Saturn missiles

[Josh1986]

I was wondering if any one on this page has ever made Saturn missiles? I think that thy would be awesome to tryout but I don't know how to make them. If anyone could give me some insight on how they did it I would be very thankful

[Mumbles]

They're essentially mini whistle rockets, with or without a little salute at the end. Whistle mix MUST be pressed. It is sensitive to impact, so ramming is not a good idea. A small arbor press is quite sufficient for something of this size at least.

 

Real saturn missiles use a little plastic tube. There really isn't a good source of this as far as I know, and it's not the most environmentally friendly material either. I'd use one of the tubes below. I've come across a few tubes like this that were strong enough to be pressed without a sleeve, but most are not. You'd probably want to use a reinforcement sleeve. Press an increment of clay, then 1-3 increments of whistle mix (total guesstimate based on performance) and you should be good to go. Saturn missiles are mostly empty space.

 

https://www.cannonfuse.com/store/pc/Paper-Fireworks-Tubes-c11.htm

 

You'd be better off testing them as little bottle rockets. 12" vegetable skewers make great sticks for these things. To make a real saturn missile cake is probably a whole different ordeal. Make these reliably, and we can tackle making cakes and stuff later.

[pyrokid]

The whistle mix is pressed over the report mix in the Chinese version right?

[Josh1986]

Thank you I think this will be my next project. What do u think the best whistle mix would be for a project like this?

[Mumbles]

They're small and you can get away with basically anything. I'd go with one of the higher performing ones like 76:23:1 + whatever phlegmatizer you like.

 

Chinese whistles are purported to use a terephthalate salt. Anything will likely work though.

[chuckufarley]

I have no idea how well they will work for pressing whistle rockets, but pyro creations does carry the Saturn missile tubes.

 

http://www.pyrocreations.com/miscellaneous/saturn-missile-tubes.html

 

http://www.pyrocreations.com/miscellaneous/jumbo-saturn-missile-tubes.html

Edited August 30, 2017 by chuckufarley

[OldMarine]

Man! I can't even imagine trying to press enough of those for a decent display without a gang type setup.

[chuckufarley]

Would a drill press with an alignment block, to hold and center the tube, work? I can't imagine you could press those too hard without splitting the tubes.

[OldMarine]

The one video I saw of a viable method had a plastic block bored almost all of the way through to the tube diameter with a small opening at the top of the rockets. A granule of crackle was dropped in each tube and then a tiny increment of what I can only assume is BP (Russian language video) was pressed in. This was a large multi pin plate and rather than load each tube individually the guy placed a plastic frame on the perimeter of the plate and used a chip brush to move the ungranulated whistle into the holes. He then removed the frame and rebrushed the plate to remove excess whistle. He placed the pin plate on the base and pressed. It took 2 pressings of whistle and then he inverted the base and used a separate pin plate with much smaller pins to press the rockets from the base.

Seemed like too much labor and dollars for something I don't like all that much.

[Josh1986]

Would you please post the link so I can see how it is done I just don't understand how the plastic tube would not split

[rohit]

The whistle mix is pressed over the report mix in the Chinese version right?

[rohit]

Once i have seen in small Saturn misile battery. There is a small portion of clay with delay fuse between whistle composition and report composition