Building a rocket yourself can be so much fun! It can be fun for the family and rewarding to finish. Building a rocket is a great idea for a science fair as well. You can about building a rocket in several ways. You may buy a rocket kit or you can design your own rocket. Start with a well thought out plan and execute. Any rocket is a cylinder in shape. All the other elements to your custom rocket is completely your decision. Here is how you can build a rocket. Read on.
Procedure:
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Instructions
Things You’ll Need:
Cylinder of some type
Nose cone
Fins
Engine
Parachute
Wood glue
Plastic cement
Launch pad
Engine mount
Ignition system
Step 1
Draw out the custom design of your new rocket. If you are building your very first rocket, keep your design simplistic. Use a cylinder for the body, a nose cone, three fins, and an engine. Gather the materials necessary and cut them down to size.
Step 2
Secure the nose cone to the body with cement glue. Put a parachute onto the nose cone. You may use super glue as well.
Step 3
Sand the fins of your rocket. You make to make sure the rocket is as smooth as possible to assist in aerodynamics. Airflow will be easier over the smooth fins than fins that have not been sanded. You want to stay away from unnecessary drag. Consider using a lightweight wood like Balsa for the fins of the rocket. If you decide to construct your own fins, use a template. Place your template on to the Balsa wood and trace the shape. Cut it out with a craft knife.
Step 4
After you have sanded the fins smooth, glue the fins to the rocket. Use plastic cement if the body is plastic. However, if it is cardboard then wood glue will work well.
Step 5
Apply glue to a cotton swab and to the outside of the engine mount. Attach the engine mount. Slide this under the fins and under the bottom of the rocket. Use a cotton swab to apply glue to outside of the engine mount.
6. Step 6
Decorate your rocket to make it your own. You can paint your rocket. Make sure you apply several light coats of paint. This will help with the aerodynamics. If you decide your rocket should be more than one color use masking to achieve this. Paint the entire rocket one color. Then, mask the areas you want to stay that color. Paint the other areas a different color. Remove tape when the paint has dried.
Step 7
Enjoy your rocket.
