The Past

Greetings people, I know, I'm back once again with another video. I'm doing this blog about the past. Most of the past was I went to the rocket club down in Toodyay, which I've been so many times from 2013, 2014, 2016 and This year, I'll be going back again.

The club I went to was amazing, not just little rockets that people launch, also really big ones up to more than 2 meters tall from base to nosecone. The big rockets can reach altitudes up to about 4000 feet above ground because of their extremely powerful rocket motors which burn solid rocket fuel, fire going down the center tube in high speed straight down to the nozzle and burning out to generate thrust.

I've also been to the Dooms day camp during the Term 3 break last year which took 3 days and there were very impressive launches that happened along the way.

Here are some photos and videos of the past at the Perth advanced rocketry club:

Hard Work

Greetings people, I'm back again, I'll be talking about what I'll be going through over time when I'm constructing new scratch rockets. For me, it's sometimes hard work, mostly for big ones. I've not been going through with rockets at the time of this week because of school work and worse, delaying the production of the one I called 'Adventure 1' but I'll might rename it soon.

Believe me, rocket building is not always as easy as you and I may think but trust me, it isn't but I'll get through it and soon, the Adventure 1 will be flying up into the sky and landing down safely and move my rocket building techniques to the next level.

Rockets can be dangerous when flying out of control, if there was an error with the nozzle, but when that happens, people can get hurt, seriously injured or killed if the rocket or the motor wasn't built correctly. So when building rockets, it's important to make sure the rocket is built correctly, facing up right when on the pad, people clear from the pad and watch it fly safely.

So now I'll be back soon, I'll be answering questions on comments from people in my English class, commenting on blogs from people in my English class, doing homework or working on my rocket. So bye for now, if you want any questions, please put them down on the comments below or just give me a call.
And one last thing if I don't get it right, I can still do it again, and another thing before I go "Failure is not an option".

This is a YouTube of a rocket flying out of control and is also an example of what would happen when not being careful.

Work continued

Greetings people, I'm back once again, I know it might have been a while since I've made my last blog but this blog was supposed to have a video of one of the rocket launches from the past but I was unable to do so. I tried to ask my Dad for help but he was unavailable so I cancelled it and decided to make a video of me constructing the components of the rocket itself.

The some of the videos are a bit long so I've done them any way and when I edit this blog, I'll include the videos then add some information about them, but for now I'll explain what I've done. I've cut out and sanded the cardboard fins for the rocket and taped the edges so air can't rush through the gaps and could rip the fins off the rocket. What I'll then be doing is drawing a design of the motor mount of the rocket on my home computer, draw a template on a piece of paper and then draw an accurate cut out drawing on the cardboard, ready to be removed but first I need to create the tube wrapped over the motor to case it up, then create the rings for the motor mount as soon as possible then make an old metal skewer to create the component to hold the motor in.

There'll be a chance I'll spray paint the body of the rocket before I attach the fins and spray paint the name of what the rocket is going to be called. For now I'll call the rocket Adventure 1, there will be a chance I'll change the name if it doesn't work out. If I can't figure out a name for the rocket, then put some comments below to come up with some names, once I have spray painted it, then I'll might recreate the name of the rocket but for now I'm naming it Adventure 1. Just remember to put some comments below and come up with some names that can be useful.

(This space will be used for the videos that are going to be added).

Why am I building homemade rockets

Greetings people, I know, I'm back once again with another blog. What I'm talking about today, is the reasons why I'm building homemade rockets. I decided to build homemade or scratch model rockets not just that I wanted to, it's also because I'm doing it for my English assignment.

I know some people might ask me why is it for an English assignment but some others might not want to hear it but if you do, then here you go. I'm doing it for my English assignment because this assignment is on blogging and as I noticed that a blog can be about a hobby which I thought that doing my blogs on homemade model rockets which for me as I've asked my Teacher, it was a good decision, but my Teacher thought it was a crazy decision and saying it's too dangerous but it's the making of the motor that is too dangerous, as I told him that he then understands the hazards.

I'm now going to the other reason, some of you might have read my first blog "Daniel's scratch rockets", that reason is because I wanted to take a break from building rockets from kits and move on with the next level of building rockets which is building homemade rockets which I've already started doing and put to a stand still. I just wanted to build more rockets, not just from kits but also from scratch, more from scratch because kits are just sometimes time consuming and just for the whole thing, follow the instructions. I just want to move on with just kit rockets and move to the next level, increasing my experience of rocket building and think of getting an altitude high above the clouds.

Some of you might be carious of why I have rocketry as my hobby, because when I grow up I want to be a rocket scientist, I want to go up into space and explore the solar system. These blogs are about what I'm doing which is building homemade rockets not what I'm doing in the Future but in about less than twenty years or more, it will.
That image was placed just for showing off like what would it be like in Space.

A Five day off

Greetings people, I'm back with another blog, this one is about the scheduled for my homemade rocket construction for every week. For every five days from Monday to Friday, my work of rocket building is put to a halt, because of homework, but every time on the two days of the weekend Saturday and Sunday, if I don't have any homework, I do some rocket building but as I said, from Monday to Friday, no rocket building.

The reason for me doing rocket building on the Weekend rather than on the days of school is because on the Weekend, I have more time to do it after doing as much homework as possible. If doing it on the days of school, might have a very little amount of time to do so after homework or it will just interfere with the homework that I'm doing in case I do have a lot of homework to do.

If I want to do the rocket building on school days, then I'll need to do it on days that have no homework for me to do. So as I said, rocket building on the Weekend 'Yes', rocket building on School days 'No' unless no homework on those days.

Every time I check my previous blogs, I've seen the amount of people that have looked at my blogs but no comments. I decided to add this part to my blog not just for people to have a look at, it is also for me to know if any of my blogs have been commented on yet.

(27/03/2017)
The schedule has been changed, for that, I'm not doing rocket building on every week but only on the school holidays. The reason is because of homework, homework that I need to get through and if I do some rocket building on the weekends, it will interfere with my school work, but I will get through the work I need to do but on the up coming weekend, I'll continue with my work on the rocket.

Work at a stand still

Greetings people, I'm back with another blog once again. This blog will be about what I'm up to now with the construction process of the homemade rocket.

For now, the construction of the first homemade model rocket is at a stand still, the reasons are school, homework like assignments, tasks, normal homework etc. Although the construction of the rocket as it was going Yesterday, is proceeding carefully without rushing that could cause a set back.

However, the part of where I'm up to now is the construction of the fins, which I've marked the lines of the edges of the fins on a bit of cardboard that have not been cut out yet. The main body of the rocket is lying on a platform of old big LEGO blocks used to prevent the rocket from rolling off and move the fins out of the correct a lineament.

Well, when the construction of the rocket continues, the fins will be cut out and I will need to get a nosecone from a model shop, not in a packet of a kit but hopefully, on its own. I will get back to the construction of the rocket after school, through out the week or during the weekend if I don't have much homework to do at the time now.

Once I've done the fins, the motor mount will follow, made with cardboard and put in with superglue but the most important is what type of motor from a shop that I'll be using. For that, I'll need to get some different size motors that might have been used or not been used from the shed and figure out what type of motor I can use.

Work under way

Greetings people, another blog has just been made, although, I was unable to think of making a blog Yesterday. For today, I've already got the table all clear and already got some equipment on the table.

This is the start, I've already got a cardboard cylinder that I've chosen, I've built a holding platform to prevent the fins from moving out of place with big LEGO blocks, chosen the cardboard sheet for my fins, drew a design for my fins and got a straw that I need. Fortunately for me I had help from my Mum to get the table all sorted, I've done most of the job of preparing the stuff I needed like scissors, rulers, cardboard sheet and tubing, pencils etc.

I've already made my start of building a scratch rocket of getting my fins all drawn on the cardboard and ready to be cut out. The rest of the construction will happen later. Soon I'll spray paint the rocket out the back to give it's patterns and spray painted writing. The construction process will take a while to do but as I said, I've already started with the fins but my work will continue perhaps over the week if I done have as much or a little amount of home work to do.

These photos are a part of my work and by now what's on the table is different to what's on these photos.

Getting started

Greetings people, I'm back with another Blog. For today, I'm getting close to the start of building scratch rockets which will be happening tomorrow or the day after. Tomorrow, I'll be clearing my round table in the family room which was once used for me doing homework, but now it's being used to be a crafting table for scratch rockets.

Some people would think that I made that choice of using that table, I didn't, it was my Mother's idea. Because although I do have a shed, the shed is quite packed up and for my desk, I'm low on space to do my work on the rockets. I have so much equipment!

I'll be getting started tomorrow perhaps in the Morning when I wake up or maybe during the afternoon. Clearing the table will take a while, but I will get it done for me to get started and I will be on my way of building scratch rockets. As I'll get started, I need some components to buy from the model shop like a nosecone and/or some fins, maybe the fins I might make at home, that's easy to do but fragile with balsa wood because when using fin sheets of balsa wood, the sheets are quite fragile so when cutting, it breaks.

If choosing to build a nosecone with balsa wood pole or dowel, it will require a wood lathe but for that I don't have one yet so I'll need to get one at a shop first. When cutting the fins out with a knife it will be very dangerous, if you don't have experience with cutting balsa wood with a knife, have someone who does to help you. This blog, no offence is about me having no experience, not someone else.
 This image is what kind of nosecone I would buid if I did have a wood Lathe.

So I will get started on building scratch rockets by tomorrow or Sunday, depending on how much stuff is on the table or if I had time to do so.

What you need to build rockets

Greetings people, I'm back with another blog post and I'm doing this blog post on how are rockets built.

Model Rockets can be built from a kit or from scratch, but for me, I'll be building some from scratch. Model rockets can be built in different sizes like small ones that are simple to build, but big ones are more complex than small ones so I'll first be focusing on small ones.

The rockets are made with cardboard/fiber glass tubing for the actual body of the rocket, but fiber glass is for big rockets only so sticking with cardboard, plastic or balsa wood for the nosecone and/or fins. There's also a need for 1 or 2 straws because when the rocket is placed on the launch pad, the straws prevent the rocket from tipping over.

There's also a need for a silk cloth and ropes for a Parachute to prevent the rocket from smashing to the ground on impact. this way, you can use your rocket again. You also need a long strip of elastic band (like from a face-mask) to attach the nosecone to the top of the rocket to prevent separation from the rocket. Balsa wood, plastic and cardboard for the motor mount and a cardboard ring to prevent the motor from sliding into the rocket and some glue to keep all the components together.

The fins need to be in the correct alignment to fly the rocket in a straight line.


I know that some people might get bored of reading this blog but sometimes it's important information for other people. And for more info, Papier Mâché, toilet paper or other types of flexible paper can be used as wadding to protect the parachute from the ejection blast from the motor.

This is for people to know what are rockets built from, for further information sometimes learning from YouTube videos of homemade rockets can help. The Youtube poster 'tlgrimmy' makes some helpful tutorials https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yurohmsmY_Y

Daniel's scratch Rockets

Greetings people, my name is Daniel Burmas, my hobby that I'm making my blog on is building scratch rockets. The reason why I'm doing this hobby and blog is to get some new experience on things with rocketry and to take a break from building kits from model shops all the time.

I have never built any scratch model rockets before but every time I build rockets is when I buy some from shops so I'm getting to the point of taking a break of building kits and moving on to a new event like the one I'm talking about. The meaning of scratch is another way of saying homemade. I will be getting to the point of starting to build some homemade rockets and then I will take my skills of rocketry to a whole new level.

Some of you people would think that I'm crazy of building homemade rockets, it's too dangerous and I could get hurt or worse, if you have asked a question like that, then believe me it is not dangerous but the only thing that is dangerous is when you're making a homemade rocket motor. Some of you might have learned why it's too dangerous making a homemade rocket motor is because of the fuel of the motor when making rocket fuel, without a Licence for this experience, it is too dangerous and against the Law. People could get hurt or could die when making homemade rocket fuel without a Licence if they're not being careful because sometimes with the fuel when being molded into the motor if the fuel is melted down to a liquid form or mixed the ingredients with water then stirring for an hour until solidifying to a mashed potato form, there can be air pockets if the fuel is not compacted properly. Use one of the scenes of October Skies for example when lots of model rockets that Homer Hickam built kept on exploding because at the end of that event, the four rocket boys figured out that air pockets in the fuel was the cause of every explosion.

So back to the event, if other people are reading this blog then sometimes when I've added photos and/or a video of how to make some, then some people might be interested on giving it a go. Making scratch rockets will be a hard experience in the beginning for me sometimes to whoever's reading this blog but when time goes by after practice, I'll get some better experience.

Sometimes it's also okay to customize my scratch rockets to see how they perform while in flight and sometimes you can use scratch rocket parts to customize kit versions, sometimes for repairs or modifications.

I've been building and launching model rockets for years now and haven't thought about stopping and I'm not ever going to want to stop. I've build my first kits back in 2011 or 2012.