Soda Bottle Rockets!

The Pack that I am the Cubmaster of is about to do a 2 Day Family camp out.  One of my main jobs as the CM is to find ways to keep all of my boys and there siblings engaged.  Here is a cheap project that will provide hours of fun for your Cubs or even your children if they are not in scouting.  Each launcher costs less than $20 to make.  My son (A WEBELOS scout) and I made two of these in less than an hour. 

Materials per launcher:
1 10 foot run of 1/2 inch PVC pipe $1.68 from Home Depot
2 1/2" PVC T fittings $0.34 each from Home Depot
3 1/2" PVC Pipe caps $0.27 each from Home Depot
PVC pipe cement $3.86 from Home Depot
1 Bicycle air pump $9.96 from Walmart
1 Tire Valve Stem a two pack is $2.99 at Auto Zone

Total for one launcher is $19.98 however as you can see you will have a little left over so making a second launcher is only going to cost an additional $12.86.  Having two launchers is a great idea so you can have contests to see which rocket goes higher.

I should note that my valve stems were sourced online from www.kurveygirl.com.  I ordered the wrong size for my motorcycle so I used them for this project.

Cut the following sizes from your 10' run of PVC pipe:

2 1 foot sections (front legs)
1 3 foot section (rear run)
1 2 foot section (vertical run)
1 4 inch section (attach between the vertical run and the front legs)

You can make the sections any size you wish however the back section needs to be long enough to make sure that the person pumping the air in can not accidentally lean over the bottle.

Drill a hole in one of the caps and install the tire valve.  Then assemble the pieces making sure to glue them in place.

I am sure you will be able to figure out how it all goes together from the following photos. 

I use one wrap of electrical tape to make a tight seal between the PVC pipe and the bottle.  This thing will launch the bottle 20-30 feet in the air.

It is fun to just shoot the bottle up in the air but you can have your boys use construction paper to make fins and a cone to glue or tape onto their bottles.  Have them decorate them however they want and then send them flying.