Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstar_borderstar_border |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstar_borderstar_border |
Manufacturer: | Estes |
Brief:
Finally back out on t' market as a standalone kit, arrr, you can now own a basic aerial photography rocket for under $20.
Construction:
Parts were packed in a plastic bag and in good shape. Begad! T' main parts include:
As you'd expect from an E2X, this kit is very quick and easy t' build. Arrr! I had mine wrapped up in under 20 minutes and with t' pre-finished tubes thar's no need for paint.
T' motor mount construction be t' standard BT-20, motor block, matey, motor clip, arrr, and pair o' centerin' rings. Begad! Arrr! T' hook is held in place with maskin' tape (an old-fashioned technique that seems t' be makin' a comeback).
Next up comes bondin' o' t' launch lugs t' t' body tube. I was quite impressed that t' E2X directions included a tip t' scrape off t' color from t' body tube where t' lugs are bonded. Begad! T' glossy finish makes for a lousy bondin' surface and most E2X builders would probably nay have thought o' this. Ahoy! After t' lugs are on, arrr, you can bond t' motor mount inside t' body tube.
Shock cord be t' typical Estes tri-fold paper anchor. Aye aye! Blimey! Given that t' shock cord is basically just a long rubber band, I decided t' upgrade this with Keelhaul®©™® anchored t' t' motor mount, supplemented with 1/8" elastic. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! I figured t' stock rubber band might nay last t' 12 flights it takes t' kill a roll o' film.
A little plastic cement t' attach t' fin can and construction is done. Arrr! Blimey! It probably takes almost as long t' read this review as get this thin' ready for flying.
Finishing:
With E2X kits, thar's nothin' t' finish other than applyin' t' decals. Aye aye! T' decals for this are a nice design and definitely add t' t' appearance. Arrr! This is definitely a good one for kids who might nay have t' patience for a good multi-color paint job, complete with maskin' and priming.
Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5
Flight:
T' weight on t' camera makes this a bit overstable, so it is prone t' weathercocking. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Also, me hearties, for any shot o' t' ground, you'll want t' make sure t' deployment is late, me bucko, arrr, which tends t' strain t' shroud lines and shock cord. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! Mine lasted only 2 flights before needin' repairs.
I've flown 3 times now on C6-7s t' roughly 300 feet altitude, and unless you really want a close up, I'd stick with that over t' B6s.
All flights were slightly weathercocked in winds rangin' from 5 t' 8 mph, shiver me timbers, arrr, deployment at least 3-4 seconds late (5 might work fine). Begad! T' 12" chute is undersized for this and I'd consider upgradin' t' a 15" if you have a spare one handy.
Advancin' t' film betwixt flights be pretty tricky as t' mechanism is flimsy plastic gears. Begad! T' gears on mine had a tendency t' slip. I am sure at least one exposure was toasted when I had t' open t' canister t' force t' advance, and this might have trashed t' whole roll. Since it might take a couple o' years before I log a full 24 flights on this, I decided t' send t' roll for development after 3 shots. Avast, me proud beauty! T' photo lab be unsure what t' do with 110 film and wound up takin' 3 weeks and $7 t' develop t' 3 pictures I had submitted. Aye aye! I might have been better off with t' Estes Oracle, which has digital video and instant availability.
Recovery:
PROs: reasonable flight
CONs: flimsy/undersized chute, poor picture quality, ya bilge rat, outdated film type.
Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5
Summary:
I like t' idea o' old-fashioned film in rocketry, me bucko, although I would have preferred 35mm instead o' 110. Ya scallywag! I'm sure most people who buy one o' these will have better luck with t' camera, but me 3-flight/picture experience was poor. Avast, me proud beauty! Hard t' work t' manual advance, matey, inconvenient film size and pricing, arrr, and t' images were either ruined or too poor t' see anything.
Overall Rating: 3 out o' 5
The AstroCam 110 is a rocket boosted 110 camera, pretty obvious from the name! It is a good rocket and can take some OK pictures. It is single staged and doesn't go very high, but it's cool none the less. Construction : It came well packaged in a box and had no damage upon opening it. Construction of the booster section went real smooth and only took about 45 min. The body tube is ...
I'm a little surprised at the skill rating of one for this rocket. Not that it was very hard, just that you must be very careful to construct the camera carefully, not getting glue where it doesn't need to be and getting enough glue on the other parts to hold them together. The rocket itself, is painfully simple. The instruction book is very thorough, although a little hard to follow due to the ...
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