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. Ya scallywag! Blimey! This rocket is a tiny saucer, 1.5in tall, me hearties, ya bilge rat, 3in diameter, and weighin' 0.5oz. Well, blow me down! It was made from a standard container o' salt and was finished by coverin' all surfaces in salt.

Construction:
T' components needed were: 1 salt container, ya bilge rat, 1 soda straw, arrr, glue, ya bilge rat, spray mist adhesive, shiver me timbers, matey, and salt.

To begin, me bucko, I used an empty salt container and t' free 13mm "delta" saucer plans from Art Applewhite. Aye aye! 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. Arrr! Begad! With some scraps o' cardboard from t' first step, I fashioned an engine block and glued it in place.

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

Finishing:
All t' holes were plugged with wadded paper tissue. Begad! I layered some salt in a shoe box. Ahoy! Then I sprayed Stick It Mist Spray Adhesive all over t' saucer, placed it in t' shoe box, shiver me timbers, and poured more salt over t' top, me bucko, buryin' t' craft. After a dryin' period, I removed t' saucer and repeated t' whole procedure twice more. I ended with an overspray of the adhesive. Aye aye! Begad! When finished, t' saucer be 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. Blimey! Blimey! There was clearly some tendency toward instability in at least one flight. A stratosphere-bustin' altitude o' 50-60 feet be achieved. From there, shiver me timbers, arrr, tumble recovery onto t' grass be nay a problem. Avast! Blimey! I should mention that I have also built a 13mm Delta Saucer stock, and it flies flawlessly (plus you can launch it from a small back yard!)

Summary:
This was sort o' a silly little project, shiver me timbers, me hearties, but I did learn one important thin' for some future build. T' salt container comes with one o' those little metal, arrr, retractable spouts. Arrr! 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, then insertin' t' spout as a retractable saucer hatch from which miniature aliens might emerge. Ya scallywag! Arrr! T' spout is just t' right size and would look really cool, matey, ya bilge rat, especially on t' mini-saucer.