I never admitted to doing any of this, but the engines usually just had dowels taped to them to stabilize "bottle rocket" style, with the "payload" taped into the forward end.
When actual "rockets" were used, they were usually beat-up BT20 or BT50 sized.
Selections included Wizards, Yankees, Spin Fins, Alpha IIIs, Gammas, and an odd Polaris or two.
Sometimes we strapped large Horse Brand Tri Color or Glitterous Lights fountain fireworks atop booster engines stabilized with sticks. While fountains are boring on the ground, they are quite cool at 1000+ feet of altitude.
The 27mm F7 (and E60) FSI Engines always got stick launched.
As most know, an F7 can barely lift it's own weight, and most E60s blow up like an M80.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !