Recommendations for limited-altitude modrocs?

I've been away from model rocketry for a looooong time. I actually still have a bunch of my rockets from when I was a kid, but living in Arlington means there's no decent nearby place to launch them.

Recently, my 6yo has become enamored with stomp rockets. I think he'd get a kick out of seeing the real (well, more real ) thing. Given that we can get the stomp rockets up to 100-150' in a nearby field and retrieve them without losing them (in large part due to the fact they don't use chutes), I was wondering if y'all could recommend any modrocs that would go no higher than about 200' (using 1/4-A or 1/2-A are fine) and use chuteless recovery.

Alternativelty/additionally, I was wondering if one could get a simple kit like an Alpha III (do they still make those?) and use it with 1/4-A or 1/2-A so that it wouldn't go very high. (Though given the size of the field the fact that is uses a chute might mean that even 200' would be too high. 100' with a chute would likely be OK but can a "normal" kit be flown that low?)

Thanks for any ideas!

FlisKits sells micro max rockets that are small and do not fly very high.

Applewhite sells saucers that range from small to large that all use tumble recovery.

Both are available on the web and FlisKits is also at many CMASS launches.

My son was about that age when we started flying rockets together and not long after that we started attending CMASS launches.

Hello Ricahrd,

Welcome back to rocketry. Here's 3 easy things I use all the time...

(1) Replace your parachute - with 2 or 3 three-foot-long streamers. Look up "flagging tape" on the internet, you can buy a whole roll at Home Depot or your fav hardware store for a few bucks. I prefer orange.

(2) Use a heavier rocket - a heavy rocket on a B-engine will fly lower than a light rocket on an A-engine. A vintage Big Bertha will go less than 200 feet on a B6-4.

(3) Fill up the payload - on a rocket with a payload section, insert a roll of pennies and fly it on a C-engine. Make sure the nose cone is very firmly seated (use tape on the shoulder) so the roll of payload pennies doesn't escape (or wear a hard hat).

-Alan

Related to all this -- any way to figure out approx altitudes for kits for a given engine?

For example, one might look at an Estes or Quest catalog page and it lists a bunch of engines (from lower impulse to higher impulse) you could fly the rocket on and then says "up to 750 feet". Presumably that's some estimate for when it's flown on the highest-impulse engine. But is there any way to estimate how high it would go on one of the listed lower-impulse engines?