Hawks Hobby Super Trident

[Weekendshooter]

Hello All,

First time review...

Mark & Loretta Hawks stopped in on one of our monthly club launches, displayed their goods and it was a no brainer -- Picked up their Super Trident and Super Cherokee and been at 'em awhile.

The Super Trident is a Skill Level 4 model styled after Estes kit K-33. If you ever built the K-33 and were to see the Super Trident kit in front of you, resisting it is simply futile. The 1.68x upscaled balsa nose cones will get you first. Especially the Aft Passenger Section Cone that measures 7.25" long. All you middle aged crazys be honest now... When's the last time YOU ever saw a balsa nose cone that long. Huh?

The instructions are pretty good but you're building a Skill Level 4 kit so you don't need instructions. Right?

Affixing the three Storage and Supply Tubes and Fins is what makes this a Skill Level 4 kit. Back when we built the K-33, we typically used wood glue and getting everything to align properly took either tooling which we kids often did not have or more often, a steady hand and keen eye to get the subtle angular adjustments "just right" as the glue set. Fast forward 30 years. I suppose one could use CA to tack the tubes and fins in place followed by a heavier glue treatment. Here's where you start listening to that little voice in your head -- Not having any interlocking/TTW features on the Super Trident to guarantee proper alignment and using CA seemed risky. Instead, we used 15 minute epoxy to make the initial tacks through final fillets. With a total curing time of something like 3 hours, we had ample time to use our keen eyes and get the Storage/Supply Tubes and Fins aligned "just right". A gal named Sue McMurray (sp?) once posted on the usenet to make sure and play some good music when doing these intensive hands-on jobs so as to better become one with their rocket. Good advice then and good advice today.

The motor mount kit provided is a 24mm setup. If I were to build this kit again, I'd fashion an upscaled engine hook made from either windshield wiper blade steel or a left over aerotech clip and use it on the Atomic Drive similar to that in the original K-33 kit. This model flew well on an E18-4W and almost well with an F24-4W (see below). There are reports of it handing an E30 with no problems. I believe it can easily handle a 29mm G33 and possibly a G64 but will never know now. Will I?

The supplied shock cord is a kevlar/elastic combo, similar to Quest, but a bit longer. Built to the instructions, you'll have the kevlar extending beyond the end of the tube. This is where I followed the instructions but wished I'd relied instead upon the lessons from HPR. Fortunately, I got a second chance and during rebuild (see second flight, below), went to a heavier braided kevlar and bowline looped it about 1" shy from the end of the tube. Simply a suggestion...

The supplied launch lug is for a 3/16" but a 1/4" lug made more sense for me.

The description for the Super Trident has it weighing in at 10.5 ounces. Fully sealed, primed & painted, mine came in at 15.5 ounces. There's alot of surface area on this model and it can take several cans of spray easily...


Here are a few pictures of the maiden flight. The flight was pretty close to perfect on an E18-4W. After all I've been through, I don't think I'll use any less motor unless I see somebody else get away with it.

Here are a few pictures of the second flight on an F24-4W.

The pictures don't show it but deployment was very well into the "gonna be a lawn dart" mode. I estimate that complete chute deployment took place somewhere around 8-16' AGL. Despite scaring the bejeezus out of us, this proved as useful evidence that Loretta's handmade ripstop 30" nylon chute held up nicely. While the zipper was clearly my fault, Mark & Loretta were simply swell and sent me a long piece of coupler to repair the 14" long zipper. She'll be ready this weekend for another F24-4 and possibly an F39-6.

You can tell alot about people and a company on how they tend to the little things. Working through the Super Trident, it's obvious that Hawks really cares. Plus, they've the blessing and encouragement of Verne Estes himself. Two good signs...

 

[paulk]

I've had my eye on this, thanks for posting your review, and nice looking build. What altitude do you estimate on the E18-4? You used epoxy, is this what the instructions recommend? Is there any reinforcement of the ducts between the tubes? Does the kit come with any positive motor retention, or is it friction? I understand the looping of the kevlar to reduce the zipper possibility, is this also why you went with braided? Thanks!

 

[Weekendshooter]

Originally posted by paulk
I've had my eye on this, thanks for posting your review, and nice looking build. What altitude do you estimate on the E18-4?

Kind of hard to say, I was laying on my back shooting this video: I'll guess it went around 400-600 feet for now based on the gappy video that suggested that it took around 30 seconds to decend (and using around 17fps). Simply a guess... While it's high l/d seems conducive to high flights, the thing's got plenty of surface area to drag it down. It definitely needs to fly in a vaccum with the Atomic Drive engaged.

One thing that's kind of neat in the video is you can see the bird roll off the rod due to the ignitor leads pulling along. Probably should've studied it a bit closer that day before tromping off and clipping up the F24...

You used epoxy, is this what the instructions recommend? Is there any reinforcement of the ducts between the tubes? Does the kit come with any positive motor retention, or is it friction? I understand the looping of the kevlar to reduce the zipper possibility, is this also why you went with braided? Thanks!

Read the instructions? You're serious, right?

The instructions calls for wood glue & CA with no mention for epoxy at all. Probably partly why mine came in a bit heavy. Regarding the braided kevlar, I went braided simply because I bought ridiculous quantities of the stuff when NARCON was in Austin or Dallas a few years back. I use the stuff on my machbusters, HPR, LMR, egg lofters, practically everything except for 24mm and skinnier... The reinforcement to the ducts was one of the first things I quizzed Mark about and liked his design fix. I guess I wasn't the only one to have blown out the Supply & Storage tube, eh?

Pertaining to your other questions, here is a picture that may better show what you're after.

Picture showing relative case sizes:

Picture showing possible 29mm retention:

It's November 27th and I'd like to add the following:

One of the neat things about this kit is that it uses nice thin decals that lay on smooth. They are not the thick stick-on type found in many of the newer Estes kits. Mark mentioned having to reject many early batches of decal paper because the supplier simply didn't understand the nuances of printing up decals so large. Applying the 16" x 3/8" (!!!) thin-film decals along the storage and supply tubes is something that's easy to booger up. Soak the long decals in a roaster pan in warm soapy water and be positively sure the decal releases from the backing paper before proceeding. While it's soaking, wet the tube with the soap solution to better slide the long decal into place. Typical method but one you can't skip on an application this large. On the first long decal, I made the mistake and removed the decal from the backing paper before locating its position -- The decal is so thin that it's fairly easy to crack the pigment. Luckly, there was enough soap film on the tube and we were able to work the piece into shape. On the rest of them, simply locate the decal in place with the backing paper loosely afixed to give the decal film support. Once in position, pull the backing paper out lengthwise. If you used enough soapy solution to properly wet the tube, the decal will apply nicely. Blot dry, let cure, and apply a couple coats of Future floor wax...

Holler if you've any other questions...

 

[hawkshobby]

Andy Thanks for the nice review.
Your Super Trident looked Great !! Good job on it.

We are working on a couple things to try and solve the zipper problem, but it's gonna be a while as our bird is in SPACE DOCK for some major repairs .... the BORG shot it down on the last flight...Ok truth to be known we lost it due to a weak ejuction charge on a Areotech E18-4. It poped the nosecone and pushed the chute to the edge of the tube buy no deployment. All we could is watch it take a nice core sample of the Windom field. All however is not lost the back half behind the couplers survived intact.

Loretta & Mark

Oh Ya..... Your just gonna love what Loretta asked Santa for.

 

[dwmzmm]

Originally posted by hawkshobby
Andy Thanks for the nice review.
Your Super Trident looked Great !! Good job on it.

We are working on a couple things to try and solve the zipper problem, but it's gonna be a while as our bird is in SPACE DOCK for some major repairs .... the BORG shot it down on the last flight...Ok truth to be known we lost it due to a weak ejuction charge on a Areotech E18-4. It poped the nosecone and pushed the chute to the edge of the tube buy no deployment. All we could is watch it take a nice core sample of the Windom field. All however is not lost the back half behind the couplers survived intact.

Loretta & Mark

Oh Ya..... Your just gonna love what Loretta asked Santa for.

Ouch!! Looking at that pic really hurts...

BTW, the Super Mark construction is finished and I hope to get
one or two flights up December 16 at JSC...