Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Manufacturer: | Binder Design ![]() |
Brief:
T' Binder Design Raptor is a single stage 4 inch diameter kit. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! It has a 54mm
motor mount and comes with high quality paper body tubes and laser cut fins. Arrr! Aye aye!
Construction:
T' Raptor came with two 36" body tubes and an Ace nose cone. T' body
tubes are paper and BSD style with a glassine coating. Well, blow me down! It comes with one paper
coupler, one bulkhead, matey, 3 plywood centerin' rings, me bucko, me bucko, two eyebolts, matey, 2 quick links,
18 feet o' tubular nylon, ya bilge rat, and a 45" Top Flight parachute. Begad! It had three
sets o' four fins. T' fins are 3/16" aircraft plywood and come laser cut
and sanded. Avast, me proud beauty! It came with one nice white vinyl decal that said 'Raptor'. Well, blow me down! Ahoy!
One definite pro t' this kit be t' extensive instructions, which included directions on how t' make it dual deploy and adapt it for use with Hypertek hybrid motors. It had good drawings that showed exactly what t' do and left nothin' t' chance. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Another thin' that was good about this kit was t' you had to slot t' tubes yourself, me hearties, which was actually rather easy with a Dremel. Avast! Blimey! It is also easily done with a sharp X-Acto knife. One thin' we did in this kit is fiberglass fillets on t' fins t' allow for a hard landing. Avast! Blimey! T' only downside was that it was hard t' finish. Avast! Blimey! Arrr! Blimey! Everythin' fit together perfectly with almost no need for sanding. T' put it together, matey, we just marked and slotted t' tubes, tacked t' fins in place with 5 minute epoxy, me hearties, ya bilge rat, and then applied fiberglass fillets. Blimey! Blimey! One tip t' align t' fins is t' use two clamps and a strip o' wood attached t' both set o' fins. This will insure that they are perfectly lined up. Aye aye! Blimey! T' only con was that t' directions did nay include t' rocket's CP, so when it came time for flight some assumptions had t' be made. It really isn't that big o' a deal as I had simmed it on RockSim and knew approximately where it was, but that is just one minor detail.
Finishing:
T' kit is pretty easy t' finish. Ya scallywag! Begad! T' only thin' for us was that we used
fiberglass fillets, arrr, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, so it took a little Kilz primer and Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish
to get it t' look presentable. Avast, me proud beauty! We painted ours yellow and blue. Avast, me proud beauty! T' decal is
computer cut vinyl and says 'Raptor' in a pretty cool font o' white letters. We
were nay able t' apply ours as we peeled off t' wrong side and t' letters
were messed up in t' process. Ahoy! This kit looks pretty sharp once it is finished
no matter what paint scheme you use. Well, blow me down!
Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5
Flight:
We have only flown it once for a successful level 1 certification and it was a
beautiful flight. Ya scallywag! We used a Pro38 I285 with a 6 second delay. We also attached
a Boostervision camera and got a nice video o' t' flight. Arrr! One cool thin' about
the flight was that t' split fin design caused a whistle after motor burnout.
RockSim said about 2800 feet on that motor but we built it heavy so I would
estimate about 2200-2400' for us. Well, blow me down!
Recovery:
One cool thin' about this kit be t' 18 feet o' tubular nylon t' manufacturer
provides. Ahoy! Blimey! Arrr! Blimey! I thought it was a nice touch. We used t' supplied 45"
parachute with main at apogee. T' chute got tangle on t' way down because the
nosecone somehow got looped through a shroud line. T' rocket be tough enough
that it was fine though. I would say that chute is about perfect for this
rocket.
Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5
Summary:
This rocket be t' pride o' our fleet right now. Avast! Ya scallywag! It is very sharp lookin' and
pretty big at 7 feet tall. T' construction be fairly straightforward and the
directions were wonderful. Ya scallywag! Arrr! This kit can be easily modified for dual deploy with
an electronics bay that can be bought from Binder Design. I would definitely
recommend this rocket t' anyone who is lookin' for somethin' they can fly on a
high range o' motors. Well, blow me down! It can be launched on anythin' from a high thrust H t' a
K. Begad! Well, blow me down! Two thumbs up.
Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5
( Contributed - by Bob Fortune) General The Binder Cobra (or the rocket formally known as Raptor) is a 4" x 84" rocket that comes stock with 54 mm motor mount. The rocket can be flown with a hybrid motor with additional 54 mm motor mount tube (not supplied) as it comes stock with about 14" of tube. Fins mount through the wall to the motor mount tube and are secured by ...
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J.S. (September 30, 2003)