Having proven the concept of my Super Gnome, and also having lost the sustainer at my Jesmond Dene Park launch, I decided to construct a successor. One cheaper to purchase (and replace if necessary), with a little bit of a more-involved build and hopefully even more ridiculous performance.
Behold: The Super Star Trooper!
The stock Star Trooper is 3 inches shorter than a stock Gnome, but the booster on this one is a little longer. I’d guess it’s still about 2 and a half inches shorter than the Super Gnome.
Now, this kit isn’t exactly hard to find, but if I were to guess, I’d say Estes is planning on pulling the plug on it soon. It’s only $6.99 on their website and my local independent hobby store (Discount Hobby Warehouse) couldn’t seem to place an order of their own, so I got both kits that I used for this build from Penrose.
In terms of construction, it’s a little bit of a step up from the Super Gnome. The motors are friction fitted, with a coupler between the lower and upper body tubes doubling as a motor block. The really nice thing about the lower body tube is that it’s precisely 45mm long, the length of an Estes mini motor. Therefore, the tube for the booster didn’t have to be cut down to size. The booster is literally just the second kit’s lower body tube and fins glued on. The sustainer’s motor serves as the stage coupler and extends into the booster’s body tube. It just might be the most brutally simple staging method possible.
The shock cord in the Gnome was run through a slit in the body tube and glued onto the exterior, with the forward launch lug ring covering it. In the Star Trooper, the mount is identical to those in Estes’ larger kits, just scaled down, and it’s a bit tricky to fold it down and get it installed. The shock cord rubber resists getting a nice epoxy bond, so I just declared “F it!” and threw it together with CA glue.
The glue-on balsa fins got yet more use out of my Estes fin alignment big. They ended up straight but they missed the centerline a bit, so I’m considering pitching the plastic guide and just going with printout-cutout guides from PayloadBay.com going forward. I don’t think their leading/trailing edges are precisely aligned either, but it should be close enough to not adversely affect flight characteristics.
The nice thing about the individual fins, however, is that I could align the booster launch lug where I wanted it, interdigitating the fins on the rod and hopefully moving my CP back.
Stability feels a little tricky with those fins being pushed a bit forward on the tube. CG with motors (but no wadding) appears to be somewhere in the middle of the sustainer’s fins. Hopefully it’s far enough forward that a decent pack job and keeping the sustainer limited to a 1/2A3-4T will prevent it from skywriting. If not, I’ll have to crack open the nose and put some clay in it.
First flights are scheduled for the morning with DART. The sustainer will fly alone on an A10-3T, followed by the A10-0T / 1/2A3-4T combo if recovery is successful. If it survives launch day, I’ll take it home and give it a nice paint job.
I’ve practiced this kind of staging enough that I’m confident the sustainer will ignite, but if not, it should be light enough to just tumble like the Super Gnome did. Crossing my fingers for nothing truly frightening!
Behold: The Super Star Trooper!
The stock Star Trooper is 3 inches shorter than a stock Gnome, but the booster on this one is a little longer. I’d guess it’s still about 2 and a half inches shorter than the Super Gnome.
Now, this kit isn’t exactly hard to find, but if I were to guess, I’d say Estes is planning on pulling the plug on it soon. It’s only $6.99 on their website and my local independent hobby store (Discount Hobby Warehouse) couldn’t seem to place an order of their own, so I got both kits that I used for this build from Penrose.
In terms of construction, it’s a little bit of a step up from the Super Gnome. The motors are friction fitted, with a coupler between the lower and upper body tubes doubling as a motor block. The really nice thing about the lower body tube is that it’s precisely 45mm long, the length of an Estes mini motor. Therefore, the tube for the booster didn’t have to be cut down to size. The booster is literally just the second kit’s lower body tube and fins glued on. The sustainer’s motor serves as the stage coupler and extends into the booster’s body tube. It just might be the most brutally simple staging method possible.
The shock cord in the Gnome was run through a slit in the body tube and glued onto the exterior, with the forward launch lug ring covering it. In the Star Trooper, the mount is identical to those in Estes’ larger kits, just scaled down, and it’s a bit tricky to fold it down and get it installed. The shock cord rubber resists getting a nice epoxy bond, so I just declared “F it!” and threw it together with CA glue.
The glue-on balsa fins got yet more use out of my Estes fin alignment big. They ended up straight but they missed the centerline a bit, so I’m considering pitching the plastic guide and just going with printout-cutout guides from PayloadBay.com going forward. I don’t think their leading/trailing edges are precisely aligned either, but it should be close enough to not adversely affect flight characteristics.
The nice thing about the individual fins, however, is that I could align the booster launch lug where I wanted it, interdigitating the fins on the rod and hopefully moving my CP back.
Stability feels a little tricky with those fins being pushed a bit forward on the tube. CG with motors (but no wadding) appears to be somewhere in the middle of the sustainer’s fins. Hopefully it’s far enough forward that a decent pack job and keeping the sustainer limited to a 1/2A3-4T will prevent it from skywriting. If not, I’ll have to crack open the nose and put some clay in it.
First flights are scheduled for the morning with DART. The sustainer will fly alone on an A10-3T, followed by the A10-0T / 1/2A3-4T combo if recovery is successful. If it survives launch day, I’ll take it home and give it a nice paint job.
I’ve practiced this kind of staging enough that I’m confident the sustainer will ignite, but if not, it should be light enough to just tumble like the Super Gnome did. Crossing my fingers for nothing truly frightening!
Last edited: