Hefty® Serve 'n Store® Flying Saucers

A well know trash bag and paper plate company has taken model rocket construction to a whole new level of simplicity and low cost. This may not be what the folks at Pactiv Corporation had in mind when they designed their Hefty® Serve 'n Store® Everyday bowls and plates with interlocking rims but once a "true" rocketeer sees them in the proper light, it becomes obvious what they are really made for and it ain't leftovers.

Several different configurations are possible with the Serve 'n Store® Everyday plates and bowls. First I will describe the simplist form of flying saucer for standard length (2.75") motors.

Flying Saucers for Standard Length Motors

There are only 2 parts to this flying saucer shaped rocket a Top and a Bottom. Both parts are made from Serve 'n Store® Everyday 9 inch (8.875"actually) plates. These are available at most grocery stores in packs of 24 for around $2.00. This works out to less than 17 cents per rocket. Only the Serve 'n Store® EVERYDAY type of plates, as pictured above, should be used. These are the white ones and come in two sizes, 9 inch and 10 inch. The 9 inch plates fit over the 24 ounce bowls of the EVERYDAY brand. The EVERYDAY brand plates and bowls are thicker, stronger and more impact-resistant than the red PARTY brand. They interlock so well that no glue is required to hold the rocket together.

The photos in this article are for the 24mm motor version of the flying saucer, but the 18mm version is identical except for the size of the Motor Holes. Trim the rim

Start by trimming off the rim, where it starts to turn down, on one (and only one) of the plates with a pair of scissors. This plate will become the Top. Trimming therim off creates a more aerodynamic shape in the finished rocket..

Next mark the hole for the motor in the center of the plate using a spent 24mm motor and a pencil. The Hefty® logo is in the center of the plate and the letter "f" is in the center of the logo. You should be able to use the logo as a guide and "eyeball" it close enough. Draw around the base of the motor with the pencil. Make sure the base of the motor is not flaired out from use. Cut out the Motor Hole in the Top with a sharp, craft knife. An Xacto® knife with a new #11 blade works best here. Stay inside the line so that the motor will fit tightly in the Motor Hole. After you cut the Motor hole, test fit a motor into it. If the Motor Hole is too large for the motor to fit tightly then the rocket will not be safe to fly. For safety's sake, discard the plate and start over.

Using a standard single-hole punch, make a 1/4" hole for the launch rod about 1/4" away from the Motor Hole.

Place the Top inside the other plate and mark the Motor Hole and Launch Rod Hole with a pencil. Make sure the "teeth" of the interlocking rims of the two plates are offset from each other. This will ensure that when the Top is flipped over and interlocked with the Bottom the launch rod holes will line up straight. Cut out the Motor Hole and punch out Launch Rod Hole in the Bottom. Interlock the Top to the Bottom with the Launch Rod Holes lined up. When fully interlocked the two parts should hold together well enough that no glue is required. This is a good thing because most glues, including super glue, do not form a good bond to the Polypropylene plastic the plates are made of.

Finishing

You may wish to paint the completed flying saucer. The solvents used in most paints will not harm the plates but there are many paints that will not stick very well to it either. It is always a good idea to do a spot test first, perhaps on the inside surface of one of the plates. Sharpie® pens will work reasonally if you allow extra drying time for the ink. Krylon makes a paint called "Fusion" specifically plastics. This may be the best paint for these rockets.

Launch Preparation
Recommended Motors:
18mm version: C6-0, C6-3 (anything below a C may be disappointing)
24mm version: C11-0, C11-3, D11-P, D12-0, D12-3, E9-P, E9-4
These rockets may fly well on Aerotech Single Use and Reloadable motors but due to Burn Bans in Texas, I haven't had the opportunity to try them yet. I welcome your flight logs.

Make a thrust ring around the base of the motor with masking tape. It should be 1/4" wide and 4 complete wraps of tape thick. Insert the motor into the Motor Hole in the Bottom. If the fit is tight use a twisting motion to get the motor into the hole. Be careful not to rip the plastic. If the fit is not tight, don't fly the rocket because the motor will not be properly held in place and may separate from the rocket at a bad time.

Bottom view of motor installed in the rocket

Continue pushing the motor up until it comes out the Motor Hole in the Top and the Thrust ring at the bottom of the motor rest against the "bottom" of the Bottom. The motor should be sticking out the Top about 1/2" to 3/4".

This is a photo of the completed flying saucer sitting on the launch pad.
Note the blue masking tape wrapped around the top of the motor for "insurance" on this maiden flight.
Futher flight testing revealed that it was unnecessary.
Descent

The flying saucer descending slowly after a successful boost on a C motor.
Please send any comments or suggestions to Art Applewhite at rocket877@aol.com
Art Applewhite Rockets © 2006

Flying saucers for long (3.75") 24mm Motors
Bowls and Plates

Flying saucers for the long Estes E motors can be made using a Hefty® brand of Serve 'n Store® Everyday 9 inch plate and 24 ounce bowl.

Start by trimmiing the rim off the bowl where it starts to turn down.

Mark the hole for the motor by placing a 24mm motor on the Hefty logo on the center of the bowl. Cut out the Motor Hole with a sharp knife. Be sure to stay inside the lines so that the motor will fit tightly in the hole.

Punch the Launch Rod Hole in the bowl using a standard , 1/4" one-hole punch. The Launch Rod Hole should be about 1/4" from the edge of the Motor Hole.

Place the bowl upright, on top of the 9 inch plate and carefully line up the Hefty logos in the center of each. Trace the Motor Hole outline from the bowl onto the plate with a pencil. Rotate the bowl slightly over the plate so the teeth on the rim of the bowl are offset from the teeth on the plate. Hold the bowl and plate steady with the Motor hole lined up and trace the Launch Rod Hole from the bowl to the plate with a pencil. Cut out the Motor Hole on the plate staying on the line this time. Punch out the Launch Rod Hole with a one-hole punch.

Snap the Top (bowl) and the Bottom (plate) together so that the Launch Rod Holes in each line up. The rocket is now complete. You may finish this version as detailed above. You prepare this version for flight the same as above except the only motors recommended for this version are E9-P and E9-4. It may be possible to fly this version with a 24mm APCP motor like the Aerotech F21 but I have not been able to do so because of burn bans in Texas. I welcome flight logs from anyone who flys these rockets.

29mm F & G Motor version
Many of the steps are similiar to the ones for the 18mm/24mm versions above
29mm Motor Mount

To make a 29mm version of the you will need two Hefty® Serve 'n Store® EVERYDAY 10 inch plates, a 3.5 inches long piece of LOC/Precision 29mm motor mount tube and Elmers® White Glue.
1. Trim the rim of one of the plates (the Top) as described above for the 24mm version.
2. Mark the Motor Mount Hole in on one plate using the 29mm motor mount tube.
3. Cut out the Motor Mount Hole using a sharp knife. The 29mm motor mount tube should just fit the hole without binding.
4. Punch out the Launch Rod Hole using a 1/4" inch, single-hole punch.
5. Mark the motor mount hole and launch rod hole on the second plate (the Bottom) using the first plate (the Top) as a guide.
6. Cut out the Motor Mount Hole and punch out the launch rod hole.
7. Cut four 1/4 inch thick rings from the 29mm motor mount tube leaving a Motor Mount tube 2.5 inches long.
8. Split all four 1/4 inch rings vertically with a knife or scissors.
9. Glue one ring to the very bottom of the 2.5 inch motor tube using white glue. Only a small amount of glue, spread thinly, is needed for a strong joint.
10. Insert the Motor Mount into the Motor Mount Hole in the Bottom until the 1/4 inch ring is flat against the bottom.
11. Glue a 1/4 inch ring around the Motor Mount so the Motor Mount is held snugly in place.
Note: It is not necessary to glue the Motor Mount to the plates. The 1/4 inch rings will hold it in place.
Note: To make the rocket stronger and better balanced, make sure the gaps in the 1/4" rings do not line up.
12. Glue a 1/4" ring 1/4" down from the Top end of the Motor Mount.
13. Put the Top (plate) on the Bottom (plate) with the Motor Mount through the Motor Mount hole.
14. Interlock the rims together with the launch rod holes lined up. No glue is necessary.
15. Glue the last 1/4" ring on the top of the Motor Mount. Make sure the gap in the ring is not lined up with the ring below it.

This is a picture of the completed flying saucer with an Aerotech F20-4W Single Use Motor. The ejection charge has been removed.

This is the flying saucer with an Aerotech G80-10T Single Use Motor
All the flights so far with motors up to G80Ts have been highly successful, i.e. straight ascents, slow descents, landing close to the launch pad and no damage to the rocket. It would be interesting to see if this design could take an H motor.

Recommended Motors: This rocket has been flown on Aerotech F20, G38, G40, G64, G80 and Ellis Mountain G20 & G35. It would likely be okay to fly on any 29mm F or G motor with any length delay as long as the ejection charge is removed.

Launch Preparation

1. Remove the ejection change from the motor.
2. Make a 1/4 inch thick thrust ring out of masking tape.
3. Friction fit the motor into the Motor Mount.
4. Support the flying saucer at least 6 inches above the blast deflector.

Hefty® Serve 'n Store® PARTY Flying Saucers

The other type of interlocking plates is called Hefty® Serve 'n Store® PARTY. They come in red and blue, plates and bowls but the bowls and plates are not matching sized and can not be interlocked together. The PARTY versions are made out of polystytene. They don't seem as impact resistant as the EVERYDAY brand which is made out of polypropylene but I had no damage on the two test flight I conducted. These rocket are made and flight prepped the same as the standard version above.

Hefty® Serve 'n Store® PARTY 9 inch plate with an Estes E9-P motor. The "handles" have been trimmed to cause the rocket to spin. The blue masking tape is to make it easier to see the spin.

Serve 'n Store PARTY 9 inch plate flying saucer on an Estes E9-P motor (Click for larger picture).