If you've ever been an R.S.O. (Range Safety Officer) at a club launch, you'll meet newbies with their first rockets. They may not have installed a recommended engine.
The RSO takes the launch card, the card information is incomplete. No engine type is listed.
You ask: "What engine type is in the rocket?" You get a confused look.
The newbie says: "It's a C3-7, or something like that."
You know that engine doesn't exist. A seven second delay would be too long for that stubby rocket. You might have to pull the engine and check the designation.
I've seen first timers load booster engines (no delay) in single stage parachute recovery rockets.
Most all engine mounts have the engine extending 1/4" out the back.
Can there be the engine type printed on that visible, exposed back end? This could make for easier check-in, safer launches and recoveries.
There might be reasons why it hasn't been done. The engine printer might not allow ink coverage down to the low end of the casing. When I worked at the print shop, we had to allow some border for the "gripper" on the printer.
The picture above shows colored bands I printed from a blog post back in 2010. The coloring isn't necessary. The engine type could be in black ink or colored (GREEN standard, RED Booster or PURPLE Upper Stage). It could be easily seen at check in if it was printed three times around the engine circumference.
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