Estes E-Powered SpaceShipOne

[RoyAtl]

This kit has been available for a few years now, but doesn't seem to be too popular. Has anyone here seen one in a store (not a webstore), gotten one, flown one or seen one flown?

And if you've flown one or seen one flown, how'd it go?

 

[Initiator001]

I bought one.

It's part of the 'collection'.

 

[MarkII]

I have seen it online and have read reviews of it, but I have never seen it in a store. Do webstores count?

I understand that the foam is very soft and the SSOne E gets full of dings and dents in no time. That is what turned me off to it.

MarkII

 

[foose4string]

I've seen them in Hobby Stores and online Hobby Vendors. I'm turned off by the foam construction as well, and think it's overpriced for what it is. I have a three of the smaller ones which feature some of the more commonly used building materials. One has been built and flown a few times and the others still reside in the Launchable packaging.

 

[jadebox]

I have one sitting on the cabinet on above my workbench.

I started building a year ago, but got frustrated when I messed up the red paint on the nose of the rocket. Fortunately, it won't be hard to fix. I just have to get around to fixing it.

I don't really mind the fact that it's made of foam. But, it doesn't make for a very interesting kit because there isn't much to assemble.

-- Roger

 

[powderburner]

I've seen them in Hobby Stores and online Hobby Vendors.
I'm turned off by the foam construction as well, and think
it's overpriced for what it is.

Ditto,
ditto,
and ditto.

When they first came out I saw them in the stores, in person.
I took one look at the foam construction and thought "no thankyou"

(and yes, I do tend to look down my nose at the rest of the RTF stuff too)

I'm sure Estes is not worried about selling to me, but that sort of "kit" is not what I'm interested in.

 

[Mike Di Venti]

I bought to build and then looked at the few parts there were and boxed it back up.
It looked to fragile to fly, so it is now part of the collection too.

 

[Donaldsrockets]

I had every intention of buying one of these until I found out that it was made of foam. After that, I was no longer interested as I simply refuse to pay $40+ for a styrofoam model that I'd be lucky if I even got half a dozen flights out of before it got too busted up to fly again.

Also, being foam, AP motors are totally out of the question with this kit.

 

[cls]

they are indeed too fragile to fly. ours flew 3 times. the tails are not sturdy and even on an E9 they flutter visibly. eventually the tail-booms break and then you have to glue it and it flies crooked. the parachute is made of some kind of crummy nylon that burns through easily. they don't even look that good on the ceiling. would I get another for $5? maybe, probably not.

Estes Airshow, on the other hand, is a totally awesome foam glider system that looks and flies great. Or you can get a Fliskits Tri-Glide for less.

 

[Mikus]

It's in the collection. I couldn't pass it up for $32 and didn't know how fragile it was. :blush:

 

[shreadvector]

Glass it and fly with this:

https://www.nar.org/SandT/pdf/Aerotech/F32T.pdf

https://www.valuerockets.com/product_details.aspx?pid=9&itemid=36

 

[MarkII]

Glass it and fly with this:

https://www.nar.org/SandT/pdf/Aerotech/F32T.pdf

https://www.valuerockets.com/product_details.aspx?pid=9&itemid=36

Hmmm .. interesting idea!

MarkII

 

[les]

A local observatory is having a RocketFest and asked me to help out. One way was they asked if I would help build some kits they purchased. So I am now building their Interceptor (ABC version) and the Space Ship One E version. I don't know where they purchased them from (brick & mortor or web store)

I have both built, now I need to finish/decal them.

I have yet to fly the Space Ship One, but based on the reviews I've seen I am concerned.

 

[Gus]

Roy,

I saw one flown not long after they came out. Very impressive but the tail boom broke on that first flight. It was built by one of the NAR's top scale modelers so it looked great, or at least as good as a big hunk of styrofoam can look.

 

[thunderdog]

HI ALL,
Glassed mine flies great and will hold up a long time not hard to do and worth it if ya want to fly it if not leave it in the box!

 

[RoyAtl]

HI ALL,
Glassed mine flies great and will hold up a long time not hard to do and worth it if ya want to fly it if not leave it in the box!

what weight glass did you use?

 

[thunderdog]

hi,
1/2 oz when i get a chance will take pics

 

[RoyAtl]

hi,
1/2 oz when i get a chance will take pics

Good. Figured that'd be enough without adding too much mass.

 

[r12ski]

I have one that I took the time to fill with DAP lightweight spackle based on a review on EMRR. I made several rounds of sanding and patching until I was somewhat satisfied.

The only thing left was to mask and paint the red lines. I bought waterbased paint just for the job. I painted one side and the blue painters tape I was using pulled up the styrofoam with it. I said screw it, I just want to finish this thing so I can fly it and turned the rocket over to try to paint the other side. Thats when I snapped both tailpieces – one at the joint, the other one in half and at the joint.

Frustrated. Check.

It is in a bag collecting dust. I was going to repair it eventually and probably run into the same problems. So annoying because you see the great pic on the box and you read "E-Engine" and the little kid inside you goes, "hehe sweet." And then you buy it, take it home, and open the box to realize it is total crap.

After reading this I am interested in trying to fiberglass for two reasons.
1) Never glassed anything ever. If there is a rocket that is worth the effort, but the end result isn't important, this would be it. I'm either going to fly it or trash it.
2) I've spent $60-$70 for the rocket and materials plus time and I don't know when to fold 'em.