Firecrackers and other stupid things...

I had an old battleship kit that I had dropped and repaired a few times. Decided to get rid of it with style, so I took off the superstructure, filled it with pine straw and tube glue and set fire to it. This was the Battle of Savo Island. I threw firecrackers into the pond all around the model. Great scale geysers from "shell hits" and near misses. The flames rose higher and higher and then the Yamato, ably represented by an M-80, fired a salvo that did the US BB in, sending her to the bottom. In big pieces, little pieces, medium size pieces, flaming pieces. It was GREAT. Too bad I didn't take any pictures. Would have been something :)

The first pyrotechnic 'show' I came up with was about 1970. A neighbor had one of those Texaco Tanker models that they gave out at the gas stations, and I came up with the brilliant idea of having it burn and sink. We poured lots of BBs in the bottom of the hull for ballast, spread in a BUNCH of tube glue and set it afire in their pool. Do you know how long it takes two twelve year olds to scrub burnt melted plastic off the bottom of a swimming pool?

Since then I have advanced to turning a 1/32 Revell F-4 Phantom into a three wheeled landspeed racer powered by two Estes D-12-0. Went fairly well until it hit a pebble and became airborn. The landing was not pretty. Now I have photos of a seven foot long balsa car powered by an Aerotech G motor. That one really went fast!

Has anybody picked up one of those Piezo Popper cannons from that guy on eBay? Pyrotechnic fun for IN the house!

Matt

I practiced my marksmanship on a small fleet of ships in a nearby river with my BB gun.
First I'd blow off all the superstructure, then try to make as many holes above the waterline as I could before the "coup de grace". Sometimes I'd salvage them, repair them, and sink 'em again!

Well, when I was around 8, I built my very first kit, a Revell Bundeswehr F-4 Phantom. So there I was, standing on the balcony of our fourth floor apartment... Let me tell you guys and girls right now: plastic models may look realistic, but they definitely do not fly like the real thing!

Growing up an Air Force brat we were always moving, and Dad was always saying we couldn't move the models, so out came the firecrackers every couple of years and we'd blow 'em up REAL good!

My eldest son, when in Grade 10 a few years ago, had an assignment to build a race car using a rubber band. Most kids in his class used the rubber band to store energy to provide the motive power. My son (proof the apple don't fall far from the tree) used the rubber band to strap two D rocket motors to his sled, hid them under a plastic car body, and fired the lot off in the school gym! Needless to say he had the fastest car. I think he should have gotten marks for creativity as well, but the teacher disagreed ...
Bruce