Water Rocket Forum

U.S. Water Rockets wrote:

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.

I've seen plastic caps but I don't think I have seen roll caps in awhile. There's some memories. We have a JMCremps store to ensure our kids have aceess to the childhood we had. They sell those metal cap bombs that you throw.

bugwubber wrote:

U.S. Water Rockets wrote:

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.

I've seen plastic caps but I don't think I have seen roll caps in awhile. There's some memories. We have a JMCremps store to ensure our kids have aceess to the childhood we had. They sell those metal cap bombs that you throw.

Those must be totally illegal now!

I had one as a kid. It would go 300+ feet. It was large. Maybe 3 feet total. 2nd stage was about 6 inches, and looked like a Flash Gordon rocket. Had a rubber tip with 2 metal plates to place caps inside, so it banged when it hit. 1st stage was held back by a staked string, that connected to a clip that joined both stages. Once the string was taut, it released the 2nd stage, and the 1st stage fell back down.

I so want one of these again.

Apparently, that design is used now by Yoram Retter (his youtube channel)

Hello guys! I found a bid online and it continues for only a few more days (~5 days).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1958-Ma ... Swx-9Wuhq1

Seems really nice, honestly. I don't event think there is a bid for this (starts at $29.99 USD).

Google Patents has some very detailed drawings and info on this toy, for those who were wanting to know how it works.
Seems Mr. John Ryan was involved:

http://www.google.com/patents/US3091052 ... cket+stage


good luck rocketeers.
Nate

I had a couple of these little pump rockets when I was young, and I *SO* want to find one again. I talked to a guy on YouTube who bought his at Cape Kennedy, and, while I am not going anywhere near there anytime soon, I live near the Strong Museum of Play and hopefully can score one there. (Wonder if they have anything about water rockets there... that'd be a good excuse to motivate me into finally going!)

I bought one of those small pump water rocket toys at Cape Canaveral about 2 years ago. It's what got my son interested in building our own water rocket.

I remember a 2-stage version from when I was a kid. I saw it in the stores and always wanted one, but never got one.

OH MAN found one on Amazon!



WOOT. ;)

then again, reading the reviews...

The negative reviews agree with my experience. The pump is poorly made. My son can pump it a couple of times but once the pressure increases enough, the internal valve in the pump can't hold it back, and you need to hold the handle in with a lot of force to keep it pressurized. Definitely lower quality than what I had as a kid. That said, the rocket works pretty well, going up pretty high, at least 50 feet or so.

anachronist wrote:The negative reviews agree with my experience. The pump is poorly made. My son can pump it a couple of times but once the pressure increases enough, the internal valve in the pump can't hold it back, and you need to hold the handle in with a lot of force to keep it pressurized. Definitely lower quality than what I had as a kid. That said, the rocket works pretty well, going up pretty high, at least 50 feet or so.

Hm, wonder how hard it would be to either fix the pump, or adapt the similarly-oriented mini bike pump I have. Hmmmm....

I don't really see any way to take apart the pump. The key part of it is the release mechanism.

I have this one, with a NASA branding on it: -- and the pump is terrible. The pump looks like the same as the one you found that includes 3 rockets.

This one has marginally better reviews (half a star!) and the pump handle looks different, so it may be a different pump.

Any of them are pretty cheap though. I think NASA charged me $10 for that single-rocket package when I visited Cape Canaveral.

There was a 10ft. string attached to the metal clip that fit between the booster and 2nd stage. The other end was attached to the launch pad. At 10ft., the clip was pulled and the booster separated from the 2nd stage. The booster flew to about 50ft., and the 2nd stage flew almost out of sight. I was 10 years old, and after several flights with my father's close supervision, I flew that rocket safely many times.

The only garden hose powered water rocket I've ever seen is this:
That looks much simpler than the one described in this post.