and now the...FUN STUFF

When launching at an angle, I've been able to have several rockets land within a 10' diameter area, which was 500 feet from the launcher! I've been amazed at this level of repetitive accuracy.

It's real fun launching rockets into a body of water. One ideal situation is launching INTO THE WIND from beach into the water. The rockets will float right back to shore. Two fins will float on the water, and the third fin will stick straight up and catch the breeze. The rockets are so light, they move pretty fast.

LAUNCHING FROM UNDER WATER. One customer was delighted to tell me about how he put his Bigfoot Launcher on the floor of his swimming pool, pointed straight up, already pressurized. He surprised his wife when she walked in the back porch, and he pulled the trigger string. The rocket plunged out of the water and landed in a neighbor's tree.

On another underwater experiment, he angled the launcher at a 90 degree angle (horizontal). He said it was pretty cool, because the rocket traveled like a torpedo, and then angled upward (because of hollow compartments in rocket), and then shot out of the water into the air.

I suggested a variation of filling the hollow sections with water, and then try the torpedo shot.

He also tried some variations of shooting the rocket at the water surface, like skipping a rock. The rocket did skip across the surface.

This might be good for summer camps. Why not have children fetch the rockets out of the water. They could use canoes, row boats, life preservers, rafts, whatever. Maybe have teams, give points for fetching the most rockets. Make a game out it.

Fetch the rockets with a R.C. helicopter with a closing claw or hook.

Your not limited to only water. Use what ever is available, dirt, sand, clay. One customer used earth worms as an experiment, he said their attorney will be calling me.

Most of these dayglow paints are latex based paints. They will not dissolve stryofoam fins. The bright colors really do make the rockets more visible.

When decorating rockets, decals are very effective and quick. Some freely available stickers say: AIR MAIL, or FIRST CLASS.

For night time launches use paints that glow in the dark. Charge them with a flashlight before launching.

Maybe use ground up night glow calk and glue to rocket walls and fins.

Experiment with filling middle section with some powder. Maybe, if done right, there would be flumes of powder discharging from the mid section.

Wear white "T" shirts and add food color to the water. Instead of "TIE DYE", this would be another process of coloring shirts. Lay down on the ground beside the launcher to get the full wet and colorful experience.

Originally, we only made single section water rockets. We attached a foam rubber cone, and foam rubber wings. These rockets never reached 1/4 of the altitudes we reach with the three section rockets, but they glided down to earth gracefully. We had a lot of fun with these simpler rockets, before we got spoiled with the faster high altitude rockets.

We used common 1/2" soft foam rubber. We glued an extra piece to the belly of the rocket to help it glide right side up.

One system that I hope to work out is a self leveling system so the rocket will level out and glide down, instead of doing a nose dive.

This would be done with some weights and control rods and moving wings.

I was amused to see on student paint his rocket like a bumble bee with black and yellow paint.

Maybe we could make some other rockets to like other insects or animals.

One camp revealed their plans to paste pictures of two of their camp councilors on the rockets. Now they call it the "TWO LEADER ROCKET".

Why not hook fishing line to the mid section of the rocket and have a casting reel face up, and in casting mode, at the launch sight.

The line that was pulled out could be used to measure the altitude. The rocket could be retrieved by simply reeling it back to the launch site.

Have string 300 ft. long, special poles staked in the ground, and viewing tubes with protractors attached. Have work up sheet printed so numbers could be entered and formulas calculated with new variables to estimate the altitude.

Have a protractor along side the launcher. Record the angle that the Bigfoot Launcher was set at for each launch.

A game could be created to shoot the rockets at a target at the other end of a field. The rocket that lands closest to the target wins. OR try to shoot it through a hoola-hoop. This would be like shooting a cannon. Changing angle of base would add one more variable, beside nose weight, air pressure, and water fill level.

Surely, someone out there will have a remote control water rocket. This would be great for controlling gliding descents.

What would be really cool would be to engineer a multistage water rocket system. The second stage would remain under pressure, and at the right time, a latch-cork system would trigger and send the second stage off above the first stage. These latch-corks could use the bottle's flange at the neck.

A string could be attacked to the base, and used to pull the trigger when 200 feet (or whatever altitude) is achieved.

Maybe the first stage has a twisted fin, so after so many revolutions, something happens to trigger the second stage.

Maybe a timer, mechanical or electrical, could be used to trigger the second stage. Maybe after 1/2 second.

A mechanical timer could be something simple like a wound up rubber band with a impeller.

Yes, you can have a "lunch launch". I did this by stuffing as many spaghetti noodles in the the neck of the bottle three times. Then I filled the bottle with WARM water and screwed on a cap. Shaking occasionally. After about an hour, the noodles were "done".

It will not work to add boiling hot water, because the bottle will shrink, and will not fit over the launch tube.

Don't just stop at spagetti! Be creative! Hey, there lots other food groups out there. Tony likes diced jello. Jeff likes cream of wheat. Bill likes oatmeal. I like soapy water. Some times I like to make a weird repulsive cocktail of anything I can get my hands on, the more colors and textures, the better.

My suggestion: --> When it's time to clean out the refrig, don't trash it, LAUNCH IT!!

Now you know for sure....this really is a science experiment out of control.