Launching missles, you know you thought about it

[post_break]

Ok so I want to shoot bottle rockets from my heli. Has anyone actually done this? Here is what me and black hawk were brainstorming....

I have a walkera 36 on route to my house so thats what we were working around.

So I know I can get fire to start from a resistor if I put way too much current/voltage through it. And I know rocket engine starters flame up using an external power source, usually 5-9 volts.

If I were to add a servo to my bird, tape a 9 volt to the frame, and use a normal switch I could get the rocket engine starter to fire and light the wick of a bottle rocket. I would use the landing gear switch on my "tx" to trigger the whole shabang.

What do you guys think about this? Possible with upgrades-maybe, crazy-yes. Do you guys know of another way to do this?

Here is a video of it in action (near the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EOj8SGdXI4

[raven_darkcloud]

ok that was cool. A nitro ya. #36, you need to be a good pilot to handle the backlash from the luanch. My idea is airsoft from 50 size nitro. here kitty kitty kitty.

[sportygreg]

Some Estes rocket igniters or nichrome wire would work-you'd need a fireproof tube for the rocket and a deflector to keep black gunk off the heli.

[post_break]

I know what I could use that is fireproof. They that fireproof stuff for cooking, that rubbery material that you can use for picking up hot pans and whatnot. What exactly is this nichrome wire and where would I get it?

[sportygreg]

Silicone is the rubbery stuff-nichrome wire is used for rocket igniters and foam cutting machines.It glows red when hooked up to a battery and is available at hobby dealers.

[mjpchief]

Done that before with fixed wing. Pretty neat. Just want to make sure of surrounding landscape and not catch anything on fire. I used the model rocket igniters and 9v battery with extra servo hooked to retract switch.

Launched 4 at a time. Used small wire to hold bottle rocket under wing.

[DUSTINBLANCHET]

Hello All, Here Is What You Have All Been Waiting For. I Haven't Put Alot Of Thought Into Wether Or Not This Would Even Be Legal But If Found To Not Be Consider It A Cartoon For The Heli Masses!!

Anyway I Was Sitting There Last Night And Had A Brain Fart, Why Couldn't You Shoot An Object Controlled By You're Radio From You're Heli? I Saw A Few Way's Of Doing It But Most Of Them Ended Up With The Heli Crashing To Earth In A Ball Of Flames, Then I Asked Myself Why Do You Need A Flame? Not Only That But How Do You Keep It Lit With The Blades Spinning Up Like They Do. Then It Hit Me, A Car Cigarette Lighter Has No Flame But Can Light An Object And Would'nt Be Extinguished By The Blades Spinning. Now This Does'nt Mean I'm Strapping A Car Lighter To My Heli, No Way I Have Something Better Than That Even.
Why Not Use A Standard Glow Plug And Push The Wick's Into The Center Of It So When You Get Power To The Glow Plug It Would Ignite The Bottlerocket's, You Would Have To Extend The Wick's Alittle But That Is Very Easy To Do.
Now You're Saying Well How Do I Get Power To The Glow Plug? How About Via A 9 Volt Battery, They're Small And Fairly Lightweight. Then The Problem With Being Able To Turn The 9 Volt Battery Off And On From You're Radio, Easy As Pie You Just Go To You're Local Radioshack And Buy A Micro Switch. I Know I Know What Can I Do With A Goofy Micro Switch? Well If You Get A Micro Servo Also You Can Mount The Micro Switch Somewhere In The Heli And Mount The Micro Servo Just Above It So When The Servo Horn Comes In Contact With The Switch It Sends Power From The 9 Volt To The Glow Plug And Away Goes The Whistleing Bottlerocket Right At The Neighbor's Cat.

You Still Say It Can't Be Done.... Well I Have A Drawing That Say's It Can And Has Been Done. I Put It All Together And It Worked Better Than I Thought It Would. Hovering At About 10 Feet I Hit The Button And It Triggered The Glow Plug To Do It's Job And Boy Did It, After About 3 Seconds The Whistler's Went Sailin And It Was The Best Thing I Have Ever Seen, They Shot Out Straight And Went About 100 Feet And Popped. My Wife Thought I Was An ***** For Even Attepmting It And After Seeing It Work And On The First Try. She Said You Better Patent The Idea..........i Said Whattttttttttttttttt No Way I'm Going To Share It With The Heli Fever Masses And See Where It Goes From There.

I Will Be Getting Some Video Up Before Too Long So You Can All Laugh You're Butt's Off!!! Look For It On You Tube !!!

[rugbee13]

Nice post...I'm still skeptical. Let me know when you post the video 'cause my flying partners and I would like to check it out.

What heli are you using?
Did you "insulate" the glow plug?
To what type of micro switch are you referring?

Sounds like a lot of brainstorming. What I have seen is just getting the Align cold light adapter with a modified fuse at the end...plugs right into your Rx and then you can ignite with your Tx, assuming you have at least a 7ch Tx which you must for your derived plan.

Anyway, have great fun and don't run too many covert ambush ops on your local neighborhood felines! Someone shot my cat with a BB gun and they got theirs in return!

Cheers!