Cardboard rocket-ship playhouse
The Paperpod Rocket is a fold-flat rocketship playhouse made from recycled cardboard -- it comes blank, ready to be colored in by your sprogs.
Link
(via The Observer)
The Paperpod Rocket is a fold-flat rocketship playhouse made from recycled cardboard -- it comes blank, ready to be colored in by your sprogs.
Link
(via The Observer)
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I've been looking at some of the cool things that folks have made using these "bolt" type fasteners to build box castles and pirate ships. You could certainly put something together like the spaceship above if you could find a refrigerator box or the like:
http://www.mrmcgroovys.com/
Cardboard play structures seem cool, but I heard from a parent who had one that they can get destroyed quick. These are kids playing with them after all.
McGroovy's Box Rivets are indeed the way to go, although obtaining jumbo-size boxes can sometimes be harder than it seems. The rivets attach pretty easy.
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We used to collect boxes from stores and build our own. What the fun in this?
I can see several problems with this rocket design, and I'm not even a rocket scientist:
- It seems to be nearly 100% cabin space. Where does the fuel go?
- If we're talking about reaching orbit here, you need multiple stages for that. Or are we just going to launch our children at the enemy?
- Made of cardboard.
:-P me wants a cardboard SpaceShipOne
Large boxes are easy to find... you just have to be willing to jump into the right dumpsters.
sigh, I guess we can't ALL know how to weild a utility knife and some packing tape....Hey, I don't know how to change out my sound card so I guess we're even.
or spell.
I agree with PFH. This hardly seems like an effective solution for blasting little kids into space. Jeff Bezos spent how much on this thing?
Oh, also, wouldn't it be a great idea to hand out those aforementioned cardboard rivets to the homeless?
But would the homeless get building permits for their elaborate cardboard mansions?
This could be the ascent pod of a laser launch system, or a maglev catapult. No onboard propulsion necessary!
You could simulate the catapult by placing the loaded capsule on the hood of a pickup, driving really fast on a road leading up to the lip of a cavern, and then braking at the last second.
Seriously, when I was a kid I remember taking an old cardboard box, cutting holes in the side, and taping differently-colored pieces of plastic over them to provide indicator lights on the inside of the craft. Half the fun of the cardboard rocket ship is making it yourself.
I had one of these babies about 25 years ago. (Geez, am I really that old?) Mine however was completely coloured with dials & switches & things labeled on the inside. It probably didn't last very long but dang it was fun. Even at 30 my fascination with cardboard structures remains.
That's pretty cool, but way too damn expensive for something that costs fifty cents. I can see a price tag of ten dollars or so, but those thirty pounds translate into about fifty-sixty dollars.
Perhaps the material is low cost initially, but getting large, sturdy cardboard (ie moving boxes) is not. Unless you, as #6 says, jump the right dumpster, your probably going to pay as much or more to get the materials to do it yourself (and that not pre-cut or folded).
Call a local self-move truck rental company and see if you can buy an individual warddrobe box in person for about $12 (24"x24"x40"). That's your rocket ship.
Also post requests on Craig's List and Freecycle asking for fridge/dishwasher/large appliance boxes.
If you buy online they usually force you to purchase several.
The problem with dumpster diving is that many dumpsters are locked, and furniture/appliance stores usually cut down their boxes before inserting them. Large stores like Sears may even prohibit you because they sell cardboard for its recycling value. It requires some hunting to find a store that will help you out, usually an independently owned store run by someone who has a heart.
This company also makes a similar one, plus a castle:
http://www.capelabranca.com/
what kind of message does it send children when you won't buy them a real rocket?
Hey, didn't I send you this last year?
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/24/fresh-children-arriv.html
They don't ship to the U.S. : (
Say hey to the old fashioned way, tape, aluminum foil and imagination.
http://imaginationspaceagency.com