Hobbyist builds a tiny working model of the reusable Falcon 9 rocket

You know what’s easier than landing a 14-story Falcon 9 rocket booster on a drone ship in the ocean? Landing a tiny remote-controlled version of the rocket on a slab of foam in your pool. At least that’s my takeaway from the most recent videos uploaded by hobbyist YouTuber ajw61185, the same guy behind this Imperial Speeder Bike drone from last year. In the new footage we see a working RC version of SpaceX’s famous rocket repeatedly touch down on a scale model of the company’s autonomous drone ship (cargo containers and all).

In one of the video descriptions, ajw61185 writes that the RC Falcon 9 was built using a mix of custom and model rocket parts, and the propulsion is supplied by a repurposed Blade Inductrix 200 toy drone. He also outfitted the extremely detailed model Falcon 9 with a few flourishes: there’s an attachable “flame” that mimics the propulsive landing, and the landing legs can be deployed mid-flight.

Unfortunately, ajw61185 says that the build was “strictly for fun,” and that there’s no intent to sell a kit based on this project. (That’s your cue, Elon.) Until this shows up in the official SpaceX shop, I’ll be playing the Falcon 9 landing video game.