The Viking

Our introductory rocket was The Viking from Estes Rockets. A PDF of the plans are located in the google drive folder above, and they can also be found here. Also in the google drive folder are pictures from parts of the building/launching process.

The kit included all of the parts needed to build the rocket, and we followed the directions exactly as written in the pamphlet. Therefore, a workflow and rocket were the same as laid out in the plans. Details of the process are below.

Materials/tools:

From kit: Not included:

- Body tube - A8-3 engine

- Nose cone - Ignitor

- Nose cone insert - Fire resistant wadding sheets

- Streamer - Scissors

- Shock cord - Wood glue/Gorilla glue

- Cardboard fins - Pencil

- Engine block - Ruler/straight edge

- Yellow spacer tube - Sandpaper

- Launch lug - Razor blade

- Yellow peg to hold ignitor in engine

- Spray paint (optional)

(Materials included in kit are shown below)

Building the Rocket:

1) Adding the fins to the body tube:

We had a choice of how many fins we used and which orientation we glued them to the rocket. Ultimately, we used four fins and attached them to the rocket along the longest side, tilted up. First, we used the marking guide on the directions pamphlet to make four marks evenly spaced out. Then, using a straight edge, we drew four vertical lines, one for each of the marks. Lastly, we used wood glue to adhere the fins to the rockets, aligning them on the pencil marks.

2) Glue the launch lug to body tube:

In between two of the fins, we drew a straight line about 2 in. from the bottom. This is where we glued the launch lug, the piece used to hold the rocket on the stand before launching.

3) Installing the engine block:

This step was probably the most involved, and we had to go in knowing what we were doing because the glue would dry if we didn't move fast enough. On the yellow spacer tube, we made a mark .25 in from one end. Using a wooden stick, we spread glue on the inside of the tube (2 in from the bottom). We moved quickly to push in the engine block using the spacer tube until the mark we made 1/4 in. from the bottom no longer showed. The video below demonstrates how to use the spacer tube.

*Make sure you remove the spacer tube immediately after the engine block is in so that it doesn't get stuck.*

4) Assembling the nose cone:

There were two parts of the nose cone that needed to be glued together. We used Gorilla glue to accomplish this.

5) Attaching the shock cord:

The shock cord was included in the kit and had to be attached to the nose cone as well as inside the rocket. If there is not a shock cord included, you can use a cut rubber band instead. We tied one end of the shock cord to the notch at the end of the nose cone and glued the other end in the shock cord mount, which was then glued to the inside wall of the body tube. The last part of the shock cord assembly was gluing the steamer to the shock cord. We super-glued one end of the streamer 2 in. from the nose cone and then rolled it up from the other end. The picture below shows what all of this looks like put together.

6) Assembling the rocket and spray paint the exterior:

Prepping the rocket for launch:

1) Before rolling up the streamer and placing it inside the rocket, we shoved a few sheets of fire resistant wadding paper inside. This helped prevent the streamer from catching on fire.

2) We slid the engine (A8-3) into the bottom of the rocket. It will only go so far before hitting the engine block, which it suppose to do. Some of the engine will be hanging out of the bottom of the rocket. We then stuck an ignitor in the hole at the bottom of the engine and used a yellow peg to hold it in place. Our rocket was now ready for takeoff!

Launching the rocket:

1) We set the rocket up on the launch stand by sliding the metal pole on the launch stand through the launch lug on the rocket.

2) We connected each of the alligator clips to one of the ends of the ignitor. (**make sure that the clips are not touching one another).

3) One alligator clip was connected to a red wire and the other one was connected to a black wire. Only when we touch the other ends of the wires to metal parts on the Estes launch controller would the engine ignite and take off. Below are pictures pre-launch and a video of the rocket taking off.

Issues/challenges:

This rocket was pretty straight-forward, and we didn't come across too many problems. If we hadn't used as much glue to attach the fins, our wait time would have been much less. If I were to build this rocket again, I would have a better understanding of how much glue it really takes to secure the fins. Also, the engine block installation was a little bit challenging since there was no time to figure out what we were doing after the glue was put on the engine block. However, we got the engine block in straight the first time trying.

Conclusion:

I thought this rocket served as a good first rocket to build. Building it was simple, but I learned the parts of the rocket and how to launch it by going through the process step by step. Now, I not only know the name for each part (body tube, nose cone, shock cord, engine block, fins, engine, streamer, ignitor, etc.), I understand what each part does and why its important. For example, the engine block keeps the engine from moving up (Newton's third law) and the shock cord keeps the nose cone and body tube together. The streamer is used to slow down the rocket when it falls (adds air resistance), which is why it was important to have the wadding paper to keep it from burning up. Hopefully, this gave me a solid foundation to begin to build more complex rockets in the future.