A10 Cato

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n3tjm

Papa Elf
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Bandit - 1 A10-3T Cato.jpg Today my Bandit 1 suffered some damage when the Estes A10-3T decided to let go of its propellant slug. Filled out a MESS form and will contact Estes.


The Bandit 1 was the second flight (1:40).
 
I've had a few A10's CATO. One was an A10-3T that blew an RTF Mini Mars Lander to pieces. Another time I had some old A10-0T's CATO as well. Since I was CHAD staging a 13m oddroc, it wasn't that big of a deal.
 
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I had my first A10 Cato early last month... was quite a shock. Blew (almost) the entire motor mount out of my 1/100 Estes Little Joe II. Only the forward centering ring is still in there... unfortunately never did find the motor mount remains so I had to take a swag at the lot number for the Mess report. I did report it to Estes and got a request for a photo... unfortunately with no other evidence I think I'm not getting any replacements... I have a couple of A10s with different lot numbers but I may decide to not use any of them at this point.
 
I've had a couple A10's CATO over the last few years - one in a Mini-Fat Boy, the second in a Mini-A Heli. MESS reports and warrantee requests submitted in both cases, with excellent support from Estes.

Point is that I don't think this is necessarily a new type of failure. A10's seem to be one of the motors more likely to CATO (but still significantly less so than E9/E12's).
 
Today my Bandit 1 suffered some damage when the Estes A10-3T decided to let go of its propellant slug. Filled out a MESS form and will contact Estes. The Bandit 1 was the second flight (1:40).

Do you know the engine date code?
 
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