Quest Nike Smoke

Quest - Nike Smoke {Kit} (2007) [1994-]

Contributed by Dick Stafford

Manufacturer: Quest
Style: Scale
(Contributed - by Dick Stafford - 10/01/02)

Brief:
When it comes t' flight profiles, I almost always prefer a ‘low and slow’ flight. Arrr! You see more o' t' smoke, and hear more o' t' noise. Avast! You see t' whole flight, me bucko, includin' ejection. Moreover, me hearties, arrr, you maximize t' odds of findin' your rocket! However, it seems that I always have t' have one ‘disposable’ 29mm rocket in me fleet. Blimey! At t' last MDRA launch, someone returned me Negative Camouflage, shiver me timbers, me bucko, matey, which I thought I had lost on an F10. To celebrate, I put her up on an E9. Well, me bucko, t' rocket hung on t' pad, went horizontal, found a large launch rail, and pretty much disintegrated. I be in need for another disposable, when I found a Quest Nike Smoke at t' Performance Hobbies tent. Begad! It appeared t' be just t' right diameter for a 29mm mount, and I thought t' plastic cone and fin can looked cool.

Modifications:
For this modification, I retained t' cone, matey, fin can, matey, body tube and launch lug. T' rest went into t' parts bin. I never found t' plastic tip for t' cone. Blimey! I don’t know if it was missing, arrr, fell into t' couch, matey, me hearties, or whatever. Ahoy! Begad! I decided not t' worry about it since t' cone doesn’t look bad without it, the epoxy and weight that I’ll have t' put into t' nose will provide plenty of support, and I will probably lose t' thin' anyway. Arrr! I glued t' two pieces of t' cone together usin' thin plastic cement.

I tested both LOC and Giant Leap 29mm tubin' and found t' LOC tubin' was perfect. Begad! Blimey! T' ID o' t' aft o' t' fin can is a little bigger than t' OD o' t' tube, but t' 29mm tube fit nicely into the fin can’s shoulder. Ahoy! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! It wouldn’t slide all t' way through because there is a small lip at t' tip o' t' shoulder, which I promptly ground off. To provide more support, I cut about a 1" section off some junk tube I had layin' around, sectioned it, arrr, ya bilge rat, and found it made a perfect adapter for t' aft end. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! These components were epoxied together.

T' kit came with a piece o' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and some round elastic. Well, blow me down! This would be fine for t' stock kit, ya bilge rat, but I decided t' use t' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and long piece o' heavy, me bucko, bright orange, tubular elastic (approximately 4') from t' Negative Camouflage (not much else was left). Blimey! Ya scallywag! I looped the Keelhaul®©™® around t' front o' t' motor tube, and epoxied t' fin can assembly into the body tube. Ahoy! Blimey! T' make room for all this cord and a streamer, arrr, I cut t' back end off t' nose cone. I knotted t' elastic and buried it in a mix o' epoxy and lead shot at t' tip o' t' cone. Ya scallywag! Blimey! I put in enough weight so that t' CG would be approximately 14" from t' tip o' t' nose. Begad! Blimey! Plenty t' keep it stable on a G80 (BG).

That’s about it. Aye aye! I also attached t' plastic lug provided with t' kit usin' epoxy.

I didn’t want t' put much effort into finishin' so I left most o' the rocket alone. Well, blow me down! Arrr! T' whole rocket was already white, shiver me timbers, so I just painted t' fins fluorescent red and yellow, and t' nose cone tip black. Ya scallywag! T' kit came with peel-off letterin' for t' ‘UNITED STATES.’

Flight:
I decided t' use a wimpy F23-7 for t' first flight as thar was over 10 mph winds. I made a maskin' tape retainer and filled t' lower portion o' t' body with dog barf wadding. Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! I used a 5' length o' 1" fluorescent red plastic tape as a streamer. I wanted t' use t' wider streamer recovered from the Negative Camouflage, but couldn’t find it at t' last minute. Arrr! T' thinner streamer is a little too small for a soft recovery, but it should help make the recovery visible.

T' rocket disappeared in a cloud o' dark smoke and didn’t re-appear until t' end o' t' day. Ahoy! Blimey! It be at t' edge o' t' main field, shiver me timbers, away from where we spotters were looking. My thanks t' Richard Hickok for findin' it! Blimey! It was in perfect shape and is ready t' go again.

Summary:
I normally am nay a fan o' simple kits, shiver me timbers, but I have t' say this kit impressed me. T' plastic parts were good quality and t' detailin' is great. Avast, me proud beauty! The recovery components are also nice. Begad! I really like t' Quest’s chutes better than Estes’ chutes (even though I didn’t use this one). Finally, arrr, at $8 t' price was right. T' conversion was easy and it held up fine on t' F23 with what be probably a fairly hard landing.

Other Reviews
  • Quest Nike Smoke By Yitah Wu

    ( Contributed - by Yitah Wu)  In general, this kit is high quality, well thought out, and very easy / quick to build. The fin unit is a single molded piece, but without the cheap feel and look of the Estes ones. Overall, construction was less than an hour, and would have been closer to 30 minutes had I not made different launch lugs. Instead of the large molded launch lug, I used ...

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