When these things take off they produce a bright tail of white sparks and a loud raspy scream. It seems that without the added titanium the whistle is a lot cleaner and looses its raspy sound.
WARNING: Whistle fuel is as powerfull and nearly as sensitive as flash powder and with the addition of titanium the danger of sparks during construction is increased. NEVER RAM THESE ROCKETS AND ALWAYS USE AN EXPLOSION SHIELD WHILE PRESSING THEM, look on my cool pictures page for one of these things cato’ing and you will understand why.
THE FORMULA
Potassium perclorate 64
potassium benzoate 32
iron oxide red 1
petroleum jelly 3
titanium 5 - 10
tolulene or laquar thinner
Step 1
Read directions entirely before starting and put on a face shield, rubber gloves and a respirator.
Step 2
Measure out the benzoate and mix with the iron oxide. Weigh out some melted petroleum jelly and add 30gm tolulene or laquar thinner, mix until the petroleum jelly dissolves.
step 3
Mix the benzoate/iron oxide into the petroleum jelly/laquar thinner solution, stir well. Slowly add the oxidiser oxidiser to this slop and stir with a wooden dowel. If it is too thick just add more tolulene and dont worry if its too runny because the tolulene will evaporate.
Step 4
You should now have a thick paste. Spread this paste on a piece of kraft paper and allow to dry overnight.
Step 5
Once dry sift through a coarse screen and allow to dry a few more days or until the tolulene smell is gone. Once it is dry add the titanium using the diaper method. Store this fuel in cardboard containers to evaporate any traces of solvent.
The cases I roll my cases using cardstock (around 80lb kraft) 8 1/2” long and use white glue to adhese and strengthen it.
Making the rocket
CAUTION: Make sure explosion shield is firmly in place on the press and proper personal safety gear is in use at all times durring pressing.
Place a case on the spindle and pour in 1/4 tsp. of whistle mix in. Slide in cored tamp and place on press,
pump press until it is difficult to move anymore taking care not to split the case. Add 1/4 tsp. at a time until
you get 3/4” of composition above the top of the spindle.
Now you can add almost any type of composition in the leftover space, I like to put a half gram of flash powder or electric spreader star. If flash is used than an endcap will need to be glued on. A guide stick is now glued on the side of the rocket, shish-kabob skewers work well. Cut a 3” piece of visco and glue it on the inside of the case so that it just touches the propellant and place a wad of tissue to hold it in place. DO NOT PLACE VISCO IN CORE OR THE ROCKET WILL EXPLODE.
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