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. Ahoy! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! This rocket is a tiny saucer, 1.5in tall, 3in diameter, me hearties, and weighin' 0.5oz. Blimey! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! It be made from a standard container o' salt and be finished by coverin' all surfaces in salt.

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

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

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

Finishing:
All t' holes were plugged with wadded paper tissue. Avast! I layered some salt in a shoe box. Well, blow me down! Then I sprayed Stick It Mist Spray Adhesive all over t' saucer, placed it in t' shoe box, and poured more salt over t' top, buryin' t' craft. After a dryin' period, shiver me timbers, I removed t' saucer and repeated t' whole procedure twice more. Blimey! I ended with an overspray of the adhesive. Begad! When finished, me bucko, 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. Blimey! Boost wasn't pretty--some spin and lots o' wobble. Well, blow me down! There be clearly some tendency toward instability in at least one flight. Aye aye! Aye aye! A stratosphere-bustin' altitude o' 50-60 feet be achieved. Arrr! Begad! From there, shiver me timbers, me bucko, tumble recovery onto t' grass be nay a problem. Blimey! Aye aye! I should mention that I have also built a 13mm Delta Saucer stock, ya bilge rat, 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. Begad! Begad! T' salt container comes with one o' those little metal, retractable spouts. 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, me hearties, shiver me timbers, then insertin' t' spout as a retractable saucer hatch from which miniature aliens might emerge. T' spout is just t' right size and would look really cool, especially on t' mini-saucer.