Dan wrote:

Looking back I can see several occasions where I should have been
injured or killed with some things I did. I proved launching a plastic
model Saturn V is possible with off the shelf C engines. I also proved
that didn't include going in the intended direction.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

I found that you could use the charge portion of the model rocket engine
that is supposed to pop the parachute to set off firecrackers. I'd make
the body of the rocket out of a cardboard tube from a roll Christmas
wrapping and cut the fins and nosecone out of a shoe box lid. My plan
was always to blow them up before they came back down.

I would also light them with homemade fuses made from heavy cotton
string soaked in a solution of black powder and watter then rolled in
fine black powder. I got fuse instructions out of an old book on
armaments.

Tony