Estes/HL: ESAM-58 My take on it.

[Jonny Blayze]

check it out folks, first hello im new. First post. Now i got the esam58 at my local hobby lobby as well and made it into a two stage!

 

[Jonny Blayze]

youve got to pleeeease excuse the paint job lol i just wanted to throw some color on it lol

 

[Jonny Blayze]

Here she blows

 

[Jonny Blayze]

 

[Jonny Blayze]

 

[Jonny Blayze]

 

[Jonny Blayze]

So we'll see lol

 

[Jonny Blayze]

oh! also. I have an ENTIRELY scratch built rocket i made all from peices and parts i found around the house.............................................its The Mighty Saturn V!

 

[Jonny Blayze]

if ya'll would like to see it, let me know and ill post a few snaps of it!!! Happy launching ladies and gents. And remember the sky is not the limit, there ARE NO LIMITS!!!
Lol have a great day!

 

[brockrwood]

check it out folks, first hello im new. First post. Now i got the esam58 at my local hobby lobby as well and made it into a two stage!

Love me some two-stagers! I especially love when the second stage kicks in at a low enough altitude that you can see it kick in!

 

[Jonny Blayze]

Love me some two-stagers! I especially love when the second stage kicks in at a low enough altitude that you can see it kick in!

Oh yeah! Those are great! I have video of a nice 2stager kicking in no more than 20 feet off the ground its awesome......just gotta find it lol

 

[Jonny Blayze]

Dammit, got kind of alot of wind today. Not sure i wanna launch this tging

 

[Jonny Blayze]

thing* lol

 

[brockrwood]

View attachment 466928

Did you leave the Estes srew-on motor retainer on the second stage?

 

[Jonny Blayze]

Did you leave the Estes srew-on motor retainer on the second stage?

yep, sure did!

 

[Bill S]

I did up my ESAM-58 in a grey color, with a gold nosecone. I substituted some lighter weight balsa for the very dense balsa Estes included in the kit. 2.79 oz w/o paint, 3.4oz with paint.

I made a Rocksim file for it, and wow, its a pig. Only Estes engine it'll fly well on is a C5-3 (370' or so); the B6-4 and C6-5 choices they mention need a very long launch rod (50+ inches). But it looks like it'll fly well on a C12-6, D16-6, C18-6, and D20-6 engine.

I definitely should have put a 24mm motor mount in it; I thought with the reduction in weight by using lighter balsa, 18mm motors would be alright. Wrong.

 

[Nytrunner]

Great paintjob!

What exit velocities were you getting on the C6-3 and c6-5? (And what are the kit recommended motors?)

 

[neil_w]

I did up my ESAM-58 in a grey color, with a gold nosecone. I substituted some lighter weight balsa for the very dense balsa Estes included in the kit. 2.79 oz w/o paint, 3.4oz with paint.

I made a Rocksim file for it, and wow, its a pig. Only Estes engine it'll fly well on is a C5-3 (370' or so); the B6-4 and C6-5 choices they mention need a very long launch rod (50+ inches). But it looks like it'll fly well on a C12-6, D16-6, C18-6, and D20-6 engine.

I definitely should have put a 24mm motor mount in it; I thought with the reduction in weight by using lighter balsa, 18mm motors would be alright. Wrong.

View attachment 473217

Gorgeous. Agree about the 24mm mount; IMHO any BT60 rocket should be 24mm.

However, you should be able to get pretty good flights with the Questjet Cs and Ds.

 

[Spitfire222]

I built my ESAM stock minus kevlar, and a Top Flite X-form parachute. It flies beautifully on C6-3 or 5s, and the Super C5-3. Here's a link to a post I made, that features a link to a video of my ESAM on a C6-3: Linkception

Recommended motors are B4-4, B6-4, and C6-5, but I wouldn't even try anything less than a B6....

 

[Bill S]

Great paintjob!

What exit velocities were you getting on the C6-3 and c6-5? (And what are the kit recommended motors?)

C6-3 using a 36' 1/8" rod exit velocity is 26.65mph, C6-5 is the same, both Rocksim says it needs 55" of rod to get up to safe speed (30mph). C5-3 is 34mph, no problems.

Kit recommends B4-4, B6-4, C6-5. C6-5 is supposed to go 800' high, Rocksim says about 447'...

 

[BSNW]

I did up my ESAM-58 in a grey color, with a gold nosecone. I substituted some lighter weight balsa for the very dense balsa Estes included in the kit. 2.79 oz w/o paint, 3.4oz with paint.

I made a Rocksim file for it, and wow, its a pig. Only Estes engine it'll fly well on is a C5-3 (370' or so); the B6-4 and C6-5 choices they mention need a very long launch rod (50+ inches). But it looks like it'll fly well on a C12-6, D16-6, C18-6, and D20-6 engine.

I definitely should have put a 24mm motor mount in it; I thought with the reduction in weight by using lighter balsa, 18mm motors would be alright. Wrong.

View attachment 473217

BEAUTIFUL work! Looks great. I am so glad I put a 24mm mount in mine. It does wonderfully on D12's and E12's!

I am actually building an upscale version of this rocket (6 (3+3) fins though to reduce the weight) based on a 2.5" airframe. I am using the removable motor mounts from LOC. I will be able to launch it on a cluster of 3, 24mm motors (D12's or E12's) or swap it out for a single 29mm mount. I will post photos later. This is one of my favorite Estes kits! NICE paint job!!!!

Andrew

 

[Nytrunner]

C6-3 using a 36' 1/8" rod exit velocity is 26.65mph, C6-5 is the same, both Rocksim says it needs 55" of rod to get up to safe speed (30mph). C5-3 is 34mph, no problems.

Kit recommends B4-4, B6-4, C6-5. C6-5 is supposed to go 800' high, Rocksim says about 447'...

That's a large difference in expected altitude for sure.

How heavy is yours compared to the estimated weight from estes?

 

[nosecone]

I like the color scheme. especially the gold nose.

 

[Nytrunner]

Lol

 

[Bill S]

That's a large difference in expected altitude for sure.

How heavy is yours compared to the estimated weight from estes?

There is no estimated weight on the package, though I did find it in the back of the directions = 3.1oz. Which I find strange, because according to my scale, the parts alone, not assembled, are 2.72 oz, and that is with the lighter weight balsa I substituted (the supplied balsa was very dense and about .25oz heavier). So that's about 2.97oz, with the supplied balsa fins and no glue or paint. Something is wonky there.

I'm doing well to be 10-15% over estimated weight typically, and I don't go heavy on the glue either.

 

[russ miliotto]

I did up my ESAM-58 in a grey color, with a gold nosecone. I substituted some lighter weight balsa for the very dense balsa Estes included in the kit. 2.79 oz w/o paint, 3.4oz with paint.

I made a Rocksim file for it, and wow, its a pig. Only Estes engine it'll fly well on is a C5-3 (370' or so); the B6-4 and C6-5 choices they mention need a very long launch rod (50+ inches). But it looks like it'll fly well on a C12-6, D16-6, C18-6, and D20-6 engine.

I definitely should have put a 24mm motor mount in it; I thought with the reduction in weight by using lighter balsa, 18mm motors would be alright. Wrong.

View attachment 473217

I've never been happy with the way this design flies. Too heavy out of the box. I just keep it on the shelf at this point.

Nice color scheme on yours tho.

 

[Bill S]

I got to fly my ESAM twice today. First flight on a C5-3 went fine, maybe 400-450' (Rocksim said about 440). 2nd flight, I put in an Quest C18-6 and the rocket was very unstable, went up about 100-150', turned 90 degrees, flew about 50' and then the engine burned out and it fell to the ground, narrowly missing a spectator. The nosecone didn't even eject. Very odd. I did a complete Rocksim file on the rocket, and it should have been fine on an C18-6. Even with the heaviest motor (C5-3, stability was pretty high, over 2).

I did have 2 CATOs with Quest C12-6s, which didn't eject the nosecone either, but did blow out the back of the motor mount on one, and overstressed the mount on one that had a screw-on retainer (Estes Corvette). I'll be filing MESS reports and talking to Aerotech, since I still have 8 motors from that lot.