Model Forum / General / Rockets / August 2006

The plastic plugs that come with the engine are relatively new.  Previously
the common method for retention of igniters was to use a small wad of tissue
as a plug.  Push it in place with an intact golf tee and secure with a small
piece of masking tape.  Leave enough room to attach the micro clips close to
the nozzle without touching.

Before Estes came out with those plugs, the prescribed method was to use
masking tape.  Just insert the igniter all the way up and make sure it's
touching the propellant, and tape in place.

Everyone here has given good advice...before the plugs came out I used to
just roll up a small piece of tissue or wadding and stuff it into the nozzle
using the end of the launch rod...never even bothered to tape it after that.
It worked better than 90% of the time (on occasion I wouldn't get it tight
enough and it would slip loose).  When the plugs came out I did think it was
a good idea, made prepping the engine go just a tad faster and they seemed
to hold the ignitor more securely.

Another bit of advice, use the smaller engines until you get a feel for how
the winds are going and how far it might drift.  Then proceed up the power
scale accordingly.  An excellent program (free) for predicting altitude is a
program called WRASP.  (http://www.wrasp.com/)   Good luck and one word of
warning...Estes might just a start.  After a little while you might get a
thirst for even bigger rockets and
motors....(http://www.aerotech-rocketry.com/).  I should know...it happened
to me! :-)

    Craig
PS Congratulations on the launch!  Hope it was recovered safely....from the
video it looks like it might have drifted a bit far.  Are you near the
Cincinnati, OH area?  If so you might want to check out www.quarkers.org,
the local chapter of the NAR (National Association of Rocketry).

Just use a tiny bit of the chute wadding, have done that countless times and
engine fired ok.

www.starlords.org