Anybody else tried the Aerotech single use D21 motors

Went out to "test launch" a Hi-flier that I have helped a kid make and had a great flight on an A8-3, but cracked a fin on impact due to landing on pavement. :sigh:

The plan was to launch an A then a B and maybe a C. I also packed a few of my rockets and some bigger motors. however this was the first time I tried the Aerotech D21 single use motor. I put it in a Big Bertha with extra weight in the nose and :y: It left in a hurry with a hefty roar. I Like it!! Over 900 feet in 5 second!

Has anybody else flown these. It is about $6 a motor but WOW.

Not yet, but if they are "As Pictured" on the Apogee Site, with the Straight Walled Case, and no Thrust Ring, I will be trying them in my TLP TAN-SAM, as the design of its Dual-Motor Mount does not allow for the use of Composites that have a Thrust Ring.
I realize that it's an 18mm, but I'de make a set of Adapters.

I used one in my estes Comanche 3 in a 1 stage configuration. it left the pad FAST.

I love both the D10s and the D21s (get 'em at valuerockets.com). They go in any model that an Estes or Quest C goes in and give 'em quite a ride. They're only a touch heavier than a black powder C so in generally added nose weight isn't really needed unless the model is marginal to begin with.

The cases do get hot so some models with plastic in the motor mounts (for example the Estes crayon series) will be damaged. Also their ejection charges are like flamethrowers. I have bubbled paint on my Nova Payloader (BT-50-based) from these.

I fly the D10s and D21s in a Snitch as a demo for groups. Great way to show the difference between Bp and AP.

Aerotech used to make an 18mm E25!!! I put one in a Fat Boy for a quick, high flight. What a blast.

I flew many of their original D21s decades ago. They have an impressive boost off the pad.
You should see what they did to every contestant in D-Superroc who used Blackshaft tubing!

Tin Man said:

I fly the D10s and D21s in a Snitch as a demo for groups. Great way to show the difference between Bp and AP.

Aerotech used to make an 18mm E25!!! I put one in a Fat Boy for a quick, high flight. What a blast.

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Like these?

Dale Saukerson said:

I flew many of their original D21s decades ago. They have an impressive boost off the pad.
You should see what they did to every contestant in D-Superroc who used Blackshaft tubing!

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Talk about exactly the wrong motor for a D-Superroc.....! Saw a few "interesting" flights at NARAM this year they day D-Superroc was being flown. Even the D10s were challenging to the airframes.

TopRamen said:

Not yet, but if they are "As Pictured" on the Apogee Site, with the Straight Walled Case, and no Thrust Ring, I will be trying them in my TLP TAN-SAM, as the design of its Dual-Motor Mount does not allow for the use of Composites that have a Thrust Ring.
I realize that it's an 18mm, but I'de make a set of Adapters.

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No thrust ring, just a straight wall like an Estes 18mm BP motor.

It is not the ejection charge, it is the delay afterburn that creates the "Hibachi Effect". The delay burns and the flame advances in a dome shape. After ejection, the delay material along the outer wall is still there and burning and is like a highway flare.

I always try to keep a pile of the D10 and D21 motors at our club launches for the folks who ask "what is the most powerful motor I can put in my rocket?" Astoundingly, everyone who has gotten one from me has gotten their rocket back after a crazy high flight.

BEC said:

I love both the D10s and the D21s (get 'em at valuerockets.com). They go in any model that an Estes or Quest C goes in and give 'em quite a ride. They're only a touch heavier than a black powder C so in generally added nose weight isn't really needed unless the model is marginal to begin with.

The cases do get hot so some models with plastic in the motor mounts (for example the Estes crayon series) will be damaged. Also their ejection charges are like flamethrowers. I have bubbled paint on my Nova Payloader (BT-50-based) from these.

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i haven't flown many single use Aerotech motors lately... I've had the AT hobby line RMS cases for quite some time now. The "Hibachi Effect" is far less common in the RMS reloadable motors. In fact, in the past 10 or so years I have never experienced it. As Fred has explained to me in another thread on this same subject, it probably has a lot to due with how the motor consumes itself more in the metal RMS casing internally rather than like the "road flare" of the single use.

I haven't been gutsy enough to put one in a small or minimum diameter rocket. Years ago i stuck one in a Estes Bullpup... I think I must have blinked when it left the pad because all I saw was the smoke on the pad and it was gone! I looked up and saw half of its flight and that was it. I thought maybe the rocket gods took it as an offering.... but luckily it was at a big launch and there were many young eyes on it. One of the kids saw it land and brought it back to me! Nowadays I usually stick to BT-60 sized and above.

i HIGHLY recommend getting an 18mm RMS case, D13 and D24 reloads. The case can be found online for around $25 and reloads from valuerockets.com or Aerotech's main webstore for $9.99 for a 3-pack! That's a better value than the retail price of BP C motors! The single use motors are a direct "fit" replacement for any rocket that takes an 18mm C sized motor. With the 18mm RMS you need to take a small file and remove a tiny bit of the motor retention clip like Estes uses at the top to make room for the plastic cap that holds the ejection charge.

Jerome

Tin Man said:

Aerotech used to make an 18mm E25!!! I put one in a Fat Boy for a quick, high flight. What a blast.

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Like the newly released F44 and G74 motors, the E25 was barely an 'E' motor. If I recall it was around 22n-sec total impulse.
It cost $1.00 more than the D21 motor. Back when the E25 motor was available one could get a full impulse E15/E30 motor for $1.00 more than the E25 albeit in 24mm diameter.

The E25 motors were not big sellers and were discontinued in 1992.

I have the 18mm RMS but for ones that there is a chance I may not get back the single use are great. I often launch at Camps or 4H events and sometime the wind is just going the wrong way and I hate to lose my RMS casings, but want to show the power of Composites. That and I can stuff and woosh, stuff and woosh, stuff and woosh, much faster than a reload for demos.

I flew a D-21 in a Fat Boy, ONCE. We still haven't found it. LOL or not.

If you launched that fat boy in the last 7 days it is still coming down, Check the field tomorrow.

I love those motors. They give a Red Max a wild ride. My only suggestion would be using a 3/16 or 1/4 launch rod, or even a rail. I built a red max with rail buttons just to fly with 18mm Ds. The first time I flew my stock red Max with a 18mm D it was *bang* and my red max was waaaay up there. I believe the proper term is "teleportation", but there was a lot of rod whip.

A high flier on a D21 sounds like a great idea.

I have the RMS 18/20 motor so have flown D13W and D24Ts - $3 a load is cheaper than black powder.

The Blue Thunder in a Snitch rocks, everybody expects the same saucer flight and POW its gone - then they all ask 'What was THAT?' Need to take one of mine and put in a 24mm mount to fly on a $5 E motor .

[video=youtube_share;uZVdA_4CE1U]https://youtu.be/uZVdA_4CE1U[/video]

Kenny

Put one in a Cox X-15 for a "supersonic attempt". The recovery system and nose separated at ejection and drifted away--never to be seen again. When Estes re-released the redesigned RTF, I tried to buy a replacement nose cone. I was told they were not compatable. Yet I was able to fit the cone from the new model onto the old model's body.

Tried one on Saturday.
5..4..3..2..1..bang

Motor blew up on ignition and destroyed the rocket. :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

Submitted a MESS report

I whipped this up in rocksim to fly D21s. Rocksim sims out to 2734 feet with a 7 second delay. It ill coast higher but 7 seconds is the longest delay available. Should be easy to track right?

I picked up 2 of the RTF Athena rockets from Estes at Hobby Lobby in the clearance section for $5 each. I am going to wait until I am at the sod farm next weekend to test the G resistance of the Athena. This should be fun. Sims out to about 2000 ft.

I put a D10 in an Athena once - used a small, reflective streamer and flew it at the TCR sod farm site. Got it back. 2000 feet sounds about right.

BEC said:

I put a D10 in an Athena once - used a small, reflective streamer and flew it at the TCR sod farm site. Got it back. 2000 feet sounds about right.

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I think the streamer is the way to go. I was thinking about putting a very small X form chute in it.

You want something that will flash in the sun or you'll only be guessing where it went after the ejection charge fires at that kind of altitude....especially since the Athena is blue and white and therefore not all that easy to see against the sky.....

Athena does have a chromed nose.

marcusSRG said:

Athena does have a chromed nose.

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I think you must be thinking of the older E2X kit that is basically a Generic E2X with a chromed nose cone. The RTFs have a blue Alpha III fin can and blue nose cone (with a little sparkle effect in 'em). https://www.estesrockets.com/rockets/rtf/002452-athenatm

Oooooh yeeeaaaah, I knew another version of the Athena was out there with different fins but I thought the nose was the same. I should've bit my tongue!

Old or new style Athena, they will love composite "D"s! I still have my original Athena, my 2nd rocket ever. It's very much retired and in rough shape, but I had the willpower as a kid not to scrap it for parts like I did my Alpha III and regretted it.

Sorry to digress. Carry on!