Estes SatV 1:200 for $52 on Amazon

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Yeah! Good deal! I got one and like is so much I had to get a 2nd one. Keeping one as display model. Watched a video of one being launched. Looks like it comes down pretty fast with the included chute. I'm going to use 2 chutes since the desert here is like concrete.
Also, Estes told me that additional flying fins won't be available until at least November.
 
Yeah! Good deal! I got one and like is so much I had to get a 2nd one. Keeping one as display model. Watched a video of one being launched. Looks like it comes down pretty fast with the included chute. I'm going to use 2 chutes since the desert here is like concrete.
Also, Estes told me that additional flying fins won't be available until at least November.
You will most definitely want to increase the 'chute size. I have a couple dozen flights on one and am on the second or third set of fins, even after repairing them with CA, then epoxy.

There is much discussion about this model and erratic flying that can mostly be traced to people not paying attention when installing the motor retainer, which also retains the fins, making sure the fins are seated properly and not loose. The Q-Jet C12-4FJ (or C18-4W) are both good motors for it, as well as the Estes C5-3. The Estes C6-3 does work....but not on a breezy day.
 
You will most definitely want to increase the 'chute size. I have a couple dozen flights on one and am on the second or third set of fins, even after repairing them with CA, then epoxy.

There is much discussion about this model and erratic flying that can mostly be traced to people not paying attention when installing the motor retainer, which also retains the fins, making sure the fins are seated properly and not loose. The Q-Jet C12-4FJ (or C18-4W) are both good motors for it, as well as the Estes C5-3. The Estes C6-3 does work....but not on a breezy day.
Doesn't help that Estes screwed the kit by not putting a motor tube in to help the motor stay straight. The safety guy must've been off the day Estes tested the 1:200 Saturn V.
 
Doesn't help that Estes screwed the kit by not putting a motor tube in to help the motor stay straight. The safety guy must've been off the day Estes tested the 1:200 Saturn V.
No one at Estes screwed up. There's a plenty deep enough socket to install the forward end of the motor into. All you have to do is pay a little attention. How inattentive should they assume their customers are?

This is the upper end of where the motor goes inside my much-flown RTF Saturn V. Unfortunately the camera seems to have focused on the wadding up above, but that socket is at least 1/8 inch deep and is easy to find by feel when inserting the motor. Only a motor with a big burr on the OD on the upper end would be a problem here.

IMG_5850.JPG
 
My 1/200 RTF SV is on the mantle next to my Mercury 7 G.I. Joe - permanent display duty. I have plenty of unbuilt SVs of various sizes so retiring this one is incentive to get something built. I never had a chance to try a C5-3 but the QJets were definitely better choices than a C6, it works, ok, usually, if as BEC stated in low wind conditions 😉
 
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