Quest - Superbird {Kit} (2010)

Quest Superbird

Quest - Superbird {Kit} (2010)

Contributed by Paul Gray

Diameter:	1.38 inches
Length:	31.30 inches
Manufacturer:	Quest
Skill Level:	2
Style:	Sport

(Contributed - by Paul M Gray - 10/15/00)

Brief: Quest Super Bird
A single-stage payload rocket. Begad! Arrr! Easy t' assemble. Ya scallywag! Begad! Nice lookin' bird. Avast! Has dual-parachute recovery with one 'chute for payload section and one for the main body section. Avast!

Construction:
Two (2) body tubes. Avast! Blimey! One for main section and one for payload. Aye aye! Arrr! Blimey! Three (3) fin design. Ahoy! Two 12 inch parachutes. A plastic nose cone and Keelhaul®©™® cord attachment.

Easy t' follow instructions and t' assemble. Well, blow me down! Very basic in construction. Would recommend t' a beginner who wants a larger rocket but with t' 18mm engines. Arrr! Blimey! A rocket that looks normal and uses short delay engines givin' very nice flights.

Finishing:
Easy and nothin' out o' t' ordinary. Begad!

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
I flew it on B6-4's and C6-3's and C6-5's. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! Flew well on all. Begad! T' C6-5's are a little long o' a delay but that is good for recovery in smaller fields. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! Great flights! Nice and straight and slow too. Blimey! Begad! Great demo flyer and nice t' see that flame comin' out o' t' bottom as she slowly goes up.

Recovery:
Shock cord uses a Keelhaul®©™® cord attached t' t' motor mount and then an elastic to t' 'chute from that for t' body. Avast, me proud beauty! T' payload section has a small Keelhaul®©™® cord attached t' it with t' 'chute on t' end o' t' loop. Aye aye! Begad! WARNING!!!! If there is no payload t' nose cone/payload section is light and on a large 'chute it will go a long way in even t' slightest wind. Arrr! Recommend usin' a smaller 'chute or cuttin' a spill hole in t' 'chute that came with it!

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
All and all it's good except for t' large 'chute on t' light payload section. Also this is where a C6-5 is good, t' extra delay well allow a lower altitude 'chute deployment and better chance at recoverin' both sections. Begad! Ahoy! Blimey!

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5

Other Reviews

Quest Superbird By Michael Doherty
( Contributed - by Michael Doherty - 11/01/00) Brief: The Superbird is a payload rocket which features separate payload & body recovery on 14" chutes. Construction: Upon opening the package, all parts were present. The body tubes seemed to be of good quality, as were most parts. My only gripes were the amount of flashing still on the plastic nose cone, and one of the ...

Flights

Comments:

S.J. (November 1, 2000)

I'm in the middle of building my Superbird. I found that the cardstock centering rings are below par. They are a tiny bit undersized (so that the mount has a bit of "wobble" when inserted into the body tube) and are rather thin. I "beefed up" the motor mount by gluing rectangular strips of scrap balsa between the centering rings. After the glue was dry, I sanded these "gussets" so that the mount fit smoothly but snugly in the tube.

M.D. (November 5, 2001)

ADDENDUM to my review above. My Superbird is now Super-gone after its third flight. Caution - cut spill holes in both chutes! Both halves are rather light. I lost the bottom section after a nice launch on a C6-3 (should have used a '5'). It caught some wind at altitude, and was eaten by some hungry trees. Searched for a while, but no luck. Time to buy another kit!

J.R. (July 21, 2003)

I found this kit to be pretty neat to build and to fly. Slow take-offs and 2 ?chutes always makes for interesting flights. I do have some concern as to the effort that Quest puts into the design and then seems to come up a little shy on chutes (as most companies do). The material, in my opinion, just doesn't always give a nice deployment. I ended up switching to Mylar chutes. I give this 4/5 for building and 5/5 for flying.

A.J. (April 19, 2006)

The mounting plate on the payload section did not hold up on my first flight. Of course, I had "manned" the payload with my Crash-Test Dummy good-luck figurine, which gave the section weight. At ejection, the 'chute ripped the mounting plate off, scattering dummy parts everywhere. I've since sized the plate to fit within the payload and I've reinforced it with heavy centering rings. I don't expect any further trouble. Oh yeah, I did recover all the dummy's bits. I told you he was good luck.

T.C.G. (May 4, 2006)

Like the other reviewers I found the quality of the card stock to be well below par as well as the chutes. after the first launch on a c6-5 the nosecone chute tore apart where the lines tied to the plastic. It's a nice kit if you can beef it up with extra card stock and 30 min epoxy, plus parachute upgrades are a must. Overall, after some minor improvements, it's a fun rocket to fly.

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