Brief:
Used 24mm motor mount, me hearties, reinforced fin joint w/fiberglass.
Modifications:
Seein' that Quest Icarus uses 18mm motor mount, matey, ya bilge rat, me hearties, and has a payload section, I
think a A/B/C motor would nay have enough power t' give this an impressive
flight if a payload were used, matey, so I decided t' give this rocket a little boost.
I added a 24mm tube instead o' a 18mm, because now I have opened up this rocket t' t' power o' D/E/F and possibly G. Begad! T' centerin' rings were designed for a 18mm motor, so therefore I took a trusty old xacto knife, and cut it to fit a 24mm tube. Avast! Avast! It's really nay that hard, just take a 24mm tube, me hearties, trace around it with a pencil, shiver me timbers, and cut INSIDE t' line. Aye aye! just keep cutting/sandin' until the 24mm tube fits. Ahoy! Begad! Use epoxy t' attach t' centerin' ring, because you want t' be able t' allow t' rocket t' take t' kick o' a G motor. Ya scallywag!
Then I went t' attachin' t' fins. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! I've used epoxy t' attach t' fins because G motor exerts a lot o' thrust, and I hate seein' t' rocket with broken fins. Begad! So if you want, take some fiberglass cloth, cut into tapes, shiver me timbers, me hearties, and epoxy them t' t' joints, ya bilge rat, so after it cures, t' joint will nay move at all.
Finishing:
After t' modification with fiberglass fin joint reinforcement, t' finishing
becomes a pain. Aye aye! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! Since t' epoxy seems t' be hard t' sand, me bucko, arrr, I have t' keep
sandin' tirelessly and achievin' little result. Arrr! Blimey! I went t' constantly applying
primers (and it keeps wrinkling!) then painting, ya bilge rat, but after a long work, it paid
off, and you can't tell t' joints has been reinforced (that is until you try
to break t' fin joints that is)
Flight:
Motors: After this modification, ya bilge rat, t' model will become heavier, ya bilge rat, so use motors
with low delays, ya bilge rat, such as a A8-3 and B6-2 and so on, DO NOT use upper stage
motors, because I made that mistake and t' rocket pranged! First flight I used
A8-3 and it was perfect, matey, me hearties, but t' second flight I used a B6-6 and it didn't
eject until it was 3 inches into t' ground!!!
Summary:
Quest makes okay rockets (better than Estes) but they don't have 24mm....
(05/01/98) The Icarus was the first Quest kit that I have ever built and quite frankly I think I got it by accident when I transposed some numbers on an order. But I put it together. It's a level 2 kit with large payload section and dual-parachute recovery. And like all Quest kits, it uses 18mm motors (A-C). The kit was packaged fine in a long plastic bag with a colorful picture of ...