Estes Twister (Tornado) Build

[Disaster_Guy]

Will be building this either tonight or tomorrow night. I was helping my brother-in-law move when he pulled a box out of the bottom of his closet and said, hey you are into rocket stuff, here you go... It was an old school range box from an Alpha starter set that contained two launch pads, two estes controllers, a very damaged alpha, some cobra motors, and this (sealed in bag) twister kit. This looks like a quick but fun little build. My first impression opening the kit was the instructions. It brought back memories of Estes' highly detailed instructions that I remember as a kid (when compared to the one to two sentence multi-lingual instructions you get these days).

 

[Disaster_Guy]

I spent a little bit of time on this last night. I have my doubts how well the fins are going to hold up based on only 50% of the root being affixed and it being tumble recovery. For those not familiar with this version of the twister, there are two fins on the main body tube and then there is a small section of body tube that contains one fin and two very small fins. It falls in two pieces and is supposed to use a "maple seed" recovery. I will likely get the paint on it tonight or tomorrow.

EDIT: Researched this kit a little bit more... It looks like it was marketed as the "Twister" when bundled in the starter set with the Super Shot but labeled as the "Tornado" when sold alone. Same exact kit, same release years, just different decals and suggested paint scheme.

 

[Scotty Dog]

Cool!
looks nice.
I got the "Twister" instructions and decal set.
Someday>>>>

 

[dpower]

I spent a little bit of time on this last night. I have my doubts how well the fins are going to hold up based on only 50% of the root being affixed and it being tumble recovery. For those not familiar with this version of the twister, there are two fins on the main body tube and then there is a small section of body tube that contains one fin and two very small fins. It falls in two pieces and is supposed to use a "maple seed" recovery.

The Tornado is surprisingly durable, and will recover just fine. The upper part comes down like a maple seed, and is very light. The lower half helicopters a bit too. Mine has never broke a fin, though I did lose the lower half one time. Paint it a bright color, and make sure you have multiple folks watching!

 

[bradycros]

I'm gonna have to get one of these!

 

[Disaster_Guy]

I got it painted the other day (gloss black as in the catalog). I still need to get around to cutting the decals and applying them as we have 4 separate builds in progress in the house right now. Will get it in the gallery upon completion.

 

[dpower]

Use a 1/2A6-2 in the first flight. I've never used more than an A8-3. I think that's when I lost the bottom half.

 

[raohara]

Here's a picture of the Tornado kit package.

 

[Green Jello]

So this is a vintage kit that's no longer made, right?

 

[Disaster_Guy]

I am not aware of it being in production. This one came from a "Super Shot" Starter Set seen here in the 1996 catalog: https://www.estesrockets.com/media//catalogs/Estes_1996_Catalog.pdf

 

[10fttall]

Nice little bird with the unorthadox recovery. Don't even think about using anything bigger than A8!

It would be super easy to clone.

 

[Disaster_Guy]

Here is the pic with the decals on it. Very 1990's indeed.

 

[raohara]

So this is a vintage kit that's no longer made, right?

It went OOP in 1998.

 

[HammerZ2008]

It would be super easy to clone.

Start with a Viking or Wizard, Tube cutting guides and a little balsa sheet. Be a quick kitbash. If I remember right the upper tube is thick walled. My #2004 had a black stripe inside the tube. Seemed heavy next to a standard BT-20 tube.

 

[Green Jello]

Would you be willing to scan those instructions and post them? I don't seem them on Estes' site.

 

[bradycros]

Would you be willing to scan those instructions and post them? I don't seem them on Estes' site.

Go to: www.spacemodeling.org/JimZ/est2004.htm

 

[Green Jello]

Well thanks.....

After staring at those for a while, I still can't understand how this thing works :/

 

[mwtoelle]

The top half comes down like a maple seed and the bottom half with the motor casing tumbles down. Personally, I would either use a ½A6-2 or an A8-5 when flying this rocket. On an A motor its goes pretty high and really needs a large field to recover both pieces.

 

[HammerZ2008]

Here are two of my builds. A clone and a rebuild of my original Tornado. The clone fins are cut from the Jim Z plans and look stockier with less sweep to them. Also for the clone I cut down a yellow motor tube to use as a sleeve up just below the nose cone. With a piece of balsa as a blast wall coated with CYA on both sides. I also coated the inside of the yellow tube for flameproofing. You can burn thru 1/2A6's all day with these rockets, just pop in another motor and go again.

 

[AlfaBrewer]

I've had a Tornado for years and flown it several times. I finally painted it - orange bottom, yellow top. I flew it this past weekend on a B6. Don't know if I'll do that again in windy conditions.

Otherwise, this thing is a great flyer.