You had an ant farm when you were a kid, didn't ya' Dave...
... and a chemistry set...

... whilst I was setting model planes and army men on fire with lighter fluid... and eating glue paste...
...

I think it is a good experiment, we talk about damage done to stock petcock rubber over time by E90 (10% ethanol) and we theorize what the effects of E85 would be .... now we can find out.    Remember, unless it says flex fuel when you open the gas tank flap do not use it in the car -- you will void your factory warranty.


================   Green and Brown Army Men


I ran with a gang of guys when I was young, we would carefully stage our equal count of green and brown arm men in opposing trench/combat lines complete with little sprig trees then we'd back off 20 feet and play like we were the inbound artillery.

Taking turns taking shots with our BB guns and after an equal amount of shots we would count the still vertical soldiers to see who won that battle.

If we had them, we'd stage 1 firecracker every 10 shots (bombs from airplanes of course).   Goal there was to get a lot of dirt flying as shrapnel to take out a bunch of the other side's guys.   Fine grit (wee little pebbles) worked best as the handful of "bury" each firecracker was allowed before being lighted.

Boys played together back then, we stayed out doors until after dark in the summer time.





Now Serowbot -- tell us the proper technique that you used for them dripping plastic milk carton strips again to simulate the napalm & flame throwers.




wizzzip .....  wizzzip .....  wizzzip .....  wizzzip .....  wizzzip .....  

I had a CO2 BB pistol when I was 11.. Id siphon gas outta moms car into a small coffee can & sit a cartridge in it & set it up inside a culvert. Flip matches at it till it lit, then we'd all back away as the gas burned down, exposing the top of it to the flames.. After a minute or so, it'd blow up & shoot fire out the culvert & extinguish it all at the same time,,
CO2 carts were cheap back then,, That thing would punch a hole in a steel 5 gallon paint can & leave a lump on the other side on a new cartridge,, some jerk broke in & stole it & my jakass step dads 45 revolver,,

Justin, what was the biggest thing you ever blew up with an M80?

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 11/09/13 at 18:11:00:


I never HAD an M-80! Dangitt!

BUT,, I DID sneak off with 3 rolls of primer cord & a coupla hands full blasting caps once,,I knew a guy who explained to me how to hook them up. I went out in the wide opens of West Texas & Blowed some Stuff UP.. I set a 4 inch steel pan ( like off of a roach coach) with about 6 feet of the white cord ( Hot & Fast!) up between the plywood sides of a sign & jammed a stick in to hold it up.. Had about 25 feet of wire, thot thatd be just fine,, I set that stuff off & everything went dead quiet for a split second, like all the air was moving toward that sign,, then BOOOM! & one side of it went over my car & I never did find that pan ,
& I found a roll of what is called sand line,,its a hard wire about 1/8th diameter that is used to lower a totco tool into an oil well,, ( They have a pendulum & a spring & a clock & you drop them down & the depth is measured by the machine thats dropping it). When the time is up, the clock drops the hammer  on the pendulum & it poked a hole on a piece of paper with a tiny target on it,, that way they know how far from straight down the hole is going. Anyway, that wire is so hard that it will sit in a spool even if its not on one,, & its Just the right inside diameter to set a Whole ROLL of det cord in,, I found one & set it on a ledge that was just off the crest of a hill, overlooking a valley & I set that roll in there & set the cal & started running wire. I ran about 50 feet, since it was aimed away. When that one went off it went quiet again,, then a HUGE Boom! & since it was dark all I could see was the flash,, I went the next day to see & that wire was slung in a big V. It musta covered 100 yards & it was waaaay on out there. Im gonna say that roll weighed just shy of 150 pounds & it was hard to see down where it landed, Id say it was no more than a 15 foot drop, but it was probably about 30 or 40 yards away from where it launched from & each leg was just loop after loop, each about 50 yards long.. I kinda expected it to shatter the wire, since its so hard, I figured it would break from the impact of the last,,I did a coupla other things, but we wont go there,,

Hey it is a long term project, so you got lots of time.    

Then when you have some results you can trim all this trash away and re-post it in Tech Section.

When I would tire of a model car or plane it would get BB holes in it, then a paper towel & lighter fluid would make a melted plastic puddle of it. After it cooled a while the asphalt it was melted to could be lifted up.. Violas! Instant pothole! Ahh who cared? No one lived on that "cul de sac" anyway,, heck, I had the only house for 5 blocks for 2 years, then some jerk moved in about a block away,, his dogs made passing that house so scary Id sometimes ride around one of the other ways, putting me out a long way,, but it beat having to try to race dogs,,

The leatherwing bats would swar over the road at dusk, eating the mosquitos that also swarmed there. Id put a 1/8th oz. split shot on my trusty Zebco 202 & fling that weight up amongst the skeeters & a bat would swoop in & grab it. Hafta really be "on the stick" to time yanking it before he spit it out, but, when the timing was right, the bat would spin & flip.. OHH the fun!