Mini Brute Mania!

[MarkII]

I don't just clone FSI models.

From time to time in the past few years I have also built the occasional clone of an Estes Mini Brute. In 1971 Estes Industries began to sell the 13mm diameter, 1.75" long mini T motors. They replaced the Series III "shorty" motors. When standard-length 18mm paper cases were used, black powder rocket motors at the lower impulse levels were only partially filled, and some were as much as half empty. This unused casing was dead, inert mass that low-thrust A motors and fractional A motors had to lift along with the rocket. The shorty Series III engines were the first attempt by Estes to reduce this excess mass. To cut down on weight, they literally cut down the engine; Series III engines were rammed by Mabel into standard casings (presumably because that was what the motor-making machine was designed to handle), and then the casing was shortened by 1". This did help, but rockets designed for Series III engines still had to use, at minimum, a BT-20 body tube. Eventually, though, Estes was able to take advantage of much stronger paper casings to create engines at the low end of the impulse scale that had much thinner walls and much less inert mass. These were the "T" series of "mini motors" that are still very popular today. One of the consequences was that that the company could design rockets using the much smaller BT-5 tube. This created many new design opportunities. The company dubbed their new line of small rockets "Mini Brutes."

When the first few kits were designed, Estes was still using the "K series" to catalog their kits. They designated the first few with numbers starting with "TK-". Some, such as the Beta, the original mini Star Blazer, Midget and Birdie, were simply small K-series kits that were redesigned to use the new motors. When the company transitioned to using a four-digit all-numerical kit numbering system, the Mini Brutes were all assigned numbers in the 08xx series. Even today, if you see any Estes kit bearing a number starting with "08--" you can be certain that it is designed to use mini T motors. Estes reuses the numbers of discontinued kits for new mini motor powered models in order to maintain this numbering pattern.

Here and in the next few posts are photos of some of my "Mini Brute Mania" builds. To begin with, a group shot of five of them. In the front row, a clone of the celebrated Mosquito (now back in production!) and a Screamer. These were two of the first three MB kits that Estes introduced in 1971. In the back row, from left to right are a Super Flea, Javelin, Mini Bertha and Hornet. The Mini Bertha was third kit introduced at the debut in 1971. The Super Flea and Javelin were packaged together in a combination kit. The Hornet has a couple of interesting features. First, at 10.5" long, it was one of the smallest payload rockets ever produced. In addition, it uses the BT-30 body tube, one of the last Estes kits to ever to use that size.

[MarkII]

Here are close-ups of the TK-1/0801 Mosquito, the TK-2/0802 Screamer and the TK-3/0803 Mini Bertha. These were the three debut kits introduced in the fall of 1971.

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[MarkII]

Next up, the #0815 Mini Brute Combo, consisting of the Javelin (left) and the Super Flea (right). I built a 433% upscale of the Javelin for my Level 1 certification (Javelin XL). A similarly upscaled Super Flea is in the works (Superior Flea).

[MarkII]

The final one for today is the #0804 Hornet. i'll post more in the next couple of days.

[JAL3]

You know what I'm going to ask.

May I?

I'd like to do some redacting as well if I may.

[MarkII]

You know what I'm going to ask.

May I?

I'd like to do some redacting as well if I may.

You bet! Redacting for the Gallery versions are OK.

[T-Rex]

Nice fleet Mark, thanx for sharing!

I've been watching flea-bay for the Super Flea/Javelin. Had the set years ago. My Flea had a CATO about 5ft off the rod...motor blew out the side and took a fin off.
I think I still had the Javelin when I gave everything away to the kid next door in '88... What was I thinkin????
Maybe I'll have to see if Jimz has the info to clone'em

[hcmbanjo]

I'm enjoying the pics and history.
When I visited Estes in 1971, I met up with Dane Boles.
He gave me a Fleet Pack of all three of the Mini-Brutes. They were new at the time.

I'm still amazed at how high a BT-5 based model will go with an A3-4t engine.

[JPVegh]

I bought every one of those as they became available. I loved minibrutes the kits were cheap enough for a kid to buy with chore money.

I took the Javelin the other way and downscaled it to BT-2+. It flys great on MMX II.

[jazzviper1]

Very nice.
The finish looks great on them to.

[MarkII]

I bought every one of those as they became available. I loved minibrutes the kits were cheap enough for a kid to buy with chore money.

I took the Javelin the other way and downscaled it to BT-2+. It flys great on MMX II.

I know that I can fly the Mosquito on MicroMaxx II motors because I have done it (with a different Mosquito) and I suspect that one could also do it with an otherwise unmodified Super Flea. Even the Screamer might be amenable for it, and with an MMX motor it might not need the washer weight in the nose.

Launching a Mosquito on a MicroMaxx motor means that you get the little guy back every time! And yet it turns in a quite respectable flight that you can see and follow.

[JPVegh]

I know that I can fly the Mosquito on MicroMaxx II motors because I have done it (with a different Mosquito) and I suspect that one could also do it with an otherwise unmodified Super Flea. Even the Screamer might be amenable for it, and with an MMX motor it might not need the washer weight in the nose.

Launching a Mosquito on a MicroMaxx motor means that you get the little guy back every time! And yet it turns in a quite respectable flight that you can see and follow.

The Mosquito is another one that I've downscaled to MMX. Actually I've built many T-2+ mosquitos, they are really hard to find after launching.

[Socknic]

I have only one 'Mini Brute', a Mosquito. Wow, my Mosquito's paint job is pure fail.

[Spacepirate R]

Those look great!

My first rocket was a Super Flea (my brother got the Javelin, we shared the pack) and it flew wonderfully on a 1/4 A. In my first return to model rockets when in my early 20s I launched it twice on a 1/2 A as I could not find 1/4 As. It would flash off of the pad and I couldn't find it until it was on the ground. Cute little rocket but flying it on anything but a 1/4 A turns it into a game of "hunt the rocket".

[Marc_G]

Love 'em! Great work.

The Screamer was my first rocket ever, back in the '70s. Flew a few times, then the dog ate it. (Literally).

I've got some replacement decals from Excelsior and plan to do a build of a nostalgia one this fall.

Marc

[caveduck]

Nice models with a good dose of history too!

[MarkII]

OK, here's a second group: my Birdie and TK-40 Midget. These were the first MBs I built a few years ago. They have seen more action than the first group, so they aren't quite as pretty.

[MarkII]

I had previously cloned an Astron Birdie, but for my Mini Brute version, I wanted to try to enhance the aerodynamics. So I added a cowling just under the open quills at the base of the "feathers." To add a bit of color, I used neon green poster board. I also added a neon green cover onto the back of the centering ring and a wrap on the end of the motor tube. I know how to create paper shrouds, but I did this one through trial and fit. I tried to get it to fit snugly under the plastic, with no gaps. I did that as well when I cut the slot for the launch lug. I attached the cowling to the front of the motor mount before gluing the mount in. I have no idea how much help, if any, it gives to the flight performance, since I have not made a conventional one to use for comparison. I'll probably do that over the winter. It does get very high, very fast (for a plastic shuttlecock) and it certainly looks a bit less draggy.

..

[MarkII]

I completed building the Midget the night before ASTRE's officially-sanctioned Old Motors Testing launch in October 2007. I gave the two stages (but not the nose cone) a light coat of Banner Red in the early morning as I was packing the car. The last thing I packed in were the two dowels that held the still-tacky stages. During the 3 hour drive down to the launch site they dried well enough to handle and launch. I had (still have) a few packs of A3-0T and A10-0T motors that I had picked up online a few months earlier. I launched it with an A3-0T in the booster and a 1/2A3-4T in the sustainer. I tried taping the motors together for direct staging, but found that the fit into the BT-5 motor tubes was so tight that I didn't need to do any taping. I couldn't fit the motors in with even a scrap of tape on them anyway, not even a tiny bit cellophane tape. So it used "pop and go" staging.

Lift-off was perfect and the 10-15 year old A3-0 performed well. Staging was flawless and I was stunned at how high up it staged! I made the mistake of following the booster and I never saw how high the sustainer went. I was told that if not for the streamer it would have been out of sight. I found the booster stage right away but retrieving the sustainer, even with its fully deployed 3' long streamer was proving to be a problem. The hay in the field was about 8" high, which was enough to hide it well. After 90 minutes I gave up, but about halfway back to the pad I spotted it on the ground, with the streamer all stretched out, underneath the clover. I spent so much time prepping, flying and searching for my Midget that I only had time for one more flight before the range shut down. I had made a 6 hour round trip to launch two rockets.

My first-ever two-stage rocket launch was my red K-40 Astron Midget back in 1970. It was the only model rocket launch of mine that my father ever came to watch. My second-ever one was this launch. My third one was the launch of my upscaled Midget. (I have done several more with different rockets since then.)

[Micromeister]

Great Lookin Mini Brutes Mark!
A fine bunch of work. Of the three original Mini-Brutes I've already downscaled both the Micro Bertha and Screamer. didn't see a need to downscale the Mosquito as it flys quite well as you mentioned on MMX motors. Every allows use of a Rear ejection pod and streamer.
KEWL Stuff Really enjoy seeing the OLD models back on the flight line

[FastCargo]

The Screamer was my first rocket ever, back in the '70s.

Mine too, back in the day as part of a starter set...which got accidently launched in my room (never wrap the electric cord around a controller while connected to the rocket).

Been flying a clone built with salvaged Estes Gnome parts and fiber fins....don't even need nose weight. Almost lost it one time when I put the wrong engine in it (A10-3T)...darn thing teleported off the pad.

Never found any 'skeeters' I launched though when I was a kid....

Anyway, love seeing these, since I build so many 13mm powered rockets now.

FC

[MarkII]

Thank you all very much for the positive responses. I have some more coming. I just have to put the finishing touches on them. All of my cloned Mini Brutes used parts from Semroc and decals (when applicable) from Excelsior.

[gpoehlein]

Y'know, this is getting kinda interesting. I never really thought too much about the mini brutes other than the fact that some were really cool rockets that flew on small motors. Even back in the day (1973-4), I built a couple of them (Birdie and Mini Bomarc), but that was about it. Now... A complete collection of mini brutes might just be a fun project. I might just have to do it - start with the introduction in 72 and add to the collection a year at a time. Thanks, Mark, for giving me yet ANOTHER project to work on in my COPIOUS free time!

[MarkII]

OK, here's the last of my bunch currently-built bunch. They have literally been years in the making. I built these three in 2007, but only managed to get paint on them this summer, and they only just got their decals. Like most of my rockets, it seems, they have all been flown prior to receiving their decor.

First, the group photo.

[MarkII]

Bill Eichelberger's 2005 EMRR review of the Estes Screamer and the photo of Mike Goss' gorgeous Aero-Hi at Excelsior rocketry's website were the two triggers that initially kicked off my interest in Estes Mini Brute rockets. I previously posted photos of my Screamer. Here is my clone of the Aero-Hi.

[MarkII]

Next up is my Rogue. The build was easy; the decoration, not so much. Applying long, thin decals along the long axis of the tube so that they are straight, and getting them to remain adhered, are not easy tasks. It's a good thing that Excelsior provides extras in the set, because I needed them. Thank God for Micro Sol!

Front and rear shots shown. Look at the fin decals to see the difference.

.........

[MarkII]

And standing guard, ever ready to defend the Adirondacks from any invading army, is...the Little John!

(Finally finished -and deployed at the front- this afternoon.)

[Marc_G]

Exemplary work! Thanks for sharing the photos.

What shade of "red" is that on the Aero-Hi and Rogue?

[KHamel]

Very nice work! They look great! Mini Brutes are cool!

[MarkII]

Exemplary work! Thanks for sharing the photos.

What shade of "red" is that on the Aero-Hi and Rogue?

Thanks! The color on the Aero-Hi and Rogue is Rust-Oleum Specialty Farm Equipment Orange 7458, also known as Allis-Chalmers Orange or Persian Orange. I wanted to use a deeper and more intense orange than the Pumpkin Orange that I used on the Screamer. I had previously used this can to paint my ASP Micro Jayhawk.

Orange you glad you asked?



OK, maybe not.