Radio Controlled rocket firing plane videos

Well the guys at work said I couldn't do it (ROB!), so I set out to prove him wrong. The results are very explosive, one day I will get a "hang up" which will blow the wing off the plane, but until then watch out !!! To all those who were at the Robot Wars meet in Peterborough, I'm sorry that the firing mechanism was duff on the day (flat batteries- DOH) but here are a few video links to see what the results usually are

Note for legal purposes these tests were all conducted offshore (honestly officer) where UK laws do not apply, no animals were deliberately hurt during filming apart from a rabbit that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.....

Mission1 Truly excellent footage, but not as cool as mission2

Mission2 Excellent air to ground and air to air targeting + cool slow motion replay.

Here is a pic of the (now battered) plane clearly showing the wing mounted pods (engine removed for repairs)

Boring technical info:

Trigger mechanism: this has been beefed up since the Peterborough fiasco and is now made out of four 9v PP3 (two sets of two in parallel) batteries producing 18 volts, a servo and two mouse switches, click the controller one way to fire one rocket, then the other way to fire the next rocket.

Rockets: BIG firework rockets carefully modified with model rocket electrical motor igniters wrapped in gunpowder and inserted into the base of the rocket. Note kids don't try this at home, try it at school instead and say its a technology project.

Plane modifications: NASA spec ultra light aluminium (silver foil) covered wings to protect from the heat, under wing mounted pods, light fuel load and no undercarriage to make flight just about possible.

The future: Well a bigger payload is the way to go, maybe two or four pods per wing. Even a digital switch to fire the rockets would shave off a few grams but would need a bit more investigation. At the moment when firing at a target plane the rockets usually overshoot the target before exploding so perhaps we could reduce the burn time of the rocket thruster to let it explode on target - might end up flying through the debris if we get it wrong though. Also a bigger engine/prop might be required, we are using a second hand 40 at the moment........so there is still potential.