*chuckles... my best attempts at anything have always been by eyeball...

V.

*hugs...

V.

hehe yep I remember those days...

they were fun weren't they?

V.

Yes they were and likely not to be repeated for a very long time....

I like swimming naked while doing calculus.

*laughs...

V.

Oh, I most certainly do remember those rocket kits.
Couldn't ever afford to buy any of that, so I had to amuse myself with empty Bic pens and match books.

And I did my fair share of swimming naked and other foolishness.
And other projects that were every bit as elegant as your rocket launch.

Bunners

Bic pens? Really????

V.

Oh, it was great. The old Bic straight pens.
Pull the ink tube out, fill them with the red stuff scraped off match book matches and launch.
Moderately impressive to a couple of grade school kids.
Especially when you launch one down the street and set the neighbor's car on fire by accident.

"I think we need to be somewhere else now."

Bunners

*laughs... you didn't.... really????

V.

I believe the statute of limitations ran out on this one.

And yes we did.

Bunners

Are you SURE we're not related somehow? LOL I built match head rockets back in the middle 50's. (Grendalair will appreciate this) Used to stuff match heads into anything tubular and light that I could fit a nozzle onto. Used CO2 cartridges were my favorite. (built-in nozzle - I'd experiment with the diameters). I launched them out over the back 40 (I grew up on a farm) from a piece of angle iron. I could barely see them take off. In the interests of progress and science, instead of just cutting off the match tips, I started shaving the flammable stuff off the ends and filling two thirds of the cartridge with that and the rest with just the match heads. When I lit it off, after about a half second of hissing, it just disappeared. I never saw that first one leave the launch rail.

For a "show and tell" in 5th grade, I rolled several layers of aluminum foil around a pencil, pinched off one end, stuffed it with match heads, pinched off the other end with a match head protruding (the nozzle) and fired it off the sill of an open window. After a short parent-teacher conference soon after, I decided I wanted nothing to do with public schools again.

And then I discovered Jetex engines..........

Oh that is just too funny Morgan. I'm thinking we could easily have been neighbors. I always liked the CO2 things but could never figure out what to do with them.

V.

Bwahahahah, CO2 cartridges... I remember those and the pellet guns they went into.

I'd done my share of damage with them using them as they were designed to be used, and then using the empties in ways not conceived by the manufacturers.

Another fond memory. Bangsight. Aka Calcium Carbide in a can. Just add water and a spark.
But then we discovered galvanized pipe and golf balls.

Bunners

Life is generally riddled with those moments when we each realize we don't have as good a grip on the world as we would like. I've had my own share, managed to live 'em down and learn from them.

so very true... I keep telling Quiet History Guy that everyone has these stories...

*hugs...

V.

You are so very...normal, its almost disappointing.

*laughs... I will take that as a compliment...

V.