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In this article I go over everything you need to launch a small model rocket and what they do.
1. Model Rocket
This is what everything else you need is centered around. This is the piece that is launched a few hundred or even a few thousand feet with larger rockets. The 3 parts of this are the nosecone, body tube, and the fins. The nose cone is what pops out when the rocket has reached its highest point in order to deploy the parachute and it also makes the rocket more aerodynamic.
The body tube is where the recovery system is stored and is the main structural point of the rocket.
The fins are what keep the rocket stable in its ascent. Inside the rocket is a recovery system, it contains a parachute and a shock cord, a parachute is what slowly lowers the rocket back to the ground and the shock cord is what keeps both halves of the rocket together. There are more in depth articles on this website that talk about the recovery system.
2. Recovery Wadding
This is a tissue like paper that is flame resistant that protects the parachute in a model rocket. The 2 types of recovery wadding are dog barf (cellulose insulation) and tissue wadding. In the instruction manual of each rocket it tells you how much recovery wadding should be used.
This is inserted into the body tube before the parachute is inserted. Here are links to buy Estes tissue wadding and Loc Precision dog barf. I use tissue wadding for small Estes kits and dog barf for large non Estes kits and use a body tube diameters worth in depth of dog barf wadding.
3. Launch Controller
This is what contains the button that launches the model rocket. Most starter kits contain launch controllers but you can buy one here. Launch controllers must have 15 feet of wire for D motors or lower and 30 feet for E motors and up. These work by sending an electrical current up to an igniter that starts the rocket motor after the alligator clips are hooked up to the igniter.
4. Igniter
This is what is used to ignite your model rocket engine. An electrical current is sent up to an igniter which burns a small wire which starts your engine by burning the propellant. There are igniters for each type of motor they usually come in the pack of engines. Composite motors (Aerotech motors) use their own igniters.
Composite motors however, are usually found in larger rocket motor sizes they are also found in different sizes for each motor.
Estes igniters are used for Estes black powder engines.
E matches are used mostly for Cesaroni rocket motors but those are mostly large mid power to high power motors. Cesaroni motors also are made up of composite propellant.
5. Launch Pad
This is what you place the rocket on before you light the motor. To be clear YOU NEED A LAUNCH PAD TO LAUNCH A MODEL ROCKET. Most starter kits come with one or else you can buy one here. Without one the rocket could travel in any way possible, even sideways. (Not a good thing).
A launch pad contains a base, blast plate, and rod or a rail. The base allows you to keep the pad stable and balanced on the ground. The blast plate keeps the flames of the rocket motor away from the field and possibly catching it on fire. The rod or rail keeps the rocket going straight until the fins have enough airflow over them to stabilize the rocket. Rods are usually use for mid to high power rockets, so launching low power you will probably use a launch rod.
6. Model Rocket Motors
These are what is inserted into the aft end of a model rocket and are ignited with igniters to propel the rocket into the air. Two main types of rocket motors are Black Powder and Composite propellants.
The classes of rocket motors are are based on letters and each letter you go up in the alphabet the motor can have twice the power. For example, B motors can have twice the power as an A motor. There are many numbers in the code for a rocket motor, ex. A8-3. The first letter is the classification. The second part is a number in this case 8. This shows the relative thrust in newtons that a motor has. The last number shows the delay that the motor has before firing its ejection charge. This is what determines how long from burnout of the motor it weights before deploying it's parachute.
The 4 parts of a model rocket black powder motor are the clay cap, propellant, time delay, and ejection charge. The parts of a Quest Q-Jet which is a low power composite rocket motor is also shown before. There are more rocket motors but you can find more info about those in a different article.
I hope this helped you with understanding all of the different parts of model rockets and things needed to launch them. Hope you have blue skies!