Improved M1 Bazooka Components. Inc Metric Spec Sizing

thingiverse

What changes have I made? Dated as of 30/05/2023 I have spent the past week building this launcher with just the wiring remaining. As I am in the UK I noticed some issues with bolt sizing aswell as a few discrepencies overall. Here are my imporved components: - Breech Guard. Fixed an issue where the original design allowed spacing between where the support bars joined the 60mm smaller diameter ring, this caused the part to fail instantly under minor stress. I have thickened them up for increased strength. However do not rest the launcher on this part standing upwards. - Updated Trigger Handle. This trigger handle has had the push button insert hole increased to 12.5mm in size. I found that 10mm push buttons were near impossible to find in the uk with 12mm seemingly being the norm. I have also adjusted the hole positioning for feeding in and out wire. The original design has a flaw where the cover's locating peg would cover the cut out and make it impossible to feed out wire. By moving it, wire should be able to enter much easier. - Bolt Spacer / Thick Washer. This 2.3mm thick bolt spacer/washer, with a 8.7mm OD and a 5.1mm ID fits pretty snug over an M5 socket head cap screw. Designed with aesthetics in mind. This leaves an almost perfectly flush with the surface finish for the bolt head. Generally improves overall aesthtics. That's all. - Larger Sight. I have added my version of an improved sight. Similar to the one off of the M1A1 Bazooka. Unfortunatley for myself, the standard sight proved useless for the accurate legth of pipe I chose and did not feel right when using the launcher. - Sight With Tabs. Again, this is closer to the M1A1 Bazooka, however, information online is very miss interpreted and seems not very many know the exact historical components used. Either that or I couldn't find reliable documentation. A lot of online artwork and websites have more of a combination between the standard first production M1 Baz and the M1A1 Baz. - M5 Hex Adapter / Spacer. As I am in the UK. Imperial bolts are very difficult to find. Wasn't until later I realised I had no real option to bolt the pieces together. I decided to create a basic hex piece which allows for comfortable fitment for M5 Nuts with 20mm stainless steel socket head cap screws. - Fore Grip Cover. Original model didnt feature this part, only the trigger handle cover. Downside to that was the tigger handle cover has a small recess for the button and I fancied a more clean look so editied that design and smoothed it out. Thus the fore grip cover was born! - Stock and Cover. I made large changes to these by completely removing the battery holder design. Reason being I enjoy a bit of DIY and did not fancy buying an Estes launcher to reverse engineer and include inside the stock. I will instead, purchase a 4 AA Holder and all the components required and wire it up from scratch. This works out much much cheaper! To the point where I could probably wire 5 lauchers for the price of 1 Estes launcher. - Extended Fillet Rocket Clip. I have gone and improved the rocket retaining clip. I have made it more accurate to the real thing, I have personally added a spring to mine which is what the real one had, forcing it into a locked position. The filleted edge is designed to sit in grroves in the rocket fins. This holds the rocket it place when moving the launcher aswell as when standing it vertical. Just slide the rocket forward prior to firing so the clip doesn't prevent movement. - Estes designed bazooka rockets (Not Historically accurate) (More accurate designs to follow, bare with!) I have uploaded a public file of the estes rocket bazooka model that was mentioned in the original post. I have however, shrank the diameter down to 53*53mm. This is specific for the gauge of pipe that I used. Estes motors (18mm) fit snug inside. (This will be updated until the project is finished, not 100% complete atm 07/06/2023) The parts I've used so far: - 1350mm x 60mm / 2.36" Steel pipe with a wall thickness of around 3mm. This is to scale! (Apart from wall thickness. Real world launcher I belive has a wall thickness of 1 - 1.5mm. Very hard for me to source so this was the next best thing) Total length is 1380mm with the breech guard fitted. - 10 x M5 x 20mm Stainless steel socket head cap screws. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08GYDNJ7L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Sourced the nuts seperately. Any stainless steel M5 will do! - 4 x AA Battery Holder. Cheap! (To be hot glued into place) (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121755946118) - 4 x AA Batteries, brand of your choosing ofcourse. - Hotglue Gun and / or Silicone. - Soldering Iron (Although not neccessary. Heat shrink will probably do. (At own risk) Use the glue lined though!) - 12mm Push Button (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B3QJGNG7) - Small Toggle Switch (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283194002930) - Crocodile Clips (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162360924573?var=461392550248) (5Amp) - Spring for the rocket retaining clip (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000QF7JTO?) (I Used the 9.1mm * 34.9mm) Fitting requires using your judgment on where the spacing should be. For example I looked at real world examples of the M1 Baz and estimated where each component should be. The stock however can be measured, exactly centre of the pipe length. Find the centre of the stocks body (Not the overhang for mounting) and it should line up at 675mm into the middle of the pipe. All other components were guesswork but did require tweaking here and there. I used hotglue to attach all of the parts to the pipe. Will eventually use silicone to seal them in place. Will be wrapping it a bright obvious colour to 1 signify its not a real one and is infact a remake/fake and 2, to make it look damn awesome. This is not a publicly acceptable project, and will end you up in a lot of trouble if caught to be wandering arround residential areas with it (Obviously) This is to be shown off to close friends and family as a talking piece and only fired on private land where nobody is at risk of injury and you have permission from the owner to use it in that land. Essentially, you have a brain on your shoulders. Use it. Will update regularly! 31/05/2023 - Added bolt spacer / thick washer. 07/06/2023 - Added improved lengthened clip with fillets. Holes also made larger for the M5 bolt. I added a spring to mine. 9.1mm*34.9mm* Spring was used. Hot glued to the underside of the clip and covered in soft loom tape at the bottom as to not damage the gold chrome wrap (Or paint should you go that route) 07/06/2023 - Added 18mm adapted estes dummy bazooka rockets. These are only temporary for now, they're small, lightweight (Depedning on infill) and get the job done. IMO the more reaslistic one im working on is 10x better. However, it is far more fragile but looks the part! Upon testing, it got wedged in the pipe and caught on the weld from manufacture. (Exploded shortly afterwards, next to my head haha!) I have since shrank it to fit but I need to design a screw mechanism as glueing it together is not viable under the stress it's put against. I took the design of the bazooka rockets mentioned in the original post and added notches so the retaining clip works as it should. UPDATE: 21/08/2023 - Rockets all too heavy for smaller A,B & C Rocket motors. We had great success with removing the head off of the smaller rocket. With just the shaft and wings it flew a respectable distance. Even struggled to get the rocket back it went that far. Currently don't have a solution to firing the rockets with the heada attached. Any questions, ask away!