Quest Micro Maxx - NASA Blackbird

Quest - NASA Blackbird {Kit}

Contributed by John Lee

Construction Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Flight Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Manufacturer: Quest
Quest NASA Blackbird MMX

Brief:
Micromaxx, shiver me timbers, ready t' fly, matey, arrr, semi-scale o' SR-71.

Construction:
T' only component t' this rocket be t' rocket itself. Blimey! Avast! It comes ready t' fly.

Finishing:
No finishin' is needed either.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
Havin' had many problems with tryin' t' get MMX motors ignited in t' past, arrr, me hearties, I tried a different approach that I have had some success with. Aye aye! Arrr! Instead o' usin' t' provided MMX igniter, I used a skinny Estes Solar igniter. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! That meant that instead o' ruin' half a dozen MMX igniters without effect, shiver me timbers, me hearties, t' motor ignited on t' first try. Ahoy! It ignited on t' first try.

These Quest MMX rockets have a reputation for nay flyin' very high due t' their weight. Avast! Aye aye! For that reason, I was very surprised when this little plastic brick took right off and got t' well over 100 feet. Ahoy! That was even better than with t' earlier flight with an MMX Shuttle Orbiter. Ya scallywag! At that point t' ejection charge popped out t' streamer and the little orbiter came down safely. Well, blow me down! Arrr! It recovered without any damage at all.

Pressin' RSO duties prevented any further flights o' this rocket today.

PROs: ready t' fly, kind o' cute, flies well, good for small areas.

CONs: difficult t' find in grass.

Recovery:
T' built-in streamer worked well but was nay really needed. Avast, me proud beauty! This one would have worked well and recovered fine as just a nose-blow rocket.

PROs: small enough nay t' be damaged if thar be a failure in deployment.

CONs: hard t' track int t' sun.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
This rocket performed better than I had expected. Ahoy! I think Micromaxx can be an acquired taste, arrr, but they do seem to have quite a following. They are useful in small areas and can be interestin' in a "that's different" sort of way. If a person is goin' t' try and get into MMX, startin' with ready t' fly rockets like this one allows you t' find and explore GSE options that work as opposed t' t' Quest original.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flights

Comments:

avatar
D.K.B. (November 12, 2009)
Ours didn't fly so straight. More like it had a pilot in it steering it around. The nose cone blew off at ejection and we never found it or the streamer. the rest is fine, so I guess we will have to make a little replacement for the nose cone. The launch system works pretty well once you learn to push them down far enough to get the wire far enough up inside. It's pretty easy set up to use other than that. Nice for small areas. Students like to see it in a range of motors from MMX up to larger RMS motors. Quite a difference.

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