Quest/MMI Aerobee Hi

[Initiator001]

I purchased and built the limited-release Quest re-issue of the MMI Aerobee Hi kit.

It was launched back in December at one of the SCRA section launches in Los Angeles.

I flew it on a Quest A6-4 motor (One of the 'Made in China' motors) and it had a fine flight and recovery.

 

[Micromeister]

I purchased two at naram-50, not really thinking about the fact I'd just finished a Semroc version a few months before!
As far as I can see the two are identical in scale and adhearing to the original G Harry Stine/MMI specs. I was happier that Quest included a repo of the original Box

 

[RoyAtl]

I think the Semroc kit's nose cone is closer to scale (though I could be wrong), but I thought the Quest kit was extremely cool, being a reproduction of the original kit (except for the balsa instead of maple/vinyl nose), and bought five of them altogether, and have already given two of them as gifts. And I've slapped myself for being lulled into a false sense of security when I asked Bill how many he had, and he said "How many do ya need?" as if he didn't think he'd sell out soon.

 

[dwmzmm]

I hope to get started on mine shortly. Looks like a great kit. I love the packaging and instructions, too!

 

[Carl]

I think the Semroc kit's nose cone is closer to scale (though I could be wrong), but I thought the Quest kit was extremely cool, being a reproduction of the original kit (except for the balsa instead of maple/vinyl nose), and bought five of them altogether, and given two of them as gifts. And slapping myself for being lulled into a false sense of security when I asked Bill how many he had, and he said "How many do ya need?" as if he didn't think he'd sell out soon.

Our nose cone is a reproduction of the vinyl cone used in later kits. It is not the correct scale for the Aerobee-Hi, which would be 4.83" instead of 4.5" in the kit. The maple nose cone was slightly shorter, but since the first 500 or so in maple were turned by hand, they all varied a little. Of the three Aerobee-Hi's in the G. Harry Stine collection in the Smithsonian, they are all maple and are 4.45", 4.1", and 4.2" long. I did not see inside the production #1 box to verify if it was plastic or maple. Since it is reportedly the first off the production line, it has to be maple. The early boxed Arcon kit has a plastic nose cone, but one of the built prototypes is maple.