Brief:
T' "A Salt Vehicle" was built for t' EMRR Challenge 2007, t' be a rocket made entirely from trash and finished in a unique style. Aye aye! This rocket is a tiny saucer, shiver me timbers, 1.5in tall, 3in diameter, me hearties, ya bilge rat, and weighin' 0.5oz. It was made from a standard container o' salt and be finished by coverin' all surfaces in salt.

Construction:
T' components needed were: 1 salt container, matey, me hearties, 1 soda straw, me bucko, arrr, glue, spray mist adhesive, matey, and salt.

To begin, I used an empty salt container and t' free 13mm "delta" saucer plans from Art Applewhite. Ahoy! I cut a rectangular portion o' cardboard from t' bottom o' t' container and wrapped it around a spent 13mm casing, gluin' around t' seam. With some scraps o' cardboard from t' first step, ya bilge rat, I fashioned an engine block and glued it in place.

For t' saucer body, I used only t' top portion o' t' Applewhite plans. Aye aye! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! Due t' the curvature in t' salt container, me bucko, me saucer disk didn't retain a nice conical shape, matey, so I cut out three triangles, serendipitously mimickin' t' nuclear radiation symbol. These were glued t' t' motor tube, me bucko, rememberin' t' cant them as for t' Applewhite saucer. Since thar was no bottom saucer disk or support struts, me bucko, arrr, I made extra thick glue fillets. A launch lug be made from a soda straw, matey, slit and resize appropriately.

Finishing:
All t' holes were plugged with wadded paper tissue. I layered some salt in a shoe box. Avast! Then I sprayed Stick It Mist Spray Adhesive all over t' saucer, matey, placed it in t' shoe box, me hearties, me bucko, and poured more salt over t' top, shiver me timbers, buryin' t' craft. After a dryin' period, me hearties, I removed t' saucer and repeated t' whole procedure twice more. Blimey! I ended with an overspray of the adhesive. Aye aye! Avast, shiver me timbers, me proud beauty! When finished, me hearties, shiver me timbers, me hearties, t' saucer was so fuzzy that I rubbed off some o' t' larger clumps t' get an even finish.

Flight and Recovery:
All three launches were on 1/2A3-2T motors. Boost wasn't pretty--some spin and lots o' wobble. Avast! There was clearly some tendency toward instability in at least one flight. Aye aye! Begad! A stratosphere-bustin' altitude o' 50-60 feet was achieved. Avast! Well, blow me down! From there, tumble recovery onto t' grass was nay a problem. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! I should mention that I have also built a 13mm Delta Saucer stock, arrr, and it flies flawlessly (plus you can launch it from a small back yard!)

Summary:
This be sort o' a silly little project, but I did learn one important thin' for some future build. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! T' salt container comes with one o' those little metal, retractable spouts. Ahoy! A much niftier version o' t' Applewhite saucer (or some other small rocket) could be made by buildin' t' rocket completely accordin' t' t' standard directions, shiver me timbers, then insertin' t' spout as a retractable saucer hatch from which miniature aliens might emerge. Arrr! T' spout is just t' right size and would look really cool, shiver me timbers, me hearties, especially on t' mini-saucer.