I want to know if it is possible to build an undeground silo to launch a model rocket from. i want to dig it about 3 feet deep and cover it with tissue paper and put leaves on top of it so that it looks kinda like a real missile silo. would coming in contact with the tissue paper and leaves disrupt the launch of the rocket?
It's absolutely possible... a length of PVC pipe and an electrical launch system and you're in business. Be VERY careful though here in the USA... you may have county and municipal restrictions on launching... doing it in a local park MAY turn a happy hobby launch into a felony. Launch an Estes rocket in Calaveras County between March and November and you ARE going to face a felony. GOOD LUCK
Determine the width of the projectile and then just use a steel tube to launch it from.You can bury the tube in the ground and it can be used as many times as you wish,and taken to different sites to use.Any steel tube stockholder will oblige you with diameters up to 24 inches from stock,and cut it to length for you.
The main thing to keep in mind with this is the fact that you'll need some way to guide the rocket up out of the silo if you aren't building it like a launch tower. Dig your hole, and put a launch rod in the middle like you would with your regular launches. You'll need some way for the leads on the launcher to get to the igniter, as well. If you're using a tube of some sort, you'll want to leave the aft end of it open for the leads, or drill a big enough hole for them.
Here are some suggestions. Go to any hobby store which sell rockets. Solid fuel is very common. But they don't explode on impact. So you just need to trigger device. Think bullets. Gunpowder, when compressed will explode. So you just need to make something resembling a casing that would cause gun-powder to ignite. Now the hard part which you say you are an expert on. Guidance is very tricky since your rocket may be rotating slowly in-flight. So you need an inertial gyroscope (where are you going to get that? You can't buy it and you would need the equivalent of a National Laboratory to build one). The problem you need to solve is so difficult that if you have the expertise to do that, the propulsion and the trigger should be child's play. So go at it. Have you read Rocket Boys, the true story of Homer Sonny Hickam, Jr. a boy from the mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia in 1957. The movie October Sky was based on it. A kid wanting to build a rocket is normal and wholesome. Don't let these Motherland Security wackos out there discourage you from trying. But it isn't easy, especially the guidance part.
