I searched through the old threads, but couldn't find anything on land rockets other than a few mentions in a Cold Power thread.

I've been intrigued by land rockets since I first entered the hobby. Unfortunately, I started in 1979 - just a bit late to try out the Cold Power land rockets. My best friend at the time had an old 1977 catalog, and the land rockets really looked cool. (Today, thanks to Ebay, I own a couple. The cool factor went down a bit once I got my hands on one.....). I tried a couple of home-built land rockets as a kid. Never occurred to me at the time to use a guide-string, so you can imagine the results!

By high school, we had figured out the guide-string thing for ourselves, and were building pretty cool cars that we sent hurling down the high-school track (a useful, 100+ yard length of smooth, unbroken pavement). I was the first one in our group to re-route the ejection charge out the back to deploy a drag chute. (Note: I really hated how the Estes Blurzz rocket cars would "snag" the chute at the end of the run).

I know people are building high-powered land rockets, but I don't live near a dry lake bed - so I've never taken it that far.

Any other land rocket stories out there?

The reason I mentioned all this is I decided to build a new land rocket after a LONG break. I always loved the land speed record rocket cars of the 1970s and 1980s - like the "Blue Flame" and Budweiser rocket car. You can see their inspiration in my design.

This one is built around a BT-60. SEMROC provided a nose "blank" I carved into the cockpit canopy. Tires are RC aircraft tires. Decals are by Sandman. The Estes Firehawk was a dull kit, but I thought the gold and black markings would look cool in this application. I'll hopefully be firing it this weekend using a C6-3. Wish Estes made a C6-1 so the 'chute would come out sooner!

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Firehawk... Looks good.

You need to add a Pontiac decal.

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I love sanding.

First "launch" was successful. Lousy job by the photographer (me), however. Didn't quite catch it in the frame.

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Wow! That looks REALLY good! Great seamless finish!

Joe

I love it! That will give us something to do when the wind is over 20mph.


Bill

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It is well past time to Drill, Baby, Drill!

If your June, July, August and September was like this, you might just hate summer too...

Please unload your question before you ask it unless you have a concealed harry permit.

: countdown begin cr dup . 1- ?dup 0= until cr ." Launch!" cr ;

Give a man a rocket and he will fly for a day; teach him to build and he will spend the rest of his days sanding...

Thanks! I use Bondo glazing putty. You can buy a BIG tube at Wal-Mart. WAY cheaper than Squadron, Testors, and other modeling putties. Works great too.