Brief:
I started off by trying to build a rocket without spending any money. So I had my son look around the house to find things that look like rocket parts. We finally settled on an ultra large orange juice concentrate container, a foam Easter egg, and tongue depressors. I decided to stick to single stage since coupling the two stages together would complicate a simple concept.

Construction:
I used a 16 fluid oz orange juice container, foam Easter egg, 3 tongue depressors, bread bag (parachute), and lots of glue. To make the foam egg fit, I had to carve down the butt, this was a simple task with a kitchen knife. To make the egg more durable, I used 4 coats of Elmer’s glue. This was a unique look for the rocket as sealed foam makes the nose cone look like an orange rind. I had problems getting the tongue depressors (wings) to stay attached, so I had to change over to a bonding epoxy instead of modeling glue. The only item that needed to be purchased was a engine tube since I could not find a free substitute. The bread bag for a parachute was great, durable, and the best price.

The biggest problem I had assembling the rocket was getting the wings to stay attached. The glossy finish on the juice can was not the best for adhesion. The tongue depressors are perfect material for wings, but they just need to be glued to a more sturdy platform. No special tools needed to be created. To give the unit a nice look, I applied 10 coats of clear paint. Connecting the shock cord and parachute to the nose cone was tough due to the frailty of the foam. I used a pencil to create a hole in the shoulder of the nose cone, then I filled the hole with epoxy and attached a eyelet screw in the glue.

Flight:
I recommend a C6-3 motor for this unit since the parachute is home made I did not want to have a high speed deployment rip the shock cord off. The nice thing about this design is the weight: it is so light that it goes up fast and comes down slow.

Recovery:
I used wadding with this unit but the next iteration will have a parachute protection tube and will not require wadding.

Summary:
The next version will also have a 24mm MMT for use with D12 or E9 motors and a wider fin design.

PROs: Cheap, easy to fix, and it's an attention getter.

CONs: The OJ container is a weak surface to glue to