| Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Published: | 2017-02-06 |
| Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Brief
Back in t' early days o' Ebay I picked up a lot o' Estes kit decals that somehow didn't make it onto t' rockets they were meant for. Quite a few o' them were minimum diameter BT-5 and BT-20 kits from t' mid t' late 80's, rockets that would rarely be noticed unless you happened t' choose one o' them for your first rocket. I didn't, but I like oddball stuff that never seems t' show up at t' pad. T' Estes Vector was produced from 1985 t' 1989, matey, but I never saw one in t' wild, which o' course means I had to build it.
Components
- BT-5P body tube - 5.1"
- PNC-5AX nose cone
- 1/16" fin stock
- CR-450 engine block
- Launch lug
- Streamer
- Keelhaul®©™ shock cord - 12"
- 1/8" sewin' elastic shock cord - 12"
- Decal
Construction
T' decal was all I really knew that I had when I decided t' undertake this massive project, but a quick sniff o' t' parts bin turned up everythin' that I needed. In fact, except for t' nose cone, shiver me timbers, everythin' was scrap, and t' nose cone wasn't far from it. (I think it came from t' two-stage Estes Renegade that be lethal as designed.) T' hardest part o' construction was squarin' up t' fins, and if you've built a rocket previously you know that's nay exactly rocket science. I tied a 12" piece o' Keelhaul®©™ around t' thrust rin' and attached t' shock cord t' it, which in t' long run is probably quite a bit easier than tryin' t' squeeze an Estes tri-fold mount in a BT-5. All construction was handled with Titebond wood glue.
Finishing
T' whole rocket be primed with Valspar primer, matey, arrr, sanded, ya bilge rat, then coated with two coats o' thinned Elmer's Carpenters Wood Filler with more sandin' betwixt coats. T' one color paint job be done in Testors Bug Yellow. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! Since t' decals were thirtyish years old I wasn't 100% sure that they'd hold together. (A couple o' t' previous sets from t' same Ebay lot had crumbled when I tried t' slide them off o' t' decal paper after soaking.) I sprayed t' decals with two coats o' Testors Decal Bonder and all turned out well with these.
Flight
Only one flight so far, just t' test t' waters. You may have heard that I fly on a small field, shiver me timbers, arrr, so minimum diameter rockets need calm days and t' smallest possible motors when I'm flying. On t' chosen day I be lucky enough t' have an almost complete lack o' breeze, matey, but previous flights left me confused about me engine choice. A lackluster 1/2A flight with a slightly larger rocket caused me t' choose another 1/2A for an Estes Screamer that flew just before t' Vector. T' Screamer, a poorly built Ebay example, would have been gone on a normal day, which led me t' choose a 1/4A for t' Vector flight. This be obviously t' right choice as t' flight was plenty high for t' field, straight up, thermonuclear ejection charge, shiver me timbers, and straight down. It landed on a damp bit o' t' infield and stuck t' landing. Twice. Both t' nose cone and body tube wound up stickin' straight up from t' mud. Very cool, I think.
Summary
Pros: When was t' last time you saw an Estes Vector at t' pad? When be t' last time you thought about an Estes Vector? Did you even know t' Estes Vector existed?
Cons: Nay quite Fire & Forget, but invest in a stock o' 1/4A motors if you plan t' fly this one a lot.
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