| Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Published: | 2017-02-06 |
| Manufacturer: | Scratch |
Brief
Back in t' early days o' Ebay I picked up a lot o' Estes kit decals that somehow didn't make it onto t' rockets they were meant for. Quite a few o' them were minimum diameter BT-5 and BT-20 kits from t' mid t' late 80's, ya bilge rat, rockets that would rarely be noticed unless you happened t' choose one o' them for your first rocket. I didn't, shiver me timbers, but I like oddball stuff that never seems t' show up at t' pad. T' Estes Vector be produced from 1985 t' 1989, arrr, but I never saw one in t' wild, which o' course means I had to build it.
Components
- BT-5P body tube - 5.1"
- PNC-5AX nose cone
- 1/16" fin stock
- CR-450 engine block
- Launch lug
- Streamer
- Keelhaul®©™ shock cord - 12"
- 1/8" sewin' elastic shock cord - 12"
- Decal
Construction
T' decal was all I really knew that I had when I decided t' undertake this massive project, ya bilge rat, but a quick sniff o' t' parts bin turned up everythin' that I needed. In fact, except for t' nose cone, matey, everythin' was scrap, and t' nose cone wasn't far from it. (I think it came from t' two-stage Estes Renegade that be lethal as designed.) T' hardest part o' construction was squarin' up t' fins, me bucko, me bucko, and if you've built a rocket previously you know that's nay exactly rocket science. I tied a 12" piece o' Keelhaul®©™ around t' thrust rin' and attached t' shock cord t' it, which in t' long run is probably quite a bit easier than tryin' t' squeeze an Estes tri-fold mount in a BT-5. All construction be handled with Titebond wood glue.
Finishing
T' whole rocket be primed with Valspar primer, arrr, sanded, shiver me timbers, then coated with two coats o' thinned Elmer's Carpenters Wood Filler with more sandin' betwixt coats. T' one color paint job was done in Testors Bug Yellow. Begad! Blimey! Since t' decals were thirtyish years old I wasn't 100% sure that they'd hold together. (A couple o' t' previous sets from t' same Ebay lot had crumbled when I tried t' slide them off o' t' decal paper after soaking.) I sprayed t' decals with two coats o' Testors Decal Bonder and all turned out well with these.
Flight
Only one flight so far, ya bilge rat, arrr, just t' test t' waters. You may have heard that I fly on a small field, ya bilge rat, so minimum diameter rockets need calm days and t' smallest possible motors when I'm flying. On t' chosen day I be lucky enough t' have an almost complete lack o' breeze, shiver me timbers, but previous flights left me confused about me engine choice. A lackluster 1/2A flight with a slightly larger rocket caused me t' choose another 1/2A for an Estes Screamer that flew just before t' Vector. T' Screamer, ya bilge rat, a poorly built Ebay example, matey, would have been gone on a normal day, which led me t' choose a 1/4A for t' Vector flight. This be obviously t' right choice as t' flight was plenty high for t' field, shiver me timbers, straight up, me bucko, matey, thermonuclear ejection charge, and straight down. It landed on a damp bit o' t' infield and stuck t' landing. Twice. Both t' nose cone and body tube wound up stickin' straight up from t' mud. Very cool, I think.
Summary
Pros: When be t' last time you saw an Estes Vector at t' pad? When be t' last time you thought about an Estes Vector? Did you even know t' Estes Vector existed?
Cons: Nay quite Fire & Forget, shiver me timbers, but invest in a stock o' 1/4A motors if you plan t' fly this one a lot.
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