Old Quest BP motors

[Jacob Ritzke]

I recently purchased a dozen or so different Quest BP motors (b6-2 b6-4 a6-4 c6-3 and a D5-0p) from a vendor who had some leftover stock. I figured I would test some to see how they held up after siting in a box for a few years. Today I flew three a6-4's in an Estes Alpha VI, the 60th anniversary one.






They put out a nice WOOSH sound when launched.
I used a normal Estes igniter instead of the Q2G2's because I plan to use them for other things. I just used a small bit of tape to secure the igniter inside.

An interesting note, They don't use a clay cap like Estes BP motors do, it's a paper one. One of those caps stayed inside of the motor after ejection so I was able to fish it out of the spent motor.

I had some issues getting the motors with the white paper to fit inside some of my 18mm motor mounts, the paper isn't held on tight with glue like on Q-jets, so I was able to just cut if off with a knife.
Despite what of other people have seen, I didn't see any case burn through on mine though it may be different with the c's and d's.

 

[kuririn]

Keep the Q2G2's for cluster ignition. They fire at a lower amperage and are perfect for that application.
If my foggy memory serves me right, the older Estes engines ( and maybe Centuri as well ) also had paper caps instead of clay. But I could be wrong. The REALLY old Quest motors had the "Tiger Tail" igniters. Similar to the now obsolete Aerotech copperhead igniters for composite motors. A single strip of copper instead of two wires. Each side was a different polarity. Pyrogen at the tip. Cheers.

 

[BEC]

Those Chinese-made Quest motors make quite a sound, don’t they?

The time-thrust curve for the A6-4 is almost a triangle so it’s not much good in a model much heavier than an Alpha III/IV/VI but it is a good match for them.

I’ve only ever had near burn-throughs with the Chinese Cs.

And to follow-on to kuririn’s post - if you’ve not used Q2G2s before, do NOT use them on any launch system that uses an incandescent light for continuity indication unless you are prepared to launch the model as soon as you check continuity. This includes all but the most recent Estes Electron Beam controllers. If you have....well, you already know this

Also, either the little orange plug for Estes mini A3s or a once-used pink plug for Estes B6/C6 will work in the Chinese Quest motors. Or the old-school tiny ball of wadding....

 

[Jacob Ritzke]

Ive used one Q2G2 before, I launched a D5-P with it. I had heard about the continuity launch thing, so I just held down the fire button and then checked for power to launch it. On of the motor packs I had some guy had just ripped out the Q2G2's and jet the vendor keep the motors. I plan to use 3 of them for my Estes air walker that has Apogee's strap on boosters. You should here the sound for the D5, It's a 4 second black powder burn!

I flew it on a rocket made of the leftovers from other rockets. Because it's a plugged motor, I flew a prototype passive deployment system that worked quite well!

 

[BEC]

I have a few D5-6s.....and built a couple of models especially for them. I do like those long burns....and the Estes E16s and F15s and the Aerotech E6.....

 

[Jacob Ritzke]

I have on of Areotech's G8st-p's almost 18 seconds of burn time, can't wait!

 

[SaintJohn]

When I got wind that the Q2G2 igniters were going the way of the Dodo bird I bought a few bulk packs of the Quest A6-4 and B6-4 basically just for the igniters. I still have a bunch in my range box and I use them from time to time. Like then OP said, they make a rather satisfying woosh on liftoff.

 

[shreadvector]