Great deal Honest John $3.13 at walmart

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Thanks for the tip! I shop a lot on Walmart.com (to save trips to the actual store) so grabbed a couple of the $3.13 Mini Honest Johns on my last order. Fun kit to build. Still have a ways to go but here is what I have done so far.....
Mini Honest John.jpg
 
Cool deal! Thanks for the heads up. Ordered 4 of them for the heck of it lol.
Not sure what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll use em for a drag race?
 
Cool deal! Thanks for the heads up. Ordered 4 of them for the heck of it lol.
Not sure what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll use em for a drag race?
Cool deal! Thanks for the heads up. Ordered 4 of them for the heck of it lol.
Not sure what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll use em for a drag race?
I just had a terrible idea, launch a cluster of these from within the forward end of a bigger rocket. Interesting design challenge. Get the nose off w/o ejecting the lil John's, get the lil John's ignited with either some amount of launch rod, or while carrier rocket still has speed, which would preclude getting the nose off, unless it was a split fairing etc

Just thinking out loud, I know it's pretty far out there

Josh
 
$3.13, typically $12.99, for the Estes Mini Honest John, 13mm
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Estes-Mini-Honest-John-Flying-Model-Rocket-Kit/37393979
Honestly, I bought 12 to get free shipping and will just give them out

Great mini modroc too, looks great and flies very well on mini engines
My original idea was to see if I could maybe drill a hole in the nose, or a channel, and get rid of the launch lug standoff, so the rod actually went through part of the bulbous nose.

In looking at it, I think the nose max diameter isn't much bigger than the body tube, so getting a 1/8th inch channel might just result in a big vertical "crack" in the nose, which would get ugly. I should check the dimensions

Josh
 
One of the local enthusiasts modified a mini HJ for 24mm the last time these were on sale and sent it on an F44 (and recovered it). Wish I'd been there to see it...
 
I ordered 12 as well. First mini engine powered model rocket(s) I've bought. Can't wait to get one in the queue!
Paint at least one of them olive drab green and put the decals on it, looks awesome. I didn't realize the real Honest Johns could carry a nuclear payload until I saw one at a military museum. That explains the payload fairing.
 
Paint at least one of them olive drab green and put the decals on it, looks awesome. I didn't realize the real Honest Johns could carry a nuclear payload until I saw one at a military museum. That explains the payload fairing.
Definitely! I build most of my kits as they're designed at first. I may take another one and mod it a bit. Use the rest for outreach for the kids.
 
Well unfortunately Walmart decided to ship my 4 kits in one of those plastic shipping bags. Needless to say, three of the four kits body tubes were bent. I’m sure they’re fixable, but it’s still frustrating.

Imagine if I built all four them around the D16 motors! :oops:
 
Well unfortunately Walmart decided to ship my 4 kits in one of those plastic shipping bags. Needless to say, three of the four kits body tubes were bent. I’m sure they’re fixable, but it’s still frustrating.

Imagine if I built all four them around the D16 motors! :oops:
Weird. My 3 came in a box. One was sideways, but there doesn't appear to be any damage.
 
Well unfortunately Walmart decided to ship my 4 kits in one of those plastic shipping bags. Needless to say, three of the four kits body tubes were bent. I’m sure they’re fixable, but it’s still frustrating.

Imagine if I built all four them around the D16 motors! :oops:
That's very annoying. My 12 did come in a box, about half of it was shipping pillows. Who knew the free shipping would be "better".

I got a Mercury Redstone (from an Amazon seller) that came with a bend in the main body tube. I tried just about everything. I've finally resigned myself to order a replacement tube, tho it's not one of the more common tube sizes
 
$3.13, typically $12.99, for the Estes Mini Honest John, 13mm
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Estes-Mini-Honest-John-Flying-Model-Rocket-Kit/37393979
Honestly, I bought 12 to get free shipping and will just give them out

Great mini modroc too, looks great and flies very well on mini engines

You ever see bargains like that in Oz. Just not enough market for anyone to have more than a couple of anything. Hooray for Walmart - home of rocketry bargains and fashion failures!
 
I ordered 12 of them too a couple of days ago, now they are out of stock. These might be good to use with our Cub Scout buld/launch event next summer, if those things are back to normal.
 
Cool little kit. I built it in an evening using my new Estes fin alignment jig. Wow what a time saver and perfectly aligned fins all glued at one time! The 1.7 Oz. rocket flew beautifully on a 1/2A3-2T. The can of olive drab paint cost more than the kit!

Here's a link to the maiden flight:
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Cool little kit. I built it in an evening using my new Estes fin alignment jig. Wow what a time saver and perfectly aligned fins all glued at one time! The 1.7 Oz. rocket flew beautifully on a 1/2A3-2T. The can of olive drab paint cost more than the kit!

Here's a link to the maiden flight:
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I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's probably my fav mini-engine rocket and the paint is easy and the decals stand out well. Saw a life sized Honest John at the nearby ANG base and learned there that the missile could carry a small nuclear warhead.

I'm making two now, one with an 18mm engine mount and one with a full 24mm lol. Should b interesting
 
I would think it would require significant nose weight for a 24mm (those fins are small). But nothing a 24mm motor couldn't handle easily.
Yeah, it's definitely gonna need some weight up top. I was also considering enlarging the fins just a little. Need to sim it probably
 
Bought a dozen of these last year when Walmart did this sale. Built the first one stock and found it to be under powered during launch. The fins on the rocket are also small and while they are accurate to scale they look out of place.

My second one I build for 18mm motors. Basically I left out the 13mm mount and put a thrust ring in it. I also cut my own fins that look more like the normal HJ. Keep in mind that the stability of the mini HJ is not great even with the 13mm motor. I added .25oz of additional nose weight on top of what Estes gives you. With the larger fins and nose weight it is a great flier.

Mine has been up on B6-6's a number of times and a C6-7 once without any issues. The B motors put it up a good distance but I was still able to see it. The C6 put it out of sight. If you are going to fly a C or higher, I'd recommend that you swap out to a good chrome foil type streamer as this will help you see it and bring it down without a mile walk.
 
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