New Estes Twin Factor Build

[SCIGS30]

I really like these new kits Estes is coming out with and picked this one up at the local hobby store. The build looks simple but I will say it was a little challenging with the card stock. The laser cutting dust makes a mess and I had to keep washing my hands and there are a lot of little tabs you have to cut as to not rip the card stock. The two BT wings were warped and slightly crushed making the rings a little challenging. I used plain Elmers glue for 100 percent of the build. At first I thought I could paint the rings and main body of the rockets separate but then realized gluing it all together after painting would be a pain. I used drinking cups to try and keep the rings straight while gluing to the paper shroud and card stock. The little tabs will bend easy so you have to be real careful when gluing it all together. I added glue fillets and will begin painting tomorrow. I will paint the yellow then mask and paint the black.

 

[Woody's Workshop]

Looks like a fun build.
Waiting to see the paint...

 

[JumpJet]

It would appear you have made 2 booster stages. Please look at the image that shows both bottoms of the saucers. Both show the engine block to prevent the motor from kicking out the back of the booster. One Saucer should in fact have the engine block forward to prevent the motor from going forward in the upper stage.

John Boren

 

[SCIGS30]

John in those pictures the EB was not glued in, I only dry fitted them to hold the correct roundness of the BT until the fins dried. John this was a little more challenging than I thought because the rings where not round. I thought I could paint the rings separately then assemble but that did not happen. I just sprayed a coat of yellow and will mask it in a day or so and paint the black.

 

[SCIGS30]

I sprayed old Krylon Yellow, masked and painted old formula Krylon glossy black. If I had it all over to do again I would have painted the ring separate from the rocket. On my next day off I will apply the decals.

 

[SCIGS30]

Decals have been applied and she is all done ready for flight. Another fun new release from Estes.

 

[neil_w]

Nice work. I didn't think I was interested in this one because I didn't need another draggy small-field flier... but I'm starting to get interested. Look forward to seeing some flight video!

 

[gerbs4me]

Very nice work!

 

[Tom]

I know this is kind of dated but I just picked up one of these. Thanks for all the tips will save me some grief I am sure!

Yours looks great!

 

[Weldo]

This is an older thread but I'm posting here instead of starting a new one.

I'm posting to ask anyone who has built and launched a Twin Factor how it went. I built one and launched it and it was mostly unsuccessful. The A10-0 booster did not seem to have enough power and the model went up about 30 or 40 feet and curved into an arc. The second stage lit pretty much completely horizontal and nose dived into the ground before the ejection charge popped.

I built it following the instructions and put only two coats of spray paint on it. Maybe I was too heavy on the paint?

Who else has flown this model successfully?

 

[Scott_650]

This is an older thread but I'm posting here instead of starting a new one.

I'm posting to ask anyone who has built and launched a Twin Factor how it went. I built one and launched it and it was mostly unsuccessful. The A10-0 booster did not seem to have enough power and the model went up about 30 or 40 feet and curved into an arc. The second stage lit pretty much completely horizontal and nose dived into the ground before the ejection charge popped.

I built it following the instructions and put only two coats of spray paint on it. Maybe I was too heavy on the paint?

Who else has flown this model successfully?

I haven’t flown mine yet, haven’t painted yet either, so very interested in how other flights were.

What were the winds like for your launch Weldo?

 

[Weldo]

No significant wind. I usually try to go out on calm days and even then I'll wait for a lull in the breeze before hitting the button.

 

[neil_w]

I think @kuririn has flown his (?), maybe he'll chime in once he wakes up.

 

[BABAR]

Seems like a lot of mass and drag for an A10-0 to get off the pad. Is it based on a BT-5 tube or is there a BT-20 with motor mount?

 

[neil_w]

Seems like a lot of mass and drag for an A10-0 to get off the pad. Is it based on a BT-5 tube or is there a BT-20 with motor mount?

At .8 oz it's plenty light, but it certainly draggy as it's really a saucer design. Estes estimates 150'. Looks like fun.

 

[kuririn]

Who else has flown this model successfully?

Flew mine successfully a few months ago. As I recall there was no drama. We always fly on calm days due to the size of our field.

Seems like a lot of mass and drag for an A10-0 to get off the pad. Is it based on a BT-5 tube or is there a BT-20 with motor mount?

Min. dia. bt-5 tubing and a lot of base drag.
Not a high performer but it looks so cool!
BTW my empty finished wt. is .802 oz.
Meh. might as well throw in a pic.

Laters.

 

[BEC]

I'm posting to ask anyone who has built and launched a Twin Factor how it went. I built one and launched it and it was mostly unsuccessful. The A10-0 booster did not seem to have enough power and the model went up about 30 or 40 feet and curved into an arc. The second stage lit pretty much completely horizontal and nose dived into the ground before the ejection charge popped.

I have a Twin Factor in primer right now and was more wondering about the recommendation to use a motor with an ejection charge in the sustainer. But.....

I got 53 flights on the little two-stage Checkmate (https://estesrockets.com/product/007276-checkmate/), which is a 13mm motor BT-20-based two stager, before a second-stage ignition failure over a hard flying surface caused me to write it off (and build another which I have just finished).

On several flights over those 53 I had A10-0Ts—all of very recent vintage—which seemed "wimpy" for lack of a better term. They weren't quite bad enough for me to report them as failures to motorcato.org or to Estes but they clearly did not perform as well as others in the same model. I suspect you got one of those.

In the Checkmate, being a little heavier (the just-completed one is 0.99 oz.) but much less draggy, these low-performing booster motors were less of an issue, but it WAS very noticeable.

 

[Weldo]

I just weighed mine. It came in at 0.76 oz empty and 1.30 oz with motors.

Motors were A10-0T and A3-4T

 

[BABAR]

Flew mine successfully a few months ago. As I recall there was no drama. We always fly on calm days due to the size of our field.

Min. dia. bt-5 tubing and a lot of base drag.
Not a high performer but it looks so cool!
BTW my empty finished wt. is .802 oz.
Meh. might as well throw in a pic.
View attachment 410726
Laters.

Does the sustainer on this eject the motor? If not, how does it deal with the ejection charge?

 

[kuririn]

Does the sustainer on this eject the motor? If not, how does it deal with the ejection charge?

The instructions only have an illustration of the sustainer with the motor being inserted and the caption "snug fit".
When I flew mine I had it fitted loosely cuz I have had nose cones blow out on featherweight recovery models with too tight of a fit. We fly without an RSO at non sanctioned launches. If your launch has an RSO check first on whether motor ejection is allowed.

 

[BABAR]

It would appear you have made 2 booster stages. Please look at the image that shows both bottoms of the saucers. Both show the engine block to prevent the motor from kicking out the back of the booster. One Saucer should in fact have the engine block forward to prevent the motor from going forward in the upper stage.

John Boren

John,

I see from the EstesRockets.com recommended motors for the upper stage are

Rocket : 1/4A3-3T, 1/2A3-2T, 1/2A3-4T, A3-4T, A10-3T, A10-PT

Is the Twin Factor sustainer intended to be motor eject, or is there another method of managing the ejection charge?

I know this is an old thread, but issue came up on a thread for putting a nose cone of the FlisKits Double sauce sustainer

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/saucer-stability.158670/#post-1983270

Thanks,

Tom