Flight of the X-15

[MicroFlyer]

Only took the better part of 5 years, but I was finally able to track down the Quest X-15 MMX set. This one had a damaged fin, but it was a clean break and a little CA made it just like new. Today was cold and overcast, but windless. I decided to hike over to the park and see how she flies.

The X-15 uses the cord mounted shock cord, so I stuffed a small bit of wadding in there hoping that nothing would be scorched at ejection. Loaded up an old-style ignitor on the Quest Micro pad, pushed the button, and off it went. It flew fairly stable to about the same height as the LPB Blackbird. The streamer deployed successfully and it landed about 4 inches from the pad, unharmed.

Also flown was my LBP Little Joe II and the new Quest Boingo. Both had straight flights. After flying the LPBs the Boingo really got up there. For some reason mine likes to whistle on the way down. Kinda fun in that "Heads Up" way

Too bad this model is so hard to find. The flat black plastic really makes the decals pop, and it seems to be one of the better performing LPBs.

[Micromeister]

Wow what a find!
I don't believe I've ever seen the X-15 LPB. Heard about them when they came out but was never able to track one down. Any chance you can upload a Photo of it? So KEWL you were able to find one. An E-bay purchase?

Second: CA is a very poor adhesive for plastic repairs. It only sticks to itself there is no real bond between the parts. CA also becomes very brittle quickly with exposure to UV rays. My strong suggestion would be to re-break the part which shouldn't be that difficult the solvent weld with either Plasticstruct Pro-weld. Amborid Pro-weld, Weld-on #3 or #4 or straight MC (Methylene Chloride) to premanently bond the parts back together. If the break is clean enough and close enough to the body a slight fillet will reinforce the part against those hard Streamer landings

[MicroFlyer]

Micro,

Thanks, it was an ebay find. It was advertised as a SR-71, but the pictures told me otherwise. The box it came in was for an SR-71; I think the seller had both sets and somewhere along the way they got mixed up. Interesting enough, about 3 days after I got this one, I saw another one pop up from the same zip code as this one. The seller was asking $50 for it, and someone must have jumped on it because it was on for less than an hour. I keep hoping that some day a stash of these pops up and more come on the market, its a really neat addition to the Quest Micro Fleet.

Thanks for the tips about the glue. I guess I have been hanging around my RC friends too long. Around here, the answer is always Semroc. Around them, the answer is always CA I think the X-15 is retired after its maiden flight. I looked for it too darn long to risk not getting it back. Should I decide to send it up again, I'll repair it correctly.