AM

^^^I had the old school version of that. It came with a small pixeled camera and rolls of film and would take sequencing pictures during its flights. It was pretty rad, especially for a 12 year old in the 90s



oh, to answer your question...my dad and i used to shoot them off at local park baseball fields on off days. Gave us, for the most part, enough flat land to keep the rockets safe incase of wind current. although one launch we had one get caught in a current and drifted for miles over trees never to be seen again.

also, check around and see where some model airplane landing strips may be. That may be a thing of the past these days, but there was one in my home town years ago that we used to go to as well.

[Edited on February 19, 2009 at 11:58 AM. Reason : add]

2/19/2009 11:56:06 AM

if anyone has some rockets they want to launch, we should all get together and do that; providing we find a place.

2/19/2009 12:38:34 PM

IM fields? possibly lose your rockets though
carter finley parking lot?

2/19/2009 12:41:52 PM

they make special kits with cameras and video nose cones, i would think a D engine rocket with a large nose cone, a cheap low power camera that can record straight to a thumb drive and run on a 9v would be your best bet. if not you might have to kit it.

i too am a nerd and have/had model rockets.

i recommend having a very large open area for parachute recovery launches as they can drift very far in a breeze after going up 3000+ feet. anything tumble or streamer will come down pretty close by even if it's a multi-stage set up.

football stadiums work, very large fields work. look on google maps for large open clearings.

i used to launch over at riverside HS and for everything short of parachute launches it was more than adequate space for recovery. (lost a 3000+ foot launch large C engine, on a parachute recovery there however)

shit ill dork it up and join you guys for a launch day or something. i need to see what i have... i think i have a viking and some micro's that are good to go. i have a 2 stage mongoose but i need to repair part of it with a paper towel tube.

[Edited on February 19, 2009 at 12:48 PM. Reason : ]

2/19/2009 12:44:40 PM

lol, let the nerds unite and launch some ROCKETS!! lol.


the one I've got assembled is an estes Hi-Flyer, the nose cone is small, don't think I'm gonna be able to put video capabilities in there. Might head over to the hobby shop and get one with a larger nosecone so I can have a rocket with vid.

2/19/2009 2:33:35 PM

IM fields or CF should be ok. My only warning would be if any of the news helicopters are around.... esp on the IM fields late afternoon. you might have to get the gym involved if its on IM fields.

Lee field also is an idea. Centennial oval, and just centennial in general. You could probably launch from EB1 towards Textiles, with that big field/pit there.

2/19/2009 4:00:07 PM

yeah centennial has some ok spots. i would do what arab13 said and poke around google maps until you see a nice open area.


View Larger Map

2/19/2009 4:06:00 PM

^looking at that, dorethy dix too but theres a few trees there that are quite large...

2/19/2009 4:24:58 PM

yeah I just ordered the Big Bertha kit, should be here next here. That's the one I"m gonna try and put video in the nosecone. Also ordered the estes tandem-x flying model rocket launch set; which will be here at about the same time.

should be some fun!

I'm down for launching my estes high-flyer this weekend if its not too windy and someone else wants to launch too (don't have a launchpad yet).

2/19/2009 4:33:21 PM

i know someone who has a farm in johnston county that might be a possibility but it would be farther out too

2/20/2009 10:46:06 AM

Go to the end of Globe Rd. where the road dead ends at a chain link fence with the airport right behind it. Set rocket at slight angle. Launch. Run like hell.

(ok, don't do this or you'll probably spend the next few months at Guantanamo and then get dumped off in Afghanistan or something.)

[Edited on February 20, 2009 at 11:50 AM. Reason : l]

2/20/2009 11:49:26 AM

We shot a few on campus, along with an open-flame powered balloon. You could see that burning balloon for miles at night.

Apparently Public Safety doesn't have a missile defense system.

2/20/2009 12:34:21 PM

oh man the alpha 3.....old school

2/20/2009 7:19:58 PM

I used to do this in the parking lot of carter finley probably 17 or 18 years ago with my brothers and dad. one landed in the stadium one time...needless to say we didnt get that one back.

also I started a forest fire once with a rocket engine that I set off in an old abandoned building in the woods near my cousins house in spring hope. I got in pretty big trouble for that one.

2/20/2009 8:02:34 PM

I used to be really big into model rocketry when I was younger. I built some pretty badass shit back in the day. Any large field will do, as long as it isn't too windy. On a calm day I could get them to land within 25 yards of the launcher.

2/20/2009 8:18:12 PM

1500 feet is weak, unless it comes back with pictures of the iss, you sir have failed

2/20/2009 9:13:28 PM

I was at summer camp, way back in the day, and we were playing with those model rockets. My buddy had one with a clear hollow nose cone, so he put some beetles in it then launched it. They got crushed against the bottom of the cone and my buddy found it, and in a solemn voice said "my crew did not survive.

2/20/2009 10:38:27 PM

^^ agreed

I used to modify mine to be able to fit bigger engines. Plus I had one that took pictures (granted, this was like 1992 so they were not that great), and I had one with a payload bay that I actually sent my hamster up in

[Edited on February 20, 2009 at 11:30 PM. Reason : a]

2/20/2009 11:29:35 PM

Quote :

"1500 feet is weak, unless it comes back with pictures of the iss, you sir have failed"

lol I agree. Which is the reason for getting the big bertha, its bigger so I can put a camera in it, and after a few test launches, maybe try and get that thing higher.

now what would be baller would be to do one of these type of rockets.

or


you know, something where you have to get FAA approval to fly the thing so it doesn't interfere with high flying jets.

2/21/2009 1:59:27 AM

I am active with North Carolina NAR and Tripoli High power groups for rocket launches. My younger sister and My father are both level 1 certified members. you have to be a member of a recognized club and pass certification tests and make a test flight in order tog et level 1/2/3, and you must have current level 1/2/3 to get the larger sizes engines.

See http://www.colonialvirginiahpr.org/whitakers.html for group info

And see
http://www.virginiaharrell.info/coppermine/index.php
For some of my other sister the photographer's pictures from 2008 launches.
And now an example of just how big these pics and rockets are:

2/21/2009 8:59:17 AM

damn now that is AWESOME!

how high does that thing go?

2/21/2009 12:52:00 PM

It all depends on the engine used with the big ones as to height achieved.
from the website:

Quote :

"The field is the vast Paul/Hunnings farm near Bayboro, North Carolina with more than 3,800 acres of empty, treeless farm land. The FAA waiver is 16,000 feet, which we will limit to 12,000 feet for homemade motor flights without documentation for the same rocket with similar, characterized propellants. "

See the link below for the report on the last launch down there.

http://www.colonialvirginiahpr.org/Launch%20Reports/bb0109.htm

2/21/2009 6:01:22 PM

very cool. once I get everything built might have to link up with those guys on the next launch.

ROCKETS!!

2/21/2009 6:42:02 PM

interesting.... so the field is just open all the time then?

2/24/2009 11:45:51 AM

Quote :

"1500 feet is weak, unless it comes back with pictures of the iss, you sir have failed"

The rocket I'm working on has that covered.

2/24/2009 2:10:39 PM

is that field open to the public?

2/25/2009 7:07:30 PM