What is Your Favorite BP D-Powered Bird?

[privateer]

Just casting about for ideas here. Right now, mine is a slightly chopped Mean Machine. It puts on a good show as it is easy to watch the whole flight on a D12.

My only other built D-bird currently is a BMS Viking 1 clone that I'm a bit nervous to launch on a D12. I have becoup waiting in the "build eventually" pile: Rubicon, Tomahawk-D, BMS BB 24mm, CC Express, Stormcaster, Estes Patriot to convert to 24mm, Canadian Arrow, and TLP plans for a SCUD.

I'd like to get a Estes Black Brant if they ever bring that one back. And maybe the ARG Trident.

 

[Handeman]

My favorite 24mm BP rockets are my Stormcaster and 18 to 24mm upgraded Patriot. Both fly great on D12s. The Patriot was built much stronger then the Stormcaster but the Stormcaster has flown on F39T composites with no problems. The largest motor I've put in the Patriot so far is a E28T. Maybe it'll get the F39T at LDRS.

Patriot Build Thread here

 

[jim fustini]

A Fat boy I converted to 24mm with Basswood fins and rings. Flies great and is durable.

 

[cjl]

I had (and loved) a Mean Machine - that's probably my current favorite. Flew great on F24s as well

 

[Bazookadale]

My favorite was my first - the Cherokee D in 1970 or '71 Lost it on a D13 -
thermaled away no cato,haven't thought of it in years but now I know my next project!

 

[MarkII]

My cloned FSI Hercules. It has a 3x24mm cluster mount. I'm still grinning from my launch of it on the weekend before last.

For single 24mm flights, my cloned FSI Orbit. I'm still grinning from its flight on the same day, too. Oh, heck, why don't I go ahead and add my Eos and Nova clones to the list. All four had really great flights at our club launch on June 13th, but the Hercules had by far the best one. I am a happy man.

MarkII

 

[Boosterdude]

Stormcaster is a nice D machine, as is a Big Bertha and Patriot modified for 24mm.

 

[Phred]

I have a BT70 based, scratch built Redstone missile. It flies beautifully on D12-5s. I am sorry that the picture is so poor...

 

[jdud]

I cloned an Estes Pathfinder and really love the way it flies on d12's (and E9's...and E18's).

 

[judo]

My Pro Series Patriot (4 D Cluster)

My Big Daddy for single D.

 

[MarkII]

I cloned an Estes Pathfinder and really love the way it flies on d12's (and E9's...and E18's).

Ooo, I want to clone that one, too. I like its lines, and I have heard that it is a good flier.

MarkII

 

[MarkII]

I have a BT70 based, scratch built Redstone missile. It flies beautifully on D12-5s. I am sorry that the picture is so poor...

That's a nice scale rocket to build, and 2.217" diameter is a nice size for it! Maybe someday...

MarkII

 

[rocket9005]

Cherokee D and Goblin, both on a D12-7

 

[chanstevens]

Acme Spitfire, followed by Edmonds Arcie II, and maybe toss in one of the Sirius birds (Atlantis, Interrogator)

 

[Buckaroo]

When I originally looked at this thread I thought it would be fun to try and figure out which would be my "fave" something new, or something from "back in the day..."

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that "D" engines are really just a stepping stone to "E"s for me, both BP and composite. The only true "D" powered birds I've flown, I never really had much luck with. Goblins always ended up getting broken on a streamer, or lost on a chute. The Cherokee D is a nice bird, in fact I just finished a version of that one from Inflight Rockets, but again, I eventually lose them with any kind of parachute (same with the Estes Black Brants).

My current favorite 24mm bird is the Thrustline Duster, which was originally sold as a "D" engine bird, but simply screams for more IMHO. I've lost a couple of them on "E" engines, and one on an F-21. I flew my latest version for the first time last weekend at Southern Thunder (on a D-12), and I like it so much I up scaled it for my Level 1 cert flight (also last weekend). Thrustline made several other nice 24mm birds: the Mighty Mick, Arapahoe E, and Astral Lance come to mind, but again, those all fly much nicer on "E"s.

Both of the new Semroc kits are nice, the Magnum Sprint and Magnum Hornet, but they fall in the same boat as the Cherokee D I think, and I haven't had the guts to put a D in either one yet.

So I haven't answered the question... :confused2: I guess for me "D" engines are what I use when it's too windy or the field is too small...

 

[MarkII]

...
So I haven't answered the question... :confused2: I guess for me "D" engines are what I use when it's too windy or the field is too small...

Where I launch, "D" engines are what I use when the wind is calm and the field is huge.

MarkII

 

[Green Arrow]

My Hawks Hobby Super Sprite and my Upscale Fliskit Deuces Wild that is a Crayon rocket.

 

[Buckaroo]

Where I launch, "D" engines are what I use when the wind is calm and the field is huge.

MarkII

Yeah its amazing how much your point of view is dictated by your environment...

I'm lucky right now to be living near a giant sod farm, where I am more limited by my failing eyesight than the field dimensions :cyclops:. As a kid we used to launch at the local school in the middle of our nieghborhood. We rarely even bought "C" motors back then, used a lot of streamers, and broke a lot of fins... it was great fun.

 

[MarkII]

Yeah its amazing how much your point of view is dictated by your environment...

Absolutely. That last launch that I attended on the 13th was my first visit to ASTRE's newer field, which is slightly larger (and much flatter) than our old field and much, much larger and flatter than where I launch locally, and it was on an exceptionally calm day. (The old field is on the side of a ridge, and it usually has a steady, and occasionally stiff, breeze blowing across it. My local field, up here in the forest and the mountains, is about the size of a postage stamp.) I have lit plenty of BP D's and E's in my 5 years of BARdom, but believe it or not, this latest event was the first time that I could launch back to back D flights in something other than saucers, and it was the first time that I had ever flown a finned rocket (my Eos clone) on an E. It was also my first triple-D cluster flight. I could finally launch some rockets that I had built over the past couple of years but had never flown, send them up in back-to back flights to >1,000 ft., and fully expect to get them back (which I did, every one, with no long walks needed for any of them).

For the first time since way back when I flew rockets as a kid, I was hooting, hollering and cheering during each one of my flights. It was exhilarating!

MarkII

 

[dixontj93060]

Estes/Thrustline Cherokee-D.

 

[jbuscaglia]

My first D-powered bird was the old Estes Renegade. It will always have a place in my heart. I have to build a clone one of these days.

My current favorite is the Big Daddy, although that's getting too beat up to fly.

 

[GlennW]

For me there is no doubt it's my Estes Mercury Atlas! I won it a few years ago on a ROL auction that believe it or not nobody else even bid on! Flies great on a D12-3, nice low and slow scale type flights. I'd attach a pic but I'm at work now and besides who on this site doesn't know what it looks like? I'm hoping its next flight will be at NERRF this August....

Glenn

 

[Micromeister]

have to admit it's hard do decide...I Love em all...
but it's gotta be a tie between my 5 D12 cluster Hobby-Goblin, 5 D12 Clustered Crayon and 5 D12 clustered NCR BrightHawk. All three are just a blast to fly.

 

[Mikus]

I've got one. You will not believe how high that bird goes on an E9.

My 24mm Patriot is probably my favorite.

Ooo, I want to clone that one, too. I like its lines, and I have heard that it is a good flier.

 

[privateer]

Love the Redstone.

Lots of good ideas here: Goblin, Cherokee-D. Magnum Sprint and Hornet. Clusters.

Some more I thought of: the Quasar Patriot 3x24 cluster, Thrustline Arapaho (sp) E, Inflight Nike Smoke.

 

[MarkM]

I've got one. You will not believe how high that bird goes on an E9.

Exactly. I had one a few years ago until I lost it to a rocket-eating tree (Actually a GROVE of rocket eating trees) when flown on that E9. It just kept going and going.

I'm thinking of cloning one, now. Unfortunately, I'll have to use a balsa 55AO since the plastic version is no longer made. I used to get them from BRS Hobbies, but they've been sold out of them for some time. Anyone know the length of the transition...two different ones are available; one is 1", the other 1.3"?

 

[jadebox]

My favorite D-powered rocket of all time is the Estes Omega. I bought an Omega/Cineroc when I was 13 or 14 years old. I put in on layaway at the Eglin Base Exchange. It took me six weeks of saving to pay the ransom and pick it up.

I flew it with the movie camera only once then Estes stopped selling the film cartridges. But, somewhere, I have that film. I launched the rocket, single-staged, on a D12-3 in a cow pasture on my mother's family's farm. We were on vacation. I forgot the blast deflector, so, in the film you see that I used a piece of aluminum foil which just blows away as the motor ignites.

I don't think I ever flew it two-stage as a kid. One D motor was too big and too scary. Two was ... well ... way too much. In fact, I usually flew the Omega on a C motor.

About a year ago, though, I built a clone kit and did fly it two-stage. It was a nice flight even though I had to rescue the rocket from a tree.

A few years ago I build an upscale Omega that I've flown on I and J motors. I used it to get my Level 2 certification. It carried a video camera. But, the rocket spins too much in flight, so I don't use it for videos any more.

My second favorite D-motor rocket is the Estes Shadow, but that doesn't really count because it doesn't fly well on a D motor. The 'chute often doesn't deploy until the rocket is just a few feet from the ground.

-- Roger

 

[Pem Tech]

I have a BT70 based, scratch built Redstone missile. It flies beautifully on D12-5s. I am sorry that the picture is so poor...

Oohhhhhh...
That is cool.
Would you have the specs and scale dimensions from the build and would you be willing to share?
I've wantd to build a Redstone for a while now but just haven't taken the time to do the calculations.

 

[jeff_in_AZ]

I'd have to say our favorite right now is the Estes Blue Ninja
and some variations we've built. Below are a few pictures.
First is a stock Blue Ninja on a D12-5. The second is a kit bash
of 2 Blue Ninja's made into sort of a Super Blue Ninja, which has
flown on a D12-5 and an E15. The third and fourth are a conversion
of a Blue Ninja for a night rocket. We took a left over nose
cone and cut off the top and inserted a flashing LED wand
that was purchased at the party store. The yellow nose cone
was borrowed from an Estes Bandit. It flew on a D12 and was
fun to watch.

jeff

 

[Bunsen Honeydew]

Estes Black Brant II