Quest Nike Smoke

Quest - Nike Smoke {Kit} (2007) [1994-]

Contributed by Dick Stafford

Manufacturer: Quest
Style: Scale
(Contributed - by Dick Stafford - 10/01/02)

Brief:
When it comes t' flight profiles, me hearties, I almost always prefer a ‘low and slow’ flight. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! You see more o' t' smoke, matey, shiver me timbers, and hear more o' t' noise. Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! You see t' whole flight, includin' ejection. Aye aye! Moreover, you maximize t' odds of findin' your rocket! However, ya bilge rat, it seems that I always have t' have one ‘disposable’ 29mm rocket in me fleet. Blimey! At t' last MDRA launch, someone returned me Negative Camouflage, which I thought I had lost on an F10. To celebrate, ya bilge rat, me bucko, ya bilge rat, I put her up on an E9. Well, arrr, t' rocket hung on t' pad, went horizontal, found a large launch rail, me hearties, and pretty much disintegrated. Arrr! I was in need for another disposable, matey, when I found a Quest Nike Smoke at t' Performance Hobbies tent. Avast, me proud beauty! It appeared t' be just t' right diameter for a 29mm mount, me bucko, ya bilge rat, me bucko, and I thought t' plastic cone and fin can looked cool. Begad!

Modifications:
For this modification, ya bilge rat, matey, I retained t' cone, fin can, body tube and launch lug. T' rest went into t' parts bin. Arrr! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! I never found t' plastic tip for t' cone. Begad! I don’t know if it was missing, fell into t' couch, me hearties, or whatever. Arrr! Avast! I decided not t' worry about it since t' cone doesn’t look bad without it, the epoxy and weight that I’ll have t' put into t' nose will provide plenty of support, and I will probably lose t' thin' anyway. Avast, me proud beauty! I glued t' two pieces of t' cone together usin' thin plastic cement.

I tested both LOC and Giant Leap 29mm tubin' and found t' LOC tubin' was perfect. T' ID o' t' aft o' t' fin can is a little bigger than t' OD o' t' tube, shiver me timbers, but t' 29mm tube fit nicely into the fin can’s shoulder. Begad! It wouldn’t slide all t' way through because there is a small lip at t' tip o' t' shoulder, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, which I promptly ground off. To provide more support, shiver me timbers, I cut about a 1" section off some junk tube I had layin' around, me hearties, sectioned it, and found it made a perfect adapter for t' aft end. These components were epoxied together.

T' kit came with a piece o' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and some round elastic. Avast! This would be fine for t' stock kit, shiver me timbers, but I decided t' use t' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and long piece o' heavy, arrr, bright orange, me hearties, tubular elastic (approximately 4') from t' Negative Camouflage (not much else be left). Begad! I looped the Keelhaul®©™® around t' front o' t' motor tube, and epoxied t' fin can assembly into the body tube. T' make room for all this cord and a streamer, matey, I cut t' back end off t' nose cone. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! I knotted t' elastic and buried it in a mix o' epoxy and lead shot at t' tip o' t' cone. Aye aye! I put in enough weight so that t' CG would be approximately 14" from t' tip o' t' nose. Plenty t' keep it stable on a G80 (BG).

That’s about it. Aye aye! I also attached t' plastic lug provided with t' kit usin' epoxy.

I didn’t want t' put much effort into finishin' so I left most o' the rocket alone. T' whole rocket be already white, me bucko, ya bilge rat, so I just painted t' fins fluorescent red and yellow, arrr, and t' nose cone tip black. Well, blow me down! T' kit came with peel-off letterin' for t' ‘UNITED STATES.’

Flight:
I decided t' use a wimpy F23-7 for t' first flight as thar was over 10 mph winds. Begad! I made a maskin' tape retainer and filled t' lower portion o' t' body with dog barf wadding. Aye aye! Avast! I used a 5' length o' 1" fluorescent red plastic tape as a streamer. Blimey! I wanted t' use t' wider streamer recovered from the Negative Camouflage, shiver me timbers, but couldn’t find it at t' last minute. T' thinner streamer is a little too small for a soft recovery, arrr, arrr, shiver me timbers, but it should help make the recovery visible.

T' rocket disappeared in a cloud o' dark smoke and didn’t re-appear until t' end o' t' day. It was at t' edge o' t' main field, arrr, away from where we spotters were looking. My thanks t' Richard Hickok for findin' it! It was in perfect shape and is ready t' go again.

Summary:
I normally am nay a fan o' simple kits, but I have t' say this kit impressed me. Arrr! T' plastic parts were good quality and t' detailin' is great. Begad! The recovery components are also nice. Begad! Aye aye! I really like t' Quest’s chutes better than Estes’ chutes (even though I didn’t use this one). Finally, shiver me timbers, at $8 t' price be right. Begad! T' conversion be easy and it held up fine on t' F23 with what was probably a fairly hard landing.

Other Reviews
  • Quest Nike Smoke By Yitah Wu

    ( Contributed - by Yitah Wu)  In general, this kit is high quality, well thought out, and very easy / quick to build. The fin unit is a single molded piece, but without the cheap feel and look of the Estes ones. Overall, construction was less than an hour, and would have been closer to 30 minutes had I not made different launch lugs. Instead of the large molded launch lug, I used ...

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