Estes Cosmos Mariner

Estes - Cosmos Mariner {Kit} (2190)

Contributed by Chan Stevens

Construction Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Flight Rating: starstar_borderstar_borderstar_borderstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstar_borderstar_borderstar_border
Manufacturer: Estes
Skill Level: 2
Style: Glider, Scale

Brief:
This X-Prize scale rocket showed good potential and an intriguin' stealthy boost glider design, but save your loot though, as it's a real clunker for flight.

Estes Cosmos Mariner X-Prize

Construction:
Parts list includes:

  • BT-55 fuselage tube
  • BT-50 motor tube/pod tube
  • Laser cut fins
  • Molded plastic upper and lower halves
  • Plastic display nozzles/nozzle base
  • 18" plastic chute
  • Assorted centerin' rings and hardware details

T' instructions are fairly clear with plenty o' good illustrations. Blimey! It's rated as a skill level 2 kit although I would have put it closer t' a 3.

You begin with t' construction o' t' pop pod. Aye aye! Blimey! Nose weight is added in t' form o' 4 heavy steel washers on t' forward end. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Arrr! Blimey! On t' aft end, thar's a motor hook, arrr, block, arrr, arrr, and a wire assembly that serves t' lock t' elevators in place for flight.

T' fuselage tube is simple, me hearties, matey, matey, basically servin' as a conduit t' hold t' pop pod. It gets a bulkhead on t' forward end and is eventually mounted t' t' balsa win' assembly.

For a largely plastic body, this kit has a lot o' balsa, me bucko, arrr, me hearties, addin' both weight and complexity t' t' construction. Avast! Aye aye! There is a pair o' matchin' win' halves, top and bottom vertical stabilizers, and a pair o' elevators (one fixed, me hearties, one floating). Ahoy! I goofed and didn't catch that t' lower stabilizers are nay symmetrical--there's a definite left and right--and I got them backwards initially. Begad! Begad! They have t' be right or else t' elevators and wire retention hook won't line up correctly.

T' plastic fuselage halves are then bonded t' t' balsa frame. Begad! I couldn't get mine t' line up very well and it took some trimmin' and a lot o' gap fillin' before I be finally done. Well, blow me down! T' instructions call for usin' a silicone adhesive. Aye aye! Blimey! I used contact cement, matey, which be just as effective but nay as clean and easy t' work with.

Finally, ya bilge rat, thar be a display plug that has three nozzles. Ahoy! It's a nice visual touch.

Finishing:
Finishin' on this kit is a bit o' a pain. Well, blow me down! There's t' matter o' fairly ugly seams betwixt t' fuselage halves and thar be plenty o' exposed balsa grain. Begad! I applied a couple o' light coats o' primer, me bucko, arrr, then sanded down t' at least cover t' worst o' t' grain. After that, shiver me timbers, I went with a tan finish paint, followed by a trim o' gray, per t' standard paint scheme. Aye aye! Ahoy! Maskin' off t' gray is challenging, me bucko, given t' contours o' t' fuselage. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! Finally, matey, thar are a smatterin' o' peel 'n' stick decals for trim.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Estes Cosmos Mariner X-Prize

Flight:
At nearly 9 ounces, I think t' recommended D12-3 is overly optimistic. Begad! T' Estes catalog claims altitudes o' 250 feet. Arrr! I think this rocket would benefit greatly from substitutin' higher thrust composite Es.

T' flight profile is intended t' have elevators locked in opposin' positions durin' boost, givin' it a roll t' help stability. Avast, me proud beauty! At apogee, t' ejection charge forces t' inner pop pod out, which falls under chute recovery. Well, blow me down! Arrr! By removin' t' heavy pod, t' glider is now light enough t' fly and t' floatin' elevator can sprin' into a lift-generatin' position. Well, blow me down! Arrr! At least, shiver me timbers, me hearties, that's t' theory.

My flight lifted off fine although very slowly. Ya scallywag! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! It gently climbed with a slight roll. About halfway through t' climb, it arced over and started a nose dive, crash landin' under thrust. Ya scallywag! T' pod deployed with a great deal o' force, matey, still on t' ground. Blimey! T' impact cracked both fuselage halves, one section o' balsa wing, and generally rendered this rocket t' be retired from future service. Ahoy! A very disappointin' performance.

Recovery:
T' only feeble pro I can offer up is that a few o' t' kids at t' launch thought t' wreck be cool.

T' cons are obvious: lousy flight, me hearties, underpowered for t' weight.

Flight Rating: 1 out o' 5

Summary:
There are very few rockets I've ever built that I felt were complete wastes o' me time and money. Aye aye! This was definitely one o' them. Avast, me proud beauty! It might make a nice display model but nay a good flyer.

Overall Rating: 2 out o' 5

Other Reviews
  • Estes Cosmos Mariner By Bruce Canino

    Brief: The Estes Cosmos Mariner is a 1:67 scale version of the Lone Star Space Access team rocket plane for the X-Prize. It is a single stage D12-3 power glider with pop-pod on 18" parachute recovery. Construction: 1 main body tube with 24mm pop-pod insert. The pop-pod have centering rings that fit the body tube and 4 heavy washers for nose weight on boost. Flat wing glider ...

Flights

Comments:

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F.S.W. (May 8, 2006)
Comments: After reading this review, I have decided that my Cosmos Mariner will become Display Only model and the beast's innards will be 'reassigned' to a freelance scratch-built boost glider project loosely based on Convair's XB-53 design proposal, with a sci-fi twist. Which, it seems, may have a better chance of success, even if it might be a "roll-of-the-dice" for either model's chance of coming back alive. later, F.S.W.
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D.A.B. (July 9, 2006)
I think the reviewer was far too nice about this bird. First of all, Estes lists this kit as a skill 2 IIRC and really ought to be a skill 5. The plastic body pieces fit together poorly and the instructions were rather cryptic as to exactly how they were to line-up before trimming the edges. Not only that, but the instructions suggest silicone glue for securing the plastic to the balsa. After mine crashed, I was able to easily pull apart the plastic from the balsa. Bad choice of glue which probably should have been epoxy. I only got one decent flight out of mine and that was terrifying at best. The motor pod ejected with a gigantic pop which vaguely resembled a cato and the shroud lines ripped off the parachute almost every time I launched it no matter how it was packed. In any amount of breeze it weather-cocked like no other. If you are an LSO and someone shows up with one of these in your flight-line be sure to have them place it on the ?away? pads and make it a heads-up launch. This kit is a flying piece of garbage and I am sorry I wasted my money on it.
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D.S.M. (July 23, 2010)
This is a very delicate model. The balsa for the frame is only 1/16-inch thick. It splits very easily when not handled carefully before the body shells are attached. Like Chan, I used contact cement to attach the body shells (specifically, the non-toxic water-based variety that doesn't attach the plastic). This stuff holds the parts together very well but you must be very precise when actually joining the parts. I agree that this model is more "show" than "go". It just doesn't have the structural strength to handle any kind of adverse landing, let alone landing on any kind of hard surface.

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