Der Red Max: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear kits

Maybe you can help clear something up for me.

On another forum, folks are talking about and displaying their versions of Mega Der Red Max. It's a large Estes model that retails in the order of $88.

But at our last club launch, I swear one club member had three scaled versions of this rocket. The largest was clearly Mega Der Red Max.... but there was a shorter one that I would have guessed was possibly a MPR rocket, and a much smaller, tiny Red Max that probably is a LPR kit.

Do all three of these versions exist in separate kit forms? I can find MEGA Der Red Max on the Estes website.
But what's the name, and where do I find one of the two smaller versions of this? Do they exist? Or are they sold out?

Thanks.

Kirk G said:

Do all three of these versions exist in separate kit forms? I can find MEGA Der Red Max on the Estes website.
But what's the name, and where do I find one of the two smaller versions of this? Do they exist? Or are they sold out?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

In a word... Yes. There are currently three different sizes of the DRM in production today by Estes (Pro Series II Mega Der Red Max, Der Red Max, Mini Max). There's also a 4th version which is out of production (the DBRM (Der Big Red Max)).

I found these images in a quick Google search.

KSM's DRM family photo.


and VMF-214's Der Big Red Max...


Below are links to the different ones that are currently in production:

https://www.estesrockets.com/009705-pro-series-iitmmega-der-red-maxtm

https://www.estesrockets.com/der-red-maxtm

https://www.estesrockets.com/rockets/kits/002445-mini-maxtm

and plans for the DBRM...

https://www.spacemodeling.org/jimz/es-1977.htm

The DBRM is a BT-60 based DRM with an 18" body tube instead of a 8.5" tube. From my research, the decals for it are identical to the original.

The medium rocket in that picture is the classic DRM. It's BT60 based and about the size of a Baby Bertha. The smallest Estes kit, the Mini Max is 13mm powered and 24mm diameter. Is this the mid size one you saw? If not its totally possible it was a 54mm, 2.6", or 3" scratch build.

By the way, AC supply co has the MDRM for $53, a great deal. I highly recommend the kit, it can fly on a lot of different motors and is very stable. It only has two small flaws:
1. No chute protector, you need a nomex for a rocket this size
2. It could use a bigger motor mount, probably 38mm.
It's very light for a 4" kit (32 oz), I fly mine on F's to around 500 feet, and will try bigger motors at TCC's October Skies.

That's them! I don' tknow why my search on estesrockets.com didn't turn up anything except for the largest one.

Do I read this right that both Mini, and Der Red Max are both LEVEL ONE kits? That's hardly any skill level at all.
I thought that was for plastic cup and fin assemblies, with no gluing and no sanding! Do I read this right?

I also saw another nice kit assembled at the recent club launch, that I think was something along the lines of "Sameri" or "Sensi" or "Karate"?
I was told they were out of production too, but I thought the parts, fins and body looked stylish and sturdy, if I could find one. What skill level is that one?

Simple glue-together balsa and cardboard kits are mostly skill level 1. The plastic fin can ones are E2X or ARF.

I'm not personally a big fan of the style of the Der Red Max family. But they fly great!

the mini makes a great park flyer on a 1/2A mini engine.
Rex

If you have some scrap balsa and an Estes Quark kit laying around, I'll send you fin dimensions and a gif for "Der Kinder Max"

PhlAsh said:

If you have some scrap balsa and an Estes Quark kit laying around, I'll send you fin dimensions and a gif for "Der Kinder Max"

Click to expand...

Damn! I just built a quark last week...but haven't flown (lost) it yet!
Is it too late to modify it?

PhlAsh said:

If you have some scrap balsa and an Estes Quark kit laying around, I'll send you fin dimensions and a gif for "Der Kinder Max"

Click to expand...

Please send it to me!


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

Rex R said:

the mini makes a great park flyer on a 1/2A mini engine.
Rex

Click to expand...

It goes like the proverbial bat on a Quest D5 https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?39473-Estes-Mini-Max

K'tesh That BT-60 is going to be my next kit bash. I want to fly it on the loki-G-80. I just think it would be a kool flight on that motor. For some reason I know what the next question would be. Yes you can turn them into 38mm rockets. Last week I flew this kit on a G-67-10 It's got .063 G-10 fins and I used a carbon fiber sleeve on the body. Weight is 8.2 oz. W/O chute or shock cord. I also want to see if I can do that little one to where you could fly it on the 24/40 motors.

Kirk G said:

Damn! I just built a quark last week...but haven't flown (lost) it yet!
Is it too late to modify it?

Click to expand...

If you've got a sharp blade to take off the fins and fillets without damaging the tube, no worries! PM me and I'll send the inf when I get home this evening.

edit...
Oops, DropBox!
Here

I̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶ ̶d̶i̶m̶e̶n̶s̶i̶o̶n̶s̶...
Home now. Here are the fin dims. (the rest was for my own edification before i realized that Quark worked well)

I put a red halo around the decals so that they could be printed on white decal paper and blend with your red paint. Let me know if you'd prefer it removed.

Umm, I'm seeing graphics like decals for it, but no plans. Was that all that I was supposed to see?
Yes, I'm interested in the fin specs. And yes, I'd be willing to modify and scrape a little for a cool model.
(Estes owes me one replacement rocket for the A10-3T CATO last month. I wonder if they'd send me a Mini Red Max so that i could modify it as above and try a D5-4 in it? Or are the Mini Fat Boy and the Mini Red Max not similar enough. --Don't know. I've never done this before: Ask for a credit due to a motor malfunction.)

Mini-Max flies great, only needs the typical small estes modifications..... longer shock cord and better streamer.
Recovers much nicer once I swapped it to a 2x20 thin-mill.

-Hans

Kirk G said:

Umm, I'm seeing graphics like decals for it, but no plans. Was that all that I was supposed to see?
Yes, I'm interested in the fin specs. And yes, I'd be willing to modify and scrape a little for a cool model.
(Estes owes me one replacement rocket for the A10-3T CATO last month. I wonder if they'd send me a Mini Red Max so that i could modify it as above and try a D5-4 in it? Or are the Mini Fat Boy and the Mini Red Max not similar enough. --Don't know. I've never done this before: Ask for a credit due to a motor malfunction.)

Click to expand...

The 2nd link should show the dimensioned drawings. I'll check DropBox when I get home to make sure the links generated correctly. The Mini is BT50-based, so you could shove a 24mm in there.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Simple glue-together balsa and cardboard kits are mostly skill level 1. The plastic fin can ones are E2X or ARF.

I'm not personally a big fan of the style of the Der Red Max family. But they fly great!

Click to expand...

But stick some pods on one and paint it silver....

PhlAsh said:

The 2nd link should show the dimensioned drawings. I'll check DropBox when I get home to make sure the links generated correctly. The Mini is BT50-based, so you could shove a 24mm in there.

Click to expand...

I checked again. Perhaps you missed the link?
- > Here it is again <-

rbelknap said:

But stick some pods on one and paint it silver....

Click to expand...

Exactly!