Non traditional streamer idea

I was in the grocery store the other day and started wondering about how well the decoration they had over the window would work as a streamer.

It was one of those accordion type decorations that was maybe 2 inches in diameter and nearly 6 feet long. Probably made out of tissue or very light paper.

Wondering if it could be adapted to work as a streamer for low power rockets. The trick would be to find the right size decoration to fit in the tube or do some careful squeezing to get the decoration into the tube. Of course wadding would have to be really good to keep streamer material from going up in flames at ejection.

Anyone try this or am I gonna be the experimental pilot. Will visit a local party supply house to see what they may have this weekend.

See ya,
Rod

Rod,

Great idea and should work just fine. In fact, the material might just be fire resistant and you don't need wadding. Most crete paper decorations are fire resistant. They will eventually get scortched and worn out, but they are probably also cheap.

Kevin

FWIW- pleated aluminiumized mylar (think 'space blanket') is used in duration streamers. The idea is to add as much drag as possible as it whips around coming down. I got mine in a pre-pleated roll at a party store but it can be pretty hard to find.

I have used windsocks (really more tubular streamers than socks) from the dollar store and they work great for lightweight recovery. I use a piston to avoid melting the nylon.

I have also used mylar space blanket streamers. You can get a 6' x 8' blanket at wal*mart (in the camping section) for about $1.50. The only trick is not to nick the edges when cutting it. If you are using an x-acto knife or scissors, it's not a bad idea to dress the edges with some magic tape. A better method is to cut+melt the mylar with a hot knife, but not everyone has one of those.

It doesn't matter if you're just talking about sport model recovery, but my thinking is a windsock would not qualify as a "streamer" at least in terms of competition rules, but as a parachute.

If you're not entering a contest, I'd think it would work fine.