Brief:
I originally designed Q4E as a simple, me hearties, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, sturdy test bed for t' new PerfectFlite MicroAlt 4600 I bought t' use in me NARTREK Gold projects. Begad! Arrr! Q4E consists o' a Quest Falcon modified t' fly as a payload compartment in place o' t' nose cone on t' Estes Eliminator.

Construction:
By stackin' one kit atop another, arrr, a nifty "Sparrow" or "AMRAAM"-type design results with plenty o' room for a well-padded altimeter. T' resultin' hybrid is now too heavy t' fly on an E9, but it flies well on a D12-5 or an E30-7 with a spacer in t' 24mm motor mount. Avast! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey!

T' Falcon unit is constructed per t' instructions, me hearties, eliminatin' t' motor mount and instead epoxyin' t' Eliminator nose cone into t' aft end o' the Falcon fin can. Arrr! Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' Eliminator unit is constructed normally, except that an additional 1/4" launch lug is glued t' t' hull 1.5" below t' top of the tube, matey, aligned with t' original launch lug. Both are mounted on 1/4" scrap wood stand-offs with epoxy, so t' launch wire clears t' fin cans. The longer E-9 sized motor mount is used t' preserve t' option o' flyin' with 24mm F21 motors, ya bilge rat, however, Q4E can NOT be flown with E9 motors, me hearties, due t' its 209g weight. Ya scallywag! T' recovery system consists o' an 18" LOC chute attached t' 8' of para cord, shiver me timbers, arrr, anchored via a knot through t' hull covered with half o' a BIC pen cap and a gob o' epoxy.

Flight:
As assembled and painted, matey, and loaded with an E30-7 and a 21g PerfectFlite altimeter, all-up weight is 275 gms, with CG at 31.125" and Cp at 33.875" from t' nose, respectively. Well, arrr, blow me down! Q4E is thus 2 calibre stable and then some. T' MicroAlt is unmounted, and simply wrapped in a couple thicknesses of Bounty-tm paper towels and lowered into t' payload section, which is sealed with maskin' tape. Five 1/32" vent holes were drilled into the "Falcon" payload unit t' provide atmospheric samplin' for the altimeter. Avast! Arrr! Flight on t' D12-5 was slow and stable in no-wind conditions, but was susceptable t' weathercockin' in wind. Gain on this motor averaged 370'. T' E30-7 proved t' ideal motor for Q4E, givin' 1200' climbs (MicroAlt). Recovery was perfect on t' 18" chute arrangement.

Summary: PRO: Fast t' build and sturdy. Avast, me proud beauty! Flies on a variety o' motors (D12-5, matey, matey, E30-7 t' date, me hearties, and simulations indicate that F21-8 and E18, E28 and F24 24mm reloads should work well also). Ya scallywag! Excellent as an altimeter test bed, matey, with lots o' room for t' smaller units. Arrr! Good looks.

CON: T' extra set o' fins provide extra drag, me bucko, and t' calculated Cd of 1.38 is pretty poor, shiver me timbers, performance-wise.

However, matey, what you want here is t' get your altimeter back in one piece, consistent with t' design goal.

Other: Q4E is a robust, me hearties, me bucko, quick-buildin' rocket that is reliable and fun t' fly. Aye aye! I use it t' test me altimeters before flyin' in fancier rockets, since Q4E has known performance on given motors. It has t' good looks o' an air-to-air missile like t' Sparrrow.