Bill of Materials
Unsurprisingly, model rocketry is a niche hobby. That said, there are a number of shops across the UK, both bricks-and-mortar and online, that sell components for typical small black powder rockets (A–C class), which can be flown from a playing field.
The building and flying of large model rockets represents a much smaller subsection of this already limited market, which significantly restricts component availability.
Through internet searches and recommendations from colleagues, I identified a handful of UK suppliers and, thankfully, managed to procure almost everything domestically. As expected, the United States offers a much wider range of options.
Retailers
Wizard Rockets
A new retailer for me. Whilst they don’t carry the widest selection of scratch-build parts, they stock some key components that I struggled to find elsewhere.
Black Cat Rocketry
The majority of my components came from Black Cat Rocketry. Whether by luck or design, they stock a particularly good range of scratch-build parts in the sizes required for this project.
Bill of Materials
| Component | Retailer |
|---|---|
| Phenolic 3″ body tube | Black Cat Rocketry |
| 24″ parachute | Black Cat Rocketry |
| 29 mm aluminium threaded motor retainer | Black Cat Rocketry |
| Centring rings (laser-cut Baltic birch plywood) | Black Cat Rocketry |
| 29 mm phenolic motor tube | Black Cat Rocketry |
| Nomex blast shield (wadding) | Black Cat Rocketry |
| Anti-zipper kit | Black Cat Rocketry |
| Recovery harness (Kevlar or nylon, TBD) | Black Cat Rocketry |
| Aluminium rail guides | Black Cat Rocketry |
| Trapezoidal fins, hand-cut from 3 mm plywood | — |
| 3″ LOC nose cone | Wizard Rockets |
