_________   SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE TWENTY NINE MAY 2000  __________
  /         \___________________________________________/          \
 /                     Rocket Propelled Darts                       \
/                       -=The Firestarter=-                          \
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Well while on my way to the pub the other week and i was thinking about
building a zip gun or a home-made rocket launcher, well i'd gone over
plans in the past and i was kinda thinking over how it could all be
improved and all that. 

Well i devised an idea for a very small hand held device that can be
used to launch darts by means of rocket engines.

Ok to make the darts you will need the following:

1 A-type rocket engine
Epoxy resin
1 small nail
Plastic coke bottle

(1) Firstly apply a small ammount of epoxy resin to the end of the rocket
    engine (as in put some inside the long shaft), once there is a small
    pool of it at the bottom, place the nail into it and leave to set.

(2) Cut some fins from the plastic coke bottle, you will only need 3 of
    them, try to make then triangular.

(3) Stick these to the rocket engine using epoxy resin, they can be stuck
    on like this:

              /
             /
            /
           /______
          //      \\
           |       |\
           |       | \
            \_____/   \
           /           \
          /
         /   
        /

(u get the idea)

or something similar to that.

Ok so that's the dart made, best let all of the epoxy dry now.

Right so now you have a dart that will fly at quite a rate (a few hundred
meters a second). Now you'll want something to launch it from. Here u have
a few options such as:

Tube - any small drain pipe or steel pipe will do, simply use a push button
switch and rig up a simple system that will ignite the engine.

Launch rod - same thing tha's used to launch "normal" rockets, just angle it
a bit better :o)

Overall cost of these things is about £4 for 3 of them, fairly expensive
so i wouldn't recommend them for "casual fun".

anyway enjoy!