| Glossary |
| Aerotech: A Mid to High Power Rocketry company. Blast Deflector: A circular piece of metal underneath the rocket on the launch pad to, well, deflect the blast. C.A.T.O: Catostrophe At Take Off. Pretty much self explaining really. Estes: A Low Power Model Rocketry company. One of the best companies to start out with. Igniters: The things that light the motors. They come with the motors and work by an electric current from the launch controller running down 2 pieces of metal which ignites a small amount of Black Powder and you're off. The Estes ones are just like a long, bent piece of wire with a small amount of Black Powder in the middle. You simply put the black powder bit in the rocket, attach the launch controller and start the countdown. The Quest ones work by two piece of copper with an insulator between them so that it looks just like one piece of copper but trust me its 2. Now I prefer the Estes ones, as do most of the Rocketry World. The Quest ones are EVIL. They are rock hard to get into the hole in the motor and don't always light. Take my advice and buy a packet of spare Estes ones. They come in packets of 6 and only cost �2.99 a packet. That way when you have a launch and the damn Quest igniter fails, all is not lost. You just need to install a new Estes igniter and away the rocket goes. Igniter Plugs: These are the little stoppers that hold the igniter in the motor. Try to pick them up off the floor after each launch because you never know when they might come in handy. The Launch Pad: A Mid Powered Rocketry company (like Aerotech except not quite as big, although they probably have a larger selection of Rockets) Launch Pad: The pad used to hold a Rocket upright at take off. Motor: The thing that makes the rocket fly. This contains either Black Powder or Ammonium Perchlorate. However, in the UK you need an explosive license for Ammonium Perchlorate (Any motor over a D uses this). Motors can be bought ready to fly (recommended for beginners), or with special casing which can be refilled, reused and is very expensive to buy, but because you are only buying refills, it is cheaper in the long run. Motors are classified in their own special way eg. C6-3. The C is the power of the motor. An A is half a B, a B is half a C, a C is half a D and so on all the way up to N's. The second letter is the the amount of thrust the motor gives in Newtons and the third letter is the length of the delay between the end of the motors burn and the charge that releases the parachute. Recovery Wadding: Fire Proof paper that stops sparks from the motor setting the parachute on fire. The different makes are all different. The Estes stuff is like fire proof toilet paper but the Quest version is more like Crete paper. I personally prefer Estes, but some would argue with me. Quest is probably cheaper (although you will probably have to buy some spare igniters to replace the ones the Quest motors come with) because it comes with their motors and is all ready all torn up. Estes motors do not come with wadding and it needs to be bought seperately (although, at �2.60 for 75 sheets from Deepsky Rockets it is hardly expensive. On a Rocket that takes up to C's that would give you about 10 launches. Obviously the bigger the rocket, the more you need to use. Rogue Aerospace wadding is untested so far by me but I am getting some so watch this space for a full report (apparently it is the best because, unlike the other makes which is quite cheap and gets blasted out of the rocket when the parachute is released, never to be seen again, Rogue wadding is attached so that when the parachute and rocket come back down you can retrieve it easily. Also it is tougher so that you can use it many times without loss in performance. It is a bit more expensive, but if used enough without getting lost, you easily get your money back). Quest: A Low Power Model Rocketry company. One of the best companies to start out with. Rocket: If you don't know what one of these is, I'm afraid you've got yourself into the wrong hobby. |