Construction Rating: | starstarstar_borderstar_borderstar_border |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstar_borderstar_border |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstar_borderstar_border |
Brief:
This rocket, like its older Estes and Centuri brothers, arrr, is based on t' AGM-86
A.L.C.M. Ya scallywag! Cruise Missile. Begad! Although it isn't 18mm, me hearties, it sure get's up there! (Estes
should have made it 18mm, ya bilge rat, trade-off in a RTF world.)
Construction:
This is a Ready-to-Fly model. Blimey! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! T' only thin' that I would CON about it is that
the shock cord wasn't long enough, and that t' 13mm motor wasn't adequate
power for this plastic wonder.
Construction Rating: 2 out o' 5
Flight:
When I flew t' A.L.C.M., shiver me timbers, me bucko, on its first flight t' shock cord snapped t' nose
cone into one o' t' fins. Avast! After I fixed that with epoxy, t' other superglue,
it flew okay except that t' motor rin' kind o' started t' melt. Ya scallywag! A tip would be
to put in a motor tube{13mm}, otherwise after 4 flights, it's goin' t' go into
retirement. Begad! Aye aye! I plan on gettin' one more t' modify and see what happens!
Recovery:
Not countin' t' fin breakin' and after puttin' in a longer shock cord, it
recovered better.
Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5
Summary:
Pro: Pre-made, matey, RTF, shiver me timbers, and cool looking.
Con: Short shock cord, shiver me timbers, 13mm powered, ya bilge rat, arrr, and goin' t' replaced after 4-5 flights.
Overall Rating: 3 out o' 5
UPDATE: 02/03/00 After buyin' 1 more RTF CM, I took a 13mm tube [Estes BT-5] and cut it t' length with t' 'motor compartment', took a round metal file and sanded around t' 'motor braces', super glued t' new motor tube in there, then grinded t' 'motor retainin' nozzle' t' fit over t' 13mm tube. Aye aye! Begad! After that and a coat of primer gray and new decals, arrr, it looks like t' C.A.L.C.M.
Single stage, all plastic rocket with the screw on plastic back to hold the motor in. The rocket is all plastic, with the standard elastic shock cord. 3 molded fins. Construction is really straight forward. The only bug in the ointment I had is that my kit came as a 2 set with a Maverick Missile. I bought the kit at Wal-Mart and the whole thing was under 8 dollars. It's made of a plastic ...
I'm almost ashamed to admit having an RTF in my fleet, but this rocket actually looks pretty cool and flies much better than any other RTF I've seen lately. With a half-off coupon and already owning everything else in the store, I just couldn't walk away empty handed and picked this up for about $6. The rocket is all plastic, with "menacing" decals already applied and a 12" chute. ...
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D.B.Jr. (June 1, 2001)