ActingLikeAKid
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- Joined
- Nov 16, 2015
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I finished my build of the Estes Quinstar and had a couple of thoughts to share...
1. The build is ... as tough as you want it to be. If you don't care about fit and finish and you're good with flying an unpainted model, I'd put this at a high skill-1. If you want something that looks precisely like the picture on the card and you're the sort of person who -- when asked "Do you have one of those magnifying glass stands with the light so that you can do detail work with both hands?" says "A big one or a small one?" you should be fine.
2. I didn't have a problem (like some others) with getting things placed wrong or put in upside down, but I attribute that mostly to dry-fitting it about 3 times and re-re-re-reading all the warnings saying DON'T MESS THIS UP. If when you're looking down from the top, you can see all the numbers from the struts, you're good.
3. The build pics over at Chris Michielssen's Model Rocket Building page https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2016/01/estes-quinstar-7241-build-part-1-parts.html are amazing. Follow them.
4. If you follow Chris's tip to do a removable 18mm mount, put some tape inside the upper centering ring; otherwise it's easy to get glue all over it when you put the outer motor tube in it.
5. I flew it on a C6-0 and it went great, I flew it on a D12-0 and it SCREAMED. The C is plenty of power, the D is (naturally) more impressive and goes higher. Obviously you have a better $ per launch ratio if you use Cs.
6. I would NOT fly this on a hard surface. The kit balsa is INCREDIBLY thin and fragile. The structure makes it much stronger and it feels pretty solid once it's together. But ultimately it's really thin balsa.
7. I papered the top pieces- the top flats, triangles, and pentagon in the middle. I think that if you had a lot of time and patience and caution, papering the whole thing would make it a lot stronger. But you'd need a lot of patience. And that would add quite a bit of weight.
All in all, a really fun and unusual rocket.
Video to come, the first flight videos were ... rough.
1. The build is ... as tough as you want it to be. If you don't care about fit and finish and you're good with flying an unpainted model, I'd put this at a high skill-1. If you want something that looks precisely like the picture on the card and you're the sort of person who -- when asked "Do you have one of those magnifying glass stands with the light so that you can do detail work with both hands?" says "A big one or a small one?" you should be fine.
2. I didn't have a problem (like some others) with getting things placed wrong or put in upside down, but I attribute that mostly to dry-fitting it about 3 times and re-re-re-reading all the warnings saying DON'T MESS THIS UP. If when you're looking down from the top, you can see all the numbers from the struts, you're good.
3. The build pics over at Chris Michielssen's Model Rocket Building page https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2016/01/estes-quinstar-7241-build-part-1-parts.html are amazing. Follow them.
4. If you follow Chris's tip to do a removable 18mm mount, put some tape inside the upper centering ring; otherwise it's easy to get glue all over it when you put the outer motor tube in it.
5. I flew it on a C6-0 and it went great, I flew it on a D12-0 and it SCREAMED. The C is plenty of power, the D is (naturally) more impressive and goes higher. Obviously you have a better $ per launch ratio if you use Cs.
6. I would NOT fly this on a hard surface. The kit balsa is INCREDIBLY thin and fragile. The structure makes it much stronger and it feels pretty solid once it's together. But ultimately it's really thin balsa.
7. I papered the top pieces- the top flats, triangles, and pentagon in the middle. I think that if you had a lot of time and patience and caution, papering the whole thing would make it a lot stronger. But you'd need a lot of patience. And that would add quite a bit of weight.
All in all, a really fun and unusual rocket.
Video to come, the first flight videos were ... rough.
