Building My First Rocket After 30 Years (Quest Bright Hawk & Falcon)

[garyjm]

I have to tell you that I'm really excited about getting back into rocketry after about 30 years. See my intro here: https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/gettings-back-into-it.174280/

Due to lack of a work bench and really just about no building supplies left, I have decided to start with a couple of ready-to-fly Quest Bright Hawk and Falcon rockets. I wanted a minimum of work to get started and my next local launch (SPAAR) is 9/3 so I wanted to be ready for this.

I'm looking for anyone that has experience with these two rockets using the fin cans for ideas on what to look out for while building/flying. I'm more used to the high-power rockets from back in the 90's and seeing this is less than three ounces has me wondering about durability. I'm going to use a Quest Q-Jet White Lightening C18-6W for the first flight even though the first flight recommended motor is a B6-4W. I guess I wanted more than a couple of hundred feet for my first flight.

So, your ideas are greatly appreciated to get this old timer back into the hobby I loved since I was a young teen.

Thanks!
Gary Moors

 

[Back_at_it]

Gary,

I have built the Falcon twice. Had one as a kid and recently purchased and built another. The Bright Hawk is basically the same rocket in different colors. I have one of these as well.

These are great rockets that are very sturdy and fly very well. Couple of things that I did do on both of mine. The stock motor tube was very soft so I replaced it with a length of normal BT20 Estes tubing. Also, you'll want to replace the stock shock cord with a Kevlar leader and elastic. I can't even begin to tell you how many flights I had on my first Falcon. We flew it every time we went out so it was a lot.

As for motors. Start with a C6-5 and go from there. Mine fly extremely well on C6-5 with great altitude. You can expect about 650 ft on a C6 motor.

Below are links to mine.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/quest-brighthawk-1017-gallery.35118/
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/quest-1006-falcon.160470/

 

[Hobie1dog]

Great to hear you're back in the hobby. Sounds like you're going to be ready to build a MPR really soon.

 

[BABAR]

Welcome back!

motor choices for first flights (as for all flights) are somewhat dependent on your field size (biggest factor), field surface (flat means easy to see no matter where it comes down, soybean fields a challenge, tall corn fields a REAL challenge), winds (windy days best with smaller motors), audience (just you, and do you have good eyes? vs others who may help you keep a bead on the rockets as it deploys and descends) and your legs (how far you wanna walk?)

I haven’t worked with these rockets, but most kits are reasonably conservative with their first flight recommended motors. The flights tend to be a bit underwhelming but adequate, and they also are more forgiving if you have a fin misalignment or other issue. Put another way, if it flies badly on a smaller motor, you are probably glad you didn’t put a BIGGER motor in it.

if you are confident that you built it well, have a big field without a lot of bushy obstructions (you can walk within 10 feet of your rocket in a mature soybean field and not see it) and have good eyes and legs, and winds are light, it’s fine to go up a motor size.

if any of the above are not optimal, starting with the first flight recommendation is, IMO, a good call. It really is discouraging to have any rocket, but especially either your first rocket or one you’ve spent a lot of time and money on, fly out of sight or drift off the field and be unfindable, because you flew it on too big a motor for your field or conditions.

to be clear, most of these kits fly fine on all the recommended motors, including the larger ones. RECOVERING them on the other hand is another matter.

hope you have some great flights. Please post pics and videos!

edit: okay, looked at your previous post, and as a prior level 1 you obviously already know all this stuff. Still, other people reading this may not have your experience, someone will find the above useful.

good luck!

 

[garyjm]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I'm going to take all this into consideration. I haven't been involved with the small stuff since childhood. I have extremely fond memories of my many, many launches (ha!, some even at night) from my back yard and also a nearby cornfield. My father was by my side all the way and I remember when I launched a huge (at that time) 'C' engine. When I was about 16 or so, a few carloads of my relatives came to watch me launch a medium power launch using a monstrous 'F' engine. I don't remember who made it. The launch was near Long Lake, NY and the rocket actually came down in the lake! Many of my relatives had boats fortunately so this was my first and probably last water recovery. The launch was perfect, and the rocket was found floating in the lake. I'm attaching a photo of that 'F' powered rocket in my parents' bedroom and also one of me when I was around 12 years old flying one from that cornfield near my parents' house. Much later on in life I got into the high-power stuff.

 

[samb]

Welcome back to the party garyjm. I haven't built a Quest kit in years but besides this forum another place to look is rocketreviews.com. The reviews for the Brighhawk there mention that years ago, the instructions specified a friction fit of the fin can to the airframe. I'd say plastic cement (Testors red tube), medium CA, or epoxy in that joint is a better way to go. Also the stock shock cord may be lengthened to prevent denting the airframe from nose cone spring back.
Thanks Bill Eichelberger:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/quest---bright-hawk-6493.html

and Alan Tuskes:
https://www.rocketreviews.com/quest-aerospace-bright-hawk--by-alan-tuskes.html

 

[user 35280]

https://flightsketch.com/store/
https://www.acsupplyco.com/

 

[Scott_650]

Chris Michielssen built the revised Falcon for Quest on his blog http://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/search/label/Q Falcon

 

[Initiator001]

I say go for it with a C18 motor.

A bit more total impulse, a bright flame and smoke plus a faster flight to max altitude compared to a C6.

I flew a C18-6 in a Quest Superbird model two weeks ago. I forgot how fast a C18 can get a model moving.