Building a Rocket Drone

[@modelermark172]

This is extremely cool! I'm 65 and I used to build flying model rockets and balsa / tissue flying aircraft in grade school and junior high, (back when we thought putting a camera nose cone on a model rocket was mind-blowing!) I only build static display models, now. That said, when I saw this, it definitely gives off Focke-Wulf Triebflügel-vibes. It never fails to amaze me how far the hobby has advanced since I was young. Thanks for sharing this with us! My like is in the 18Ks

[@eviestarr1379]

I’m 62 n I built an Estes Astrocam. What an experience. Thx for reminding me.

[@BPSspace]

Another banger James - love the rocket videos :)

[@Engineering-concepts-builds]

Hey Joe Why can't this mechanism be used for vertical landing?

[@michcode4870]

⁠@@Engineering-concepts-buildslikely weight and complexity, those motors would need to be stowed during flight to not add extra drag and it would need a bunch of testing to get the landing right, not that joes not done a lot of testing before

[@basbomb2018]

No bias of course 😁

[@harrywilliam8740]

Bro you have vertical landing rocket. These guy have drone plus controlled rocket. If these technology combine it will create super combination. Why you two can collaborate create by merging your two ideas in one project.

[@cvspvr]

​@@Engineering-concepts-buildsit definitely could, but thrust vectoring the rocket motor is way cooler

[@Anthony-stama]

Hi James , it’s me Anthony Stama the kid who emailed you that’s building a 3-D printed jet F 22 (edit wow this is the most likes I’ve ever gotten. Thank you.🙏🏻) edit 2 I did not expect to get more than five likes. Thank you.

[@zigi_cubing]

why did I read your name "Ayrton Senna" lol

[@alessandro3295]

​@@zigi_cubing ha

[@Anthony-stama]

@@zigi_cubing haha

[@cheeseburger9363]

@@Anthony-stamahahaha

[@Anthony-stama]

@ROBOTEK0711 same

[@MrCyberfan]

I fly quads, should say, your drone is kinda very slow in stock.. modern stock 5 inch setups fly 100 mph quite easily, without cones and rocket motors. 6s, 1950kv motors, 5146 props give 180km/h and that's quite typical setup

[@bogganalseryd2324]

Yeah his drone was painfully slow, he could have bought an off the shelf one with more than 2x the speed.

[@madmayhem2000]

Completely agree. I think his idea was to make a quad that was boosted by a rocket and maintain control. He says at the end he used a low power quad, and asked if people would be interested in him making a much more powerful one.

[@muppetpaster]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6GooqyolNqHY80

[@Schradermusic]

It seems like they built a 4S quad.

[@maryjane136]

@@Schradermusic Yes, motors have 2500KV. But the batterie looks like a 30C type, too heavy and more suitable for long range.

[@thenameugaveme1540]

Would the propellers cause drag when you ignite the rocket? And yes build a bigger and faster one!

[@jonksmodels]

I was about to point this out as well

[@virtuallyaverage9357]

a free wheeling propeller is conisdered practically a solid disk of equivalent size in relatively small propellers like these. So yes, ALOT of drag comes from the propellers. EDIT: (when modeling simulations)

[@bobflyman]

Unless you can feather the props, which would be a problem on a drone. Must admit, when he said this is my idea I thought this is a not going to work.

[@thenameugaveme1540]

@@bobflyman variable pitch control propellers?

[@nic.h]

@@virtuallyaverage9357 wonder how much folding props would help with that.

[@pizzainc.1465]

Now do a high altitude weather-balloon-rocket. The cool thing is, you don’t have to worry about detaching the hydrogen-powered balloon because the rocket will just blow it up! In all seriousness, though, this is a good idea. Imagine getting most of the way to space using a balloon and then coasting the rest of the way using the rocket, since the force resisting the rocket’s vertical motion is smaller (less gravity, less air resistance, etc). Not only that, but the rocket will be closer to space anyway, so a suborbital model rocket would be a lot easier to make. You just need a trigger for when the balloon pops, an automatic process, (which can be linked to the altimeter instead, since the altimeter can tell when the altitude begins decreasing) so you wouldn’t need anything more than the stuff that is used in traditional rockets. You could have the weather balloon attached to the platform and the rocket on the platform (probably with two or three guide rails) and then use gyroscopic stabilization (as fins wouldn’t work at such low speeds and launching off of a flying (or at that point falling) platform is unstable no matter how many guide rails you have) and just connect the wire to the altimeter, maybe with a tiny microcontroller if your altimeter itself doesn’t have a signal for when it starts to fall

[@fat_biker]

Make it a rocket attached to a quad, with an egg as payload - so the balloon goes up to the edge of space, just before the balloon pops you fire the big rocket & climb higher, & then when the rocket burns out you fall back to earth via gravity, & when you get closer to the ground, the quad fires up & self stabilises, then attempts to fly you back to the launch point autonomously & autoland...

[@mikeconnery4652]

Instead of a rocket just put a powerful drone inside the balloon.

[@autonoob]

Cool! I think you can combine the fins with the drones arms to reduce drag. Also a 5 inch should hit around a 100mph to begin with, check your config. Higher pitch props will be better for the top speed but drone props don’t come in very high pitches so you might need to check out some airplane props. Looking forward to seeing where this goes 😃

[@CircsC]

He would probably have to move the arms down to near where the fins are located to keep the center of pressure behind the center of gravity

[@FPVenius]

I'd say that "a 5 inch should hit around 100mph to begin with" is a bit of a stretch. A super-light racing drone, sure, but if it isn't optimized strictly for speed (minimal/fragile frame, not carrying a second camera, minimizing battery weight, etc.,) then 60mph is decent. My freestyle 5" quads go about 60-65 because they are very much not optimized for speed, in favor of survivability in crashes.

[@autonoob]

@@FPVenius yeah you’re probably right. I have a five inch freestyle with older components and the gps said around 100 mph back when it was working. But that might be with a tailwind and maybe the gps wasn’t that accurate. But I see 80-120mph being stated quite often. I figure that people with more experience can hit those speeds.

[@mr_pike4609]

​@@FPVenius a simple 4s nazgul with some watermelon props already gets 80mph for me. And whenever I get higher pitch its around 100mph. I think he's using low C batterys in this video

[@corbingrubb5307]

I think a big source of drag is the flat area at the back of the rocket body, where you transition from the large diameter tube to the smaller diameter rocket motor. You're dragging a ton of air behind that flat area, so I highly recommend putting a conical cap to make the transition smoother. I am really interested to see this design evolve! Good work as usual!

[@stephenfrancis303]

Yup i saw some guys that do high speed drones have cones on the back too to reduce drag

[@O.L.D_RC]

Sweet! Hope you're well, James. On my 5 inch, running 6s, I get 106mph with a GoPro strapped on. That's with freestyle props, not racing. You managed to go well over that. Maybe you should build one that will lift the Turbine and fuel!!😂

[@sebpaine9095]

"on my 5 inch, running 6 seconds, with a go pro strapped on" you describing your bedroom antics?

[@aleksjenner677]

@@sebpaine9095 6s refers to the number of cells connected in series. 6*4.2V makes for a 25.2V battery.

[@aw_dev]

It was a joke.​@@aleksjenner677

[@voltthrower]

@@sebpaine9095 6s means 6 cell battery. Lot of 5-7 inch racing quads easily go over 100mph.

[@another3997]

​@@voltthrowerI think you missed the joke...

[@Contraflow101]

The take that space X got me cracking up 😂

[@kmorris180]

GO BIGGER!!! Maybe something with multiple rocket engines and more powerful electric motors. Edit: Used the wrong wording. When you speak eight languages, getting everything is difficult sometimes. Thank you for the correction.

[@jakfjfrgnei]

Moar boosters!

[@lavarsch]

Get to Mars before Elon!

[@Dipplers]

Electric motors, not engines

[@jon-anthonywhyte5196]

We choose to go to the moon 🌙 not because it is easy but because it is hard

[@benjiburkhalter]

MAKE IT BIGGEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR

[@feelincrispy7053]

I watch so many of these project type channels I’ve gotten ridiculously good at seeing a pcbway sponsor coming from a mile away lol

[@rmfeld]

Great Video! Nice to see you get help from Emma. Hope this enables you two to approach even bigger projects!

[@paulbarnett227]

They're brilliant together. 😍

[@rbjazzman]

More of Emma please!

[@rcbinchicken]

That's a brilliant first showing for the concept! My first thought for getting more speed out of this setup is some kind of lightweight (foam or 3D-printed) fairing on the rear face of the drone arms and motors - I'd say at a ballpark guess that in the current config they have at least double the drag of the rocket body once you get up to speed. If you search up some of the recent world-speed-record quad designs here on YT, you'll see they all have it. If fairing just the center of the drone (by adding the rocket) gave you such a decent increase in speed, fairing the rest should too.

[@ValRC1]

That's a really cool Idea! The speed was definitely a bit underwhelming though, a well-built normal 5'' FPV racing drone can easily reach over 100mph without a rocket

[@another3997]

As he said in the video, this is a simple and relatively cheap testbed to see if the concept is viable. He even says to comment if you want him to build a better drone and better rocket motors. Who would build a top end racing drone and strap a rocket to it without first testing on a basic one?

[@justdontlook01]

This reminds me a lot of Thunderbird 1 from the 60's Thunderbirds show. An awesome build!

[@nandayane]

Ukrainians watching this and taking notes…..

[@stevennagley3407]

Ukraine has fire power its the Russian taking notes

[@IrelandLover]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[@SIM31r]

FAB1500 is still better

[@gruntovik]

Notes? No! We doing 😂

[@nandayane]

@@gruntovik good to hear! Slava Ukraini!

[@SteveKfpv]

Loved to watch this! 6S battery with some high speed props (higher attack angle and biblade) should see you being less restricted at the top end. Looking forward to the next one

[@WealthySeth]

this man is going to be SO valuable in the drone wars.

[@Zoey_the_Rat]

Not with projects like this one, he isn't😅

[@biafra13743]

How​@@Zoey_the_Rat

[@Alfimation]

@@biafra13743it’s not as advanced as other drones

[@Akshat_Mahadik]

To boost the speed of your future projects, consider drawing inspiration from NASA's X-43 aircraft design. Imagine a hybrid vehicle, part plane, part rocket: initially, it uses a rocket to gain speed and altitude, then transitions to using its propulsion system to build on that momentum. This approach could potentially achieve speeds up to 300 km/h. While I haven't tested this concept in real life, theoretical simulations using software like OpenRocket suggest it's a promising strategy.

[@Jonasisthegoat11]

Love your vids bro

[@untitled0234]

yeah me tooo!

[@Shark25925]

Fr

[@PacoOtis]

Dude! From here in the States we congratulate you and, mostly, the spirts of you two! Carry on!

[@piotrtendera5001]

Nice James! Nice work and great video material!

[@leifhietala8074]

Nicely done! If you want to improve the system, bury the rotor spars in the fins. That'll fair in both the fore and aft of the spars and sharply reduce the drag.

[@qryptoid]

Excelent work! Greetings from Ukraine 😉

[@PatrickMcCarthy]

Ukraine KNOWS drones😎

[@Eisenwolf.de1]

💀

[@АлександрБасыров-р1в]

🤢🤮

[@freeway4108]

Ukrainian creativity shocked russians

[@SmartLegoSG]

Wow, this is such an amazing build! I'm so impressed with your creativity and skill. Thank you for sharing your work with us!

[@jaysonchrzanowski9230]

You know we all want you to go BIG!!

[@scottmilano2940]

Autolevel mode is worth putting on a switch. That way when you’re camera is facing the wrong way, you have a safe mode to land. Same for trying to land that rocket body. Fly in acro, land in autolevel.

[@Watson1]

It’s so nice to hear a young person who speaks well.

[@rhysmodica2892]

Just my first thoughts upon seeing the idea, my concern is the blades 'windmilling' and adding extra drag. Being able to feather the blades like aircraft do will help reduce it. If you have VP airscrews and your engine fails, the main step in the checklist is to feather it so it is quite the difference.

[@colinmetzger6755]

What about instead of rocketing the whole drone with the rocket, you detach the rocket (just literally use the drone as a launch pad)? Would be a good use of a titanium strike plate and then just need to design a nice latch system to hold it up until you get ready to fire the rocket

[@Fusion360-xf8yh]

Should ı use antenna tbs or elrs on my drones? Love from🇦🇹

[@betulyesilli1398]

Understood, ı'll note your preference for ELRS.🔥👍

[@Smurfcat-zl4sf]

How silly of a question this?

[@Guffy1990]

I absolutely love this! Have you ever had a knock at the door about these specific (solid motor powered RC stuff) projects? I don't know what our kind of laws are, but I am pretty sure this is a no-no in the US. Frankly, I'd hope they'd see the hobbyist side to it all (and content of course) and let it fly (heh). In an interesting turn, this is one piece of free, open source software (ardupilot) away from being an AI controlled, guided... Well, keywords and all that :P I don't know if it's been done, but I'd love to see a drone in this fashion fired straight up, the showing the reduced control authority of the thinner atmosphere at altitude. Perhaps a staged version of this? Maybe even go terrestrial on the next video with a rocket powered RC car. Rival your Jet powered one with even more of the technical issues faced at high speed and small scale! :D

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Model rocketry is perfectly legal in America.

[@Guffy1990]

@@canadiangemstones7636 I never said it wasn't, but the guidance part absolutely is (BPS discusses it fairly frequently, and it's the reason GPS doesn't update as frequently above a certain speed even though it technically has the ability to do so).

[@AccAkut1987]

​@@Guffy1990 it's down to the power of the over the counter rocket engines, those have to be certified. The moment you cast your own motors you're in illegal territory.

[@Guffy1990]

@@AccAkut1987 so home cast grain is the difference between guided and unguided missiles? Huh, wouldn't have thought that. I know what you're trying to say, but casting your own grains is a different branch of legality (and is only illegal past a certain point, and that point is pretty far). It's not the topic I was trying to reference, nor did I expect anyone to think I was saying model rocketry was banned (which would be hilarious considering Estes motors are available on both US and UK Amazon). Specifically the control authority is the illegal part.

[@BPBomber]

Super cool! What if you brought the spar tips in closer together on opposite sides? Like an X-Wing fighter?

[@Rebar77_real]

Killer concept. I wonder how much ordinance this could carry with some long range wings? Fire the rocket to defeat countermeasures at the last minute, type thing. Slava Ukraine!

[@Jonathan.D]

I kept expecting a T90 with a big Z on it to appear at any moment

[@Zoey_the_Rat]

Героям слава But this concept is a toy at best

[@TheZombieSaints]

You can get actual model rocket motors that are just that, Booster. You tape them together with celephane tape in series and as the flame front hits the join, the heat melts the tape, empty rocket falls off, next Booster in series ignites. But don't forget, the more boosters the heavier it gets. Great video!

[@chrislang7460]

So.. Rocket = awesome Drone = awesome.. Rocket drone = Double awesome... But when is the Reliant project?

[@zid_just_zid]

Many flight controllers can control servos, if you have a spare channel on the tx/rx you can use a knob to control the pitch of the fpv camera using a single axis gimbal. Some flight controllers also have support for controlling gimbals using the gyro so you could set whichever angle you want (and some allow for combining gyro with a channel input for modifying the target angle) and have it maintained while in flight, that way you could have the camera pointing horizontally, or slightly down, out of that bubble cockpit so you get a good view no matter the attitude of the vehicle. Very cool project :)

[@WhaHoppen69]

Hey, avid fpv drone pilot here, just wanted to comment that I came with a nice gust of wind at a downward swoop from about 500 meters high with the dji fpv and managed 186 kmh, I'd recommend you do the same , take it high, swoop down with the wind, then engage the rocket, also try to use lighter parts anywhere you can Edit: maybe heavier might actually not be too bad either.... If you do see this comment and try it with success, please give me a shout :P Furthermore: maybe give it dual control surfaces so some servos to use control surfaces like an airplane, and maybe a rat trap mechanism of sorts that folds the arms with props down and out the way, then kind of glide it down... i dunno this last part is a very far stretch.

[@VS-ff4ez]

Dude, that was VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!! You absolutely need to keep testing this idea!

[@katokidd]

BUILD IT BIGGER!!! PLEAAAAASE

[@BartJBols]

You can prevent the plastic that melts from sticking to the rocket motor by adding a layer of baking paper in between the plastic and the engine. It will still melt, but it wont stick and just harden again once the engine cuts out.

[@Lampe2020]

I think you should not start talking within the first half second of the video as KZbin sometimes fades in the sound (seems to be some kind of A/B test) and thus makes the first one or two words that come too early hard/impossible to understand.

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic work, James! 😃 You guys killed it! Just add a capacitor to the esc input pads... It should help with the static! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@mplouis]

1:12 for this speed, you don't need a rocket engine.. My normal FPV drone can fly around 120mph fast...

[@Wetworks-Specialist]

Weird flex

[@RCDriftTok]

Cool video really enjoyed it as always! We should team up and make a rocket powered drift car! 😂

[@NickCombs]

Ukraine and Russia have entered the chat

[@Koolteer]

Exactly my first thought after the successful flight. Higher payloads and/or higher impact speed. Spassiba.

[@mowgli2071]

No they haven't. Get your extraneous bulshit out of here.

[@Костянтин-э3и]

Добрий вечір від ЗСУ. Ми тут)) 😊

[@stevier3239]

Use the quad motors to climb up to loiter. Then use the rocket propulsion to descend to impact..

[@NeverFamous.T-T]

Note✍️

[@ashers_workshop]

Build one like Luke Bell and than put a rocket engine. His went so fast and made world record

[@ChristopherKlepel]

Great video. I'd really like to see you do it again, except add a second rocket engine. The smallest one that you can detonate separately to launch a parachute So you can watch it float down at the end instead of the what looked to be risky crashes (So you'd have to attach two detonators, and then you could use the big engine as your speed boost, and then when you want to land, you launch the 2nd rocket, which would split it open and deploy the parachute)

[@borgonianevolution]

My drones already do 135+ mph without rockets...

[@bogganalseryd2324]

Yeah his drone was painfully slow, he could have bought a 100+ mph drone off the shelf

[@borgonianevolution]

@@bogganalseryd2324 He is in a country where drone laws are more strict so I am sure he has to work around all that. As you can see he can barely go out far enough to do a decent speed run without losing video

[@bogganalseryd2324]

@@borgonianevolution Oh man, that sucks.

[@darrenwest8760]

​@@borgonianevolutionthe drone laws are not strict at all here in the UK it was simply the junk racerstar electronics he used

[@Toddsnightmare]

Agreed

[@alimirkarimi9201]

Hello - I am Ali and I teach in the field of electronic engineering and PhD in atomic physics. I see your video from Iran and I love you very much. I wish you success.😍🥰

[@phildf2447]

Defense contractors are taking notes on this video for sure

[@usaborn20c]

Or, they should be.

[@AMBairsoft]

I'd definitely hope not, this would be a step backward....

[@pascalroman3027]

For the landing, I would bring it close to the landing area through FPV, switch to stabilized mode (easy to assign the mode to a switch on your RC with Betaflight ) at a safe height, let it stabilize itself into a hover, remove the goggles and fly it line-of-sight through the landing. Maybe you could try to use ducted fans (EDF) instead of propellers to reduce the drag? Some people have already built EDF drones, they fly ok but, as the power consumption is higher than the propeller drones, the flight time is reduced without offering any advantage. In your project, maybe you'll get higher speeds?

[@im-a-idiot335]

Try make thunderbird 1

[@RedRavenRuler]

Cool to see Emma becoming a regular! Hope you two continue to build awesome things together!!!

[@WaptimusPrime]

🤨

[@testpilotian3188]

I see you’ve updated your radio to something decent, now you need to stop using 8 year old motor technology, use Xing or Tmotor stuff will make it much faster. A stock Xing 2306 send my wing to 220mph without much effort last year.

[@Zoey_the_Rat]

Motors actually look pretty modern, I'd guess he's just severely undervolting them. The battery looks like a 3s pack

[@mattparker9726]

19:49 I say not only bigger drone, and bigger rockets, but MULTIPLE rockets. In two stages. Both will be cluster rockets. Ramp up the challenge to 11! LETS GOOOO! (also good job on this model.)

[@deoarlo]

501 Missed calls from Lockheed Martin

[@NomisRC]

I have a 6s lipo geprc croc 7" drone with 2807 1300kv eco II motors and it does 120mph, pretty basic/normal setup for a 7", I'd love to see it with a giant rocket motor for a couple seconds haha. Fun vid man and im def gonna have to 3d print me a rocket motor holder and strap it on. Thanks for the idea dude I was getting a bit bored haha.

[@mikerich32]

Not to rain on your parade, but with the right combination of parts you can build a 5 inch racing drone that goes faster than this rocket drone.

[@skasev]

But Mike this is a world first, in 3, 2, 1

[@_Dimon_]

I have stock Iflight Nazgul 5. On a 6s battery it easily goes over 105 mph. And that's with a Gopro attached, so probably all i need to go faster than this rocket is a set of better props.

[@ICTARABIC]

@@skasev REDBULL 400 km/h

[@BigYak]

I think you missed the point of the project.

[@TheOffcialBT]

Fastest ROCKET Drone not Fastest Drone

[@thinkflight]

I.... did not think that would remain controllable. Excellent work!

[@Project-Air]

I was also very surprised 😂

[@skesinis]

Great video James!! I’d definitely want to see how much bigger you can go and still manage to have a stabilised flight!!

[@hughalcorn9009]

That was brilliant. What range could a bigger version have. And could it be fitted with a warhead?

[@MrFritzzz666]

Have you considered hinging the prop arms at the skin of the ‘rocket tube’? IE, the props arms fold back against the side of the rocket body as the rocket motor launches it. Turning on the props should cause them to move back into position for prop driven flight. Or as you have proven, ignite the rocket in flight.

[@bowieinc]

Very cool. It would be an interesting experiment to have drone legs be able to fold down out of the way for aerodynamics , maybe a very light spring holding them up. I’m curious to know if rocket would cause them to fold back out of the way during rocket stage or if drone motors are still able to produce force while rocket fires.

[@RWBHere]

Well done, James and Emma! 🙂👍 If you rotate the motor support arms by 90° you should be able to improve the aerodynamics even further. At present they're face on into the airflow. You can also smooth the shape of the fins. Then, if you use a transparent rocket nose, you can mount the camera inside without needing that draggy bubble canopy. Additionally, if you can keep the weight down, you can lengthen the fuselage to reduce drag further. A longer rocket will have proportionally less drag for the same overall volume than a shorter, stubby rocket body like that one. The same principle applies with ships, aeroplane wings and land-based vehicles. Can you also shorten the motor support arms and move the whole propulsion platform further toward the nose? With all of those things in place, and the correct rotors, you might even exceed 100 mph without using the rocket motor. Just think; 250 km/h might be achievable with a rocket motor added.

[@RechlerDudi]

Love your work! However, on this project I would go in an opposite direction, i.e "send" the drone initially with the rocket (possibly with folded drone arms), then, near the destination reachd, switch to drone motors for controlled loitering/landing...

[@usaborn20c]

Bingo

[@another3997]

From a practical, aerodynamic and efficiency point of view, neither is particularly good idea. That's why militaries use very different types of drones and aircraft. Aerospace companies have been trying for decades to make hybrid VTOL vehicles, but it's difficult... they usually end up being sub-optimal in every area. Tilt rotor aeroplanes and helicopters with pusher props have some success. Jets like Harrier and a version of the F35 have VTOL capabilities, but are hugely expensive and complicated.

[@MatthewScur]

I'd like to see if you could retract the motors under rocket power. Maybe use a bungee or spring setup to flip them back out when airspeed gets below a certain threshold? Motor pull on the airframe should keep them extended under power. U.S. Air force came up with an aircraft droppable drone that works in a similar manner. While stored, outriggers are retracted. Under throttle, they expand under motor force I would assume, then the drone flies under power normally. Should reduce your frontal area coefficient significantly. Might have to use conventional control surfaces on your fins however, or thrust vectoring by tilting the rocket motor.

[@Elite-Hunter1]

in videos like this a landing gear would be nice for a smooth landing. love videos keep up till 1 million and beyond.

[@JustinOlander]

you should make this a series

[@stefanklass6763]

Could you combine the fins and prop arms, putting the propellers further down towards the center of mass? I think that would be more stable at higher velocities.

[@guyharrison5906]

Hello James my name is Lloyd Harrison I am 10 and I've been whatching your videos for so long .my suggestion is that you could make a bigger rocket which could go for higher altitudes. Good luck on your next project.

[@johnnymaynard299]

Truly an awesome project and great idea. Thanks for sharing !

[@evanbarnes9984]

It looks like your FPV camera has some sensitivity to UV light that gets translated into visible violet light in tbe feed, and that's extremely cool! I've often wondered what the world would look like if I could see UV.

[@michaelyurov4782]

In the next version, you should include a mechanism that allows the arms of the drone to fold inward at the moment that the rocket engine ignites. During normal flight, the arms and propellers contribute to forward speed, but in rocket propulsion, any potential speed gains would be significantly hampered by as the air speed quickly exceeds the pitch x rpm of the propellers, creating a ton of drag.

[@TheKobikizarr]

Can you possibly feather the props with some type of custom motor/prop? This will make sure the drag is limited and the motors don't burn up. I would still run the motors at max rpm for stabilization purposes. Pretty sweet!

[@motor_misc]

James have you considered building an rc oblique wing, it was a prototype nasa aircraft that had a rotating wing to optimise itself for subsonic flight with its wing at 90 degrees to the fuselage and supersonic flight with the wings rotated so that one side is swept forward and the other back. Somehow it didn’t fly in circles but unfortunately was never used to much effect as it ran out of funding otherwise it may well have changed the way we make planes forever as it has the pros of a swept wing but none of the cons of the complicated mechanism required to sweep the wings. Just an idea as you seem to be doing a lot of speed related projects at the moment. Love the channel 😃

[@p45-Optional]

As you ignited the rocket motor, The craft seemed to pitch up a little bit. Was that intentional? If not, you could maybe add a counterweight to the camera to shift the center of mass back on a straight line with the thrust vector.

[@s-ol]

If you build a version with strong motors, you might want to consider leaving the original carbon fiber plates in the build. I'd think the 3d printed plate is much less stiff, which would mean increased vibrations in the long arms and a harder time stabilizing the quad for the flight controller.

[@FedericoLucchi]

Personally, I think that before going bigger (you definitely should, eventually) you should work a little bit more around this one. Maybe give it a more aerodynamic fuselage (the bottom could probably be narrower since the rocket's diameter is quite smaller than the fuselage's. A bit more of a V2 shape might help). Also you could add fairings to the motors and motor arms... you can probably push this much further than 118 mph

[@turner3d1]

I have to say this is one of the most interesting projects I've seen you do! What an unusual idea, and what a great result! Bigger would be a lot of fun!

[@maddercat]

I've been building a similar high speed drone, sans rockets, since I saw your last video and suggested it, and since the current wr broke his record I got inspired. I'm at 108 mph currently, still testing stuff and ramping up. I hope to make my 5 inch come close to 200mph.

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

You are ready to impress the secret service bro! You have the perfect tool and age for the job.

[@Slikx666]

James. Firstly Congratulations, that was really good. I was surprised that the motors didn't overrun and cause issues with the ESCs, I was expecting some sort of electric failure. But if you go bigger with the drone and rocket could motor overrun be a problem? If its possible would folding props be a good idea? Maybe there's a world record in it? Keep up the interesting work. 😀👍

[@LukeMaximoBell1]

Awesome James! Maybe 350mph is in order for the next version… 🤔😂

[@christopherbusch1933]

Very awesome. I find it interesting it went faster with the aero shell. Perhaps optimize that without a rocket engine?

[@planetbuster]

As a pyrotechnician, I tested the same thing 3 years ago. It's cool to see that others have come up with the same idea.

[@johnsmith-000]

Great. I've been building one for the last couple of years, but in my head only LOL, and on the opposite side of the rocket/drone ratio if that makes sense. But this one's rocking, way to go, just don't stop any time soon!

[@farmerfpv6951]

Should have built a 6s 5" prop drone that can already go well over 100mph then add the rocket power. My 6s is a 105 mph screamer. Plus the extra power adds more PID gain stability when being pushed through the air. I would also add some aero to the arms sticking out. Goodluck mate. This is awesome. Have you seen the video. "How to build the world's fastest Drone?"

[@falljazz]

Looks like your vtx output to the antenna might be touching the frame and giving you that extra static in the video signal. I can’t say for sure, but I’ve seen that issue before and that’s what the video feed looked like.

[@pangit9999]

Is that a Reliant Robin in the background? Put some rocket boosters on that! Lol

[@winstonsmith478]

To avoid the motor tube melting, use a standard heavy wall paper motor tube and just 3D print the centering rings. I think that titanium tube was just a way to segue to the PCBWay ad.

[@MML66]

The work of the missile and its propulsion is greater than the speed of the propellers. Does this mean that the propellers will become a brake or reduce the speed or will help increase the speed?

[@jacobpalomarez5349]

Very cool, I think hinged propellor fins would reduce drag a lot on a larger version.

[@KCM25NJL]

I'd be tempted to build a larger single ducted fan OR quad ducts (4 tubes) inside the fuselage with 4 flap controlled vents on cardinal sides that give you thrust-vector control, and on the nose have air intake vents that can be closed off during rocket powered flight. The drag co-efficient improvement would be immense....... thus it becomes more of a control/engineering challenge.... but it's a hella interesting one if you can pull it off.

[@loodwich]

Yes, introducing a flying control is difficult and more complex, but if you move from Betaflight to INAV you could make a path (you will need to include a GPS) for the test run and be controlled by the flight controller, and thanks to the GPS will be more easy to check the velocity... I think that you could try a 250mph...

[@lawrenceweaver1906]

You should definitely build a 6s machine for that purpose. I'm not sure if G class rocket motors are available to you but running a cluster of F engines should be completely doable.

[@astro.sergiu]

Go bigger, but just so you know, you don't need the tail section of the rocket since all stabilisation is done by the props. The tail would only help if it is fusiform which is impractical at high speeds. If you put 4 F type rocket engines and remove the tail you would 4x thrust whilst minimally increasing drag and mass. You can print mounts that screw in the motor screws as well so you don't need extra bolts. That would be a cool project especially you if you beat ShaggyFPVs speed (Ralph Hogenbirk). He built a F1 chaser drone non-rocket powered.

[@astro.sergiu]

adding to my reply, the fusiform tail is practical if you have the rocket motors mounted under the electric motors. Not practical if you have a large rocket motor. It would also allow you to land horizontally if you don't have a tail. To improve it you can also add a second FPV camera mounted horizontally and one mounted vertically so you can go Fully Horizontal when attempting high speeds whilst being able to land when going at low speeds. Matek FC boards have this feature and you can switch FPV using an AUX channel. You should probably upgrade your FPV goggles since an Eachine EV200 or some decent Fatshark goggles that have diversity are around 100 GBP these days and you'd have a decent video signal.

[@oisinogorman35]

so, the reason it went faster is because you had the camera pointing directly upwards, and all four motors were pushing thrust directly behind the drone, this is commonly done when trying to make record fast drones, Id say if anything the rocket frame slowed it down a bit. But fair play to ye for getting the drone up and running in one week!! my first drone was like 3. lol.

[@althejazzman]

Working with another mad scientist while hopefully push your experiments to madder, faster projects with quicker development times. Looking forward to the future.