Estes Renegade....cluster with the side boosters?

[airwolfe1]

Working on a Renegade with a young friend of mine and we are considering installing a couple of extra motor mounts in the side boosters and launching it with a cluster of 3. Has anyone done this before?

 

[Reed Goodwin]

I am pretty sure it has been done as I remember seeing a launch photo of a Renegade with three flames coming out the bottom. I modded one of my boosters for a 24mm mount to make the rocket go a bit more vertical... Just remember, with the added weight in the rear, you will need more noseweight.
Reed

 

[PunkRocketScience]

There is a review over at EMRR of someone who modified their Renegade like this. It definately needs the extra "oomph" off the pad... Mine barely makes 50-100 ft on the booster. I'm going to get another one and build the booster with a 24mm mount.

 

[JBeau]

I;ve built mine with 24mm in both the booster and the sustainer, and whether you put engines in the side pods or not, design SOME way for parachute or streamer to come out of your side pods.

If you don't, you will be repairing your Renegade's booster after every flight, it's so aerodynamically sound on its own it flies in ballistic.

I also added a baffle, breaking the body tube in half and letting the baffle serve as a coupler, too. This should keep the fast-moving 24mm Renegade sustainer from zippering.

 

[BAR_Daddy]

My oldest son and I are building one that way.

The two side motors will deploy small parachutes or streamers from the side pods.

Ours will be three 18mm motors in the booster and one 18mm motor in the sustainer.

We also added an 8" section of body tube to the sustainer to reduce the amount of nose weight that we will have to add.

 

[lanceS]

To make my booster a little lighter I just glued the "side boosters" on the main rocket. Only had to move them up about an inch or so. The booster just slides between now them as it's placed into the rocket. Booster did tumble down for me doing that and really doesn't affect the apperance of the rocket at all.

 

[bunkerbrother]

It definately needs the extra "oomph" off the pad... Mine barely makes 50-100 ft on the booster.

I belive that this is by design. Estes markets this as a first deuce stager, and wouldnt it suck for a kid to lose their first booster on its first launch?

Just my .02

 

[cjl]

I don't believe estes markets this as a good first two stager, as their Mongoose is FAR easier to build. However, I like rockets that stage 50-100 feet up, then just TAKE OFF. That's why I loved the B6-0-C6-7 combo for my Comanche.

 

[airwolfe1]

Great ideas, what has been some of the motor combos people have used?