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We used plastic. I'd recommend PVC.

Our team is going to Nationals, but our bottle rocket is only about 12-15 seconds. We got first in our State competition, but only because most other teams didn't have very good rockets. We have tried making a good backslider, but it isn't getting good times. Any advice on what we do next?

MVStangs wrote:Our team is going to Nationals, but our bottle rocket is only about 12-15 seconds. We got first in our State competition, but only because most other teams didn't have very good rockets. We have tried making a good backslider, but it isn't getting good times. Any advice on what we do next?

What the heck... i thought nationals was 25 sec.

Orchdork wrote:

MVStangs wrote:Our team is going to Nationals, but our bottle rocket is only about 12-15 seconds. We got first in our State competition, but only because most other teams didn't have very good rockets. We have tried making a good backslider, but it isn't getting good times. Any advice on what we do next?

What the heck... i thought nationals was 25 sec.

Yeah it's supposed to be around there.

Good luck with making a backslider!

I have no recommendations. You have to take into account SO many variables: temp, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, opponents' rockets, launcher type, air pressure, air pollution!

MVStangs, what materials are you using to make your backslider and what's your shape?

What exactly is the best material for fins? What we used to use is to heavy now that we made extremely light nose cones and the center of gravity gets too far back. What do you use?

Littleboy wrote:What exactly is the best material for fins? What we used to use is to heavy now that we made extremely light nose cones and the center of gravity gets too far back. What do you use?

I find that balsa wood is okay for fins although a friend of mine is using Styrofoam for fins. When I alter the center of balance, I prefer to use modeling clay (I got the idea of using it after I had some left over from a science project.) since the mass of the modeling clay can easily be adjusted. in addition, modeling clay is easy to find.

Littleboy wrote:What exactly is the best material for fins? What we used to use is to heavy now that we made extremely light nose cones and the center of gravity gets too far back. What do you use?

Robert Youens is a genius. Trust me, these work wonderfully.

Primate wrote:

Littleboy wrote:What exactly is the best material for fins? What we used to use is to heavy now that we made extremely light nose cones and the center of gravity gets too far back. What do you use?

Robert Youens is a genius. Trust me, these work wonderfully.

Tried it they weren't rigid so they flopped alot. And they aren't waterproof. But I may try again now that the snow is melted.

space scientist wrote:

Littleboy wrote:What exactly is the best material for fins? What we used to use is to heavy now that we made extremely light nose cones and the center of gravity gets too far back. What do you use?

I find that balsa wood is okay for fins although a friend of mine is using Styrofoam for fins. When I alter the center of balance, I prefer to use modeling clay (I got the idea of using it after I had some left over from a science project.) since the mass of the modeling clay can easily be adjusted. in addition, modeling clay is easy to find.

Balsa: breaks sometimes when hits ground/something else in its path (What thickness do you use?)
Styrofoam: Produced too much drag for us thus reducing its height.