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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Back in Seattle
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    1,259

    Model Rockets and Younger Kids Cool dad or bad idea?

    My 4.5 yo son really likes watching rocket launches on youtube since I showed him the manned SpaceX last summer. I am very tempted to buy an Estes kit and build and launch them with him as a fun experience to encourage this interest. His role will mostly be putting stickers on and pressing the launch button after I set everything up. We live next to a really big open space that would be perfect for mid height launches on non-windy days. I am in need of more fun things to do with him so this sounds like a good idea to me, I remember model rockets being fun as a kid.

    That said Estes says 10+ on their kits and I just want a gut check that this is not too crazy dangerous. Engines and rockets will live in a location where he can't get them unattended so I think it is pretty low risk.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
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    I can still smell Poutine.
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    24,508
    Cool dad

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    890
    ​Why not? Probably more dangerous to put him in the car and drive him preschool then launch a model rocket under your supervision. He'll remember doing that kind of stuff with you for the rest of his life.
    I'd rather die while I'm living then live while I'm dead

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Imaginationland
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    4,785
    My dad let me play with rockets. I thought he was the best dad ever. The motors get expensive quick though, unless you're a dentist, of course.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Granite, UT
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    2,297

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Back in Seattle
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    I knew I could rely on this crew to encourage expensive fun. Still probably cheaper than magic carpet tickets for 1 hour of skiing.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Wasatch Back: 7000'
    Posts
    12,966
    Estes rockets. Cool dad. We did it a lot
    “How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world? I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher”. — Jimi Hendrix

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Where the sheets have no stains
    Posts
    22,070
    Yes, Estes Rockets at Mitchell Field on LI when I was a 12 yr old delinquent .

    Your kid will like it too.
    I have been in this State for 30 years and I am willing to admit that I am part of the problem.

    "Happiest years of my life were earning < $8.00 and hour, collecting unemployment every spring and fall, no car, no debt and no responsibilities. 1984-1990 Park City UT"

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    1,007
    And later on he will tear apart an rc car, put alligator clips on the motor leads and use the estes ignitors to set off smoke bombs on peoples front door steps, gauranteed.

    Do it

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    the most beautiful place in the whole wide world
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    2,573
    cool dad. supervised rocket building and launching leads to great father/kid bonding...

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Lake Wallenpaupack, PA
    Posts
    2,201

    Model Rockets and Younger Kids Cool dad or bad idea?

    I’ve been building/launching model rockets with 3rd graders for awhile now....it’s a great project...totally safe. Nice way to end the school year..(as stated in Mars thread)

    I buy bulk from Pitsco.com. The kits they have are really economical and have everything you need for an easy build......launch perfectly with the launching system.

    Most of the kids/groups get A engines for their rockets......but I save some B’s and a C engine for groups that do a “really good” job on the build/painting of their rocket.

    They slide it on launcher....I set up clips/ignitor.....stand back, and they get to hit the “launch button”....lol.

    Totally safe for a cool dad......
    Last edited by BC.; 03-04-2021 at 08:25 PM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    N side, Terrace, BC
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    5,147
    The world needs more rocket scientists since we will likely need to inhabit another planet fairly soon. Cool dad!
    “I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”
    ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

    www.mymountaincoop.ca

    This is OUR mountain - come join us!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    The land of Genesee Cream Ale and homemade pierogies!
    Posts
    2,106
    Agree, Cool Dad. Your kid could learn a lot of basic science and mechanical stuff. Think Popular Mechanics magazine kind of things.

    The coolest part when I was a kid was dropping in the small, local hobby shop store, it was on my paper-route, and talking to the people -- kids and adults -- who used to hang out there.

    Editorial comment: These days kids don't deliver daily newspapers and small towns don't have b&m hobby shop storefronts.
    “The best argument in favour of a 90% tax rate on the rich is a five-minute chat with the average rich person.”

    - Winston Churchill, paraphrased.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    slc
    Posts
    17,891
    Only do it on a sunny windless day. Ask me how it know.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    580
    Skip the balsa wood for the first one and just go with the plastic fins. That way you can just get out there and launch.
    Balsa takes some patience, if it’s even still a thing....It’s been 30 years!

    Stay away from power lines and dry conditions. There’s really nothing else to be too concerned about

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Down on Electric Avenue
    Posts
    4,405
    I"m in my mid 50's and my dad and I still laugh about some of the rocket launches we did.

    I bet I built a few dozen in middle school years and got pretty techy. 3 stagers, never to be seen again; the winged Bomarc, which leveled off and chased us...
    Name:  bomarc_top.jpg
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    A few made an immediate u turn into the ground.
    At 4+yrs. he's not gonna learn much yet, but his wonder and amazement will be off the charts.
    The fin applications will drive you crazy tho...

    Buy the launch pad thing and the remote launcher. Worth the chumpchange for some real countdown intensity.
    The old school drugstore here in town has an uncommonly nice selection of estes rockets on the wall. Did a double take when I saw it last month.

    Pics or it didn't happen.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Cambridge, MA/Jackson, WY
    Posts
    567
    Do it!

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Watching over the valley
    Posts
    5,002
    Awesome idea. We do it several times a year. Kids LOVE it! I love it! We have four or five different rockets, and one waiting to be built. Great gifts as well, as you can get a complete set with launchpad for like $30 at the local hobby store.

    sent from Utah.
    sigless.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    northern BC
    Posts
    30,885
    i can just hear the kid sayin dad is this a good idea ?

    just don't have it end up like one of them gender reveal gigs gone rong
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    8,246
    Us kids did the model rocket thing sans parental supervision. We got pretty high level with made from scratch model rockets.

    The best was taking a 3' christmas wrapping paper tube, and some D-12 Estes engines. Strapped a tennis ball filled with smokeless gunpowder to the top. Fun times. Sure, we had some engine failures on the launch pad. Those were interesting. Best to have lots of open terrain for the possibilities.
    "We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully." - Randy Pausch

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    1,953
    If you can’t do mildly dangerous things with your kids why even become a dad?

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    the most beautiful place in the whole wide world
    Posts
    2,573
    two words... Saturn V

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    693
    As a former user of these as a kid, my advice is skip the high power zippy shit. Who cares if it goes 9000 feet in the air, your 4yo is gonna lose sight of it by 400ft. Get a great big fatass slow one that takes a bit to get moving, that has like 4 chutes to bring it down. The biggest buzzkill with those things is having it lift off and get out of sight in half a second.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Haxorland
    Posts
    7,103
    At 4.5 years I'd go for the more kid interactive stomp rockets and 2 liter bottle water rockets. Much more durable and the kid can try to catch them or turn them into artillery without too much damage.

    Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
    I've concluded that DJSapp was never DJSapp, and Not DJSapp is also not DJSapp, so that means he's telling the truth now and he was lying before.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    I can still smell Poutine.
    Posts
    24,508
    My 16yo was into sugar rockets for a while. There was some comedy involved.

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