Rocket City Rednecks (2011)

The Rednecks enter a NASA contest with the hopes of launching a man-capable rocket 1 mile into the sky. The custom 20-foot-tall missile boasts two engines and about 3,000 pounds of thrust fueled by a mixture of ammonium perchlorate and aluminum. The goal: Once the rocket reaches 1 mile, explosive charges will shoot a parachute out and allow the capsule, and the test dummy, to float safely back to earth.

The Rednecks fly to L.A. to visit the garage where Jay keeps his personal collection of classic vehicles, and to help him build a steam catapult that will launch a car forward, just like an aircraft carrier catapult-launches jet fighters.

Travis draws inspiration from an experiment he did as a child, while Rog gets his idea from old western movies. Armed with toilet cleaner and welding gas, Team Travis and Team Rog face off, testing their best backwoods bomb creations on small outhouses. The reward? The winner gets to use his invention to blow up a friend's old barn.

Borrowing an 825-gallon barrel from a neighbor's farm, Travis and the boys fortify the pod walls with layers of plywood, laminate, heat-resistant tiles and of course... spray foam. Then they install car seats on the interior to support two passengers and paddle wheels on the sides... just in case they are swept out to sea. To test its' durability, Travis and Rog climb in and plan to complete a rugged obstacle course complete with a cement wall, sharp metal hurdles and a lake. But things don't go as planned, and the survival pod is really put to a survival test! "I screamed like a little girl," says Travis.

It's rare in the hobby rocket world, but a hybrid rocket has more control because it combines two forms of fuel - a solid and a gas.

The Rednecks create their own superhero suit from a pair of old vacuum cleaners, a barbecue grill and a bunch of spray foam. Their suit is flame - and bulletproof; it can climb walls like Spiderman and comes equipped with its own nonlethal net gun.

Boys will be boys, and boys like their toys. After racing radio-controlled toy cars in Daddy's driveway, the Rednecks decide to GO BIG and make full-sized versions using an old pickup truck and an RV camper.

No gunpowder or bullets in Alabama?! Travis thinks it's high time that modern weaponry evolved, after all, gunpowder is a thousand-year-old invention. He predicts that beam technology is the wave of the future.

Daddy contacts Hope for the Warriors, an organization that helps disabled veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq, to see if the Rednecks can lend a helping hand. They meet injured veteran Philip Labonte, who isn't able to go hunting anymore because he is in a wheelchair.

The Rednecks see if they can pull off an invention while Travis is gone: a one-man flying machine. First, they build a jetpack from a backpack and a large model rocket motor and strap the whole device onto a mannequin as a test pilot. During the test flight, the mannequin plows face-first into the ground, and Travis decides it's time to come home before someone gets hurt.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has issued a challenge to citizen scientists to build a drone that can do three things: (1) fly a couple of miles; (2) send back video; (3) fit into a backpack so a single soldier can carry it.

Papa John's CEO John Schnatter makes a guest appearance and challenges the Rednecks to design a pizza delivery bike that could be used in big cities. This business mogul wants more than just a pizza box strapped on the back of a 10-speed; he needs a motorized kitchen on wheels that can keep the pizzas warm and the sodas cold.

The Rednecks build an all-terrain transformer that's “more than meets the eye.” The weekend gets off to a rocky start when the prototype the guys nickname “Stupidious Prime” nearly breaks Travis' back.

No gunpowder or bullets… in Alabama?! Travis thinks its high time that modern weaponry evolved—after all, gunpowder is a thousand-year-old invention. He predicts that beam technology is the wave of the future. But building an actual ray weapon proves to be more challenging than Travis expected. After a failed experiment that destroys Mama Taylor's brand-new microwave, the guys ask a local mad scientist for help with high-voltage technology.

To prepare for a missile attack on Huntsville, the boys build a portable, bulletproof shelter. To test the innovative design, they head deep into the woods, deploy the shelter, install some motion lasers and ask a mob of local doomsday preppers to hunt 'em down.

Travis' brother has served multiple tours in Afghanistan and knows firsthand how heavy military-issued armor can be. So Travis decides to build his own version of a lightweight, full-body flak suit that could protect a soldier without limiting mobility. To put the design's mobility to the test, a retired drill sergeant puts Travis through civilian boot camp. Then, to prove the armor is light enough for a soldier to wear in combat, Travis straps on the suit and runs the full Marine Corps Marathon.