Water Rocket Forum

kleinbauer wrote:No I did not bid. I just did a follow up when I figured out what the toy was called and who made it. Lots of lame water rockets out there. I saw the real deal designed by a real inventor. Lots of people make copies of a copy. One guy puts something on a Youtube video and then come the copies. People have emailed me asking how the second stage worked off the first. It was Jim's rocket and we never took it apart. The second stage missile got stuck on the roof. Then it blew off in a storm. Fat Art came by and took the rocket home and put it in his garage. When I told Fat Art who it belonged to he made it disappear. Jim used to clean Fat Art's butt every few months for doing something stupid. Several missiles have shown up on Ebay the last year. There is one with a long rubber tip and one that you put caps into the tip. If you do a search use H2O and Missile. I was using "Water Rocket" and missing it.

Mattel H2o Water Missile 1959

You write very colorful stories. You remind me of that old movie "stand by me" with the narrator describing their growing up.

Somebody called jbh748088 has some detailed pictures of a "Mattel H2O Missile" including the instruction sheet on Photobucket.
Looks the same as the eBay one.
It is opaque white with USAF markings.
It has the "exploding warhead".
http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s266 ... 20MISSILE/

I just found one of these (mattel hso 2stage missle) brand new in the box over the weekend still has the 1958 price tag on it 3.18 IIRC came from Hudsons in downtown detroit, the packing string was still around it 52 years lated

warmpancakes wrote:I just found one of these (mattel hso 2stage missle) brand new in the box over the weekend still has the 1958 price tag on it 3.18 IIRC came from Hudsons in downtown detroit, the packing string was still around it 52 years lated

Could you take some pictures of the rocket and especially the parts that work the staging mechanism? That would be the part I would moast like to see! Pretty please!

Id be happy too I dont know if I can get pictures of the attaching device as i dont really wanna remove it from the box sadly this "missle" will never be fired

warmpancakes wrote:Id be happy too I dont know if I can get pictures of the attaching device as i dont really wanna remove it from the box sadly this "missle" will never be fired

Is the box still sealed? It would probably be worth a lot to a collector if it were sealed and never opened.

the boxes were never sealed like todays toys it was wrapped with string, I have the string ans the shipping tag

This is all from memory, so be kind if I did not use the correct terms.

The H20 Missle had three major parts, 4-leg base, booster and missle.

The base was about 16" from tip to tip on the legs. At the side of the "X" where the legs crossed, was where the water hose connected. The center of the "X" consisted of a cup like depression, a hole where the water entered the cup, a relief valve, a flange around the outside below the top of the cup and a split O-ring that hooked the flange.

The split O-ring is like a pipe clamp that instead of a nut and bolt to tighten it, a V-shaped bracket would hold it closed (imagine an inverted funnel shape, taper to a small straight portion). Both the bottom and top of the ring were shaped to hook onto the base flange and the base of the booster. The bracket had a string connected to it for the launch. When the booster was placed on the base, the ring would create a tight connection when the bracket was attached.

The walls of the booster was a very sturdy plastic. If you were to slice the booster in half lengthwise, the shape would be like an inverted bundt pan (an exageration, I know) where the center was about a quarter inch hole about 2-3" long. On the outside of the booster, about an inch below the top were two tabs. These tabs would engage the second stage release bracket. At the bottom of the booster was a flange about 1/16". This is where the O-ring would hold booster to the base.

The missle had two (?) fins. At the base of each fin was a small hole, about 1/16" x 3/8". When the missle was placed on the booster and the fins aligned with the tabs, it was secured with the second stage release bracket. A string about 10' long went from the bracket to the base.

The release bracket was shaped like a triangle, a half circle the size of the top of the booster at the tabs is removed. A tab on each side of the booster, secure the missle to the booster. The following ascii art is a poor example of the brackets side view. The || represent the missle fin, the ==== represents the tab and the rest, the metal.

_||_
|| |
_===_|_______________

The raised part of the brack is about 1/4" high.

After everything is assembled, the water is turned on, starting to fill the booster. The air is compressed into both projectiles. The "pipe" in the booster makes sure the booster will not fill 100% with water. You pull the launch bracket and the rocket takes off. As the booster reaches its release height, the release bracket releases the fins of the missle which continues on it's own.

My booster would get about 20' off the ground, while the missle went much higher.

I hope that this helps. Sorry that I cannot provide better artwork right now to illustrate the brackets.

Glen

Glen,

Thanks for posting such a detailed description of the toy rocket. The launcher and staging system is really nothing at all like the stuff people are making today. It is really odd that they would use only 2 fins, unless they determined that for the short boost phase that they did not need fins at all and they only put them on as supports for the release brackets.

Hopefully we will be able to find images or diagrams of these rockets. They are fascinating.

Thanks again!

I really would be interested in purchasing one of these Mattel rockets if anyone is willing to part with one. Thanks. ggood1@fuse.net

Several Links on here: https://www.google.com/search?q=Mattel% ... 2&ie=UTF-8

Including this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-MATTEL- ... 41888ba4f3

You didn't say it had a cap firing warhead!

How about everyone send me donations, and I will buy that thing!! lol

So if I am understanding this correctly, there is a string tied from the base, to the Second Stage Release Bracket? And when the rocket reaches a height of about 10 feet, the metal SSRB is yanked out of the moving rocket by the string?

I suppose that could be done in today's environment, would just need to drop the metal bits.

Too bad the dealers have traded this thing back and forth on ebay jacking up the price. Once they come back down, might be worth it.

bugwubber wrote:You didn't say it had a cap firing warhead!

Do they even make/sell "caps" these days???

There was a time when you could drop a rock on a whole roll of caps and get a nice satisfying report.