Which Rocket??

[WiK]

Hey all,

I now have some money and i want to spend it on a rocket. But i am having trouble deciding which one to buy. I am limited to single stage, non clustered A-C rockets. And it would help if they could be ordered from either Deepsky Rocketry Supplies or Rockets-Things I am thinking of either getting an Estes polaris or a Quest Apollo... Any other suggestions??


Cheers,


-Phil

 

[cydermaster]

Its worth looking at the Estes Big Bertha, its available from both the UK model rocket suppliers. Its a bigger than normal rocket, and gives you low and graceful flights - handy where space can be a problem.

Its also well worth looking at the Fliskits range. I've brought a few rockets from them, and they are nothing short of superb! You have to e-mail them for a shipping quote, its normally just over $9. It takes about a week for them to arrive. IMPORTANT!!! You MUST keep your order UNDER £18. If you don't, you get rooked for VAT, Import Duty, and a handleing charge. The Post Office carn't be bothered to collect these for amounts under £18. So you need to keep your order to one rocket at a time. They come well packaged, so theres very little chance of damage in shipping. Fliskits take payment through PayPal, which handels all the currency conversion for you.

To help check how much you're spending, in pounds, use an online currency converter like XE , and always allow about a quid margin of error.

I've mentioned Fliskits to Andy at Deepsky, and he replied:

"I'm just having a look at Fliskits at the moment actually.....got some dealer info the other day. I've not had time to sit and work it all out properly yet, but I reckon we'll probably go with them and see how their stuff goes. Should have some stuff into stock by early summer."

This was back at the end of April, so he should be getting them soon. I hope so, 'cos I'm desparate for a Richter Recker, and thats just over the limit for duty-free import, so I've got to wait for a UK supplier, to avoid duty.

 

[WiK]

Is the under £18 thing with or without the postage??

 

[cydermaster]

I've heard that it is with and that its without. I assume that its without, 'cos I order DVDs from Play.com, and they can be £16-£17, and I don't get charged. This area of law is very grey. Its unofficial that the PO don't charge for less than £18, and I've heard of them charging for items less than £18 - as is their legal right to. I haven't heard of a case of this for a few years, now. They seem to be keeping to the under £18 rule since there was an article, about somebody who'd got charged shedloads for a small item from the States, on Watchdog!
Just to confuse things more - the UK is constantly being carpeted about this by the EU. According to EU law ALL items must have duties paid on them, if they come from outside the EU, NO exceptions!!! Back off Brussels!
Its worth taking advantage of this loophole, while we've got it; 'cos I've no doubt the EU will have their way, in the end. Before I got Broadband, I used to buy alot of cds from cdnow.com, in the States. I never got charged duties on them, and some of them were about £15 without postage.

I'm no law expert, if I'm wrong please somebody correct me; and don't take what I've said as 'Gospel'.

 

[Mike]

Phil, you could try a 6" saucer from Deepsky, they go on 18mm motors and are low flying so good when space is at a minimum.

Dan, I e-mailed Andy back at the end of March about Fliskits, got one reply back but nothing since, have you heard anything?

Anyway I'm looking forward to getting some Fliskits and hopefully they it shouldn't be too long. Uh, I better start saving!

 

[cydermaster]

Originally posted by Mike
Phil, you could try a 6" saucer from Deepsky, they go on 18mm motors and are low flying so good when space is at a minimum.

I've just built a Fliskits Pheord X150 (a saucer/ufo type), and Mike is right to recomend one like that. Mine ALWAYS lands within a few meters of the pad. You could get away with flying it in a back garden, on a calm day. One tip - don't bother with B engines, go straight for the Cs, the flight is much more satisfying.
[Shameless Plug]
I've written a review of the Pheord for EMRR (you can find it here ) - my first EMRR review, and I'm dead proud of it!
[/Shameless Plug]

Dan, I e-mailed Andy back at the end of March about Fliskits, got one reply back but nothing since, have you heard anything?

Not since the message, above, at the end of April. I've got to order some engines, and stuff, pritty soon, so I'll mention it again.

Jim - any hints you can give us of any leads you might have with either of the two suppliers over here?

 

[Stymye]

I went to the Rockets and things site.....

The Physics of Flight kits look interesting..

I would like to build one of their V-1 kits

Of course Fliskits Are recomended by myself as well ...but you did ask about these 2 places in particular....so

 

[jflis]

I have a note in to Deepsky. I'll keep you folks posted!

 

[sandman]

I have a few of the Physics of Flight kits, I have a sister living in London that get's them for me.

I cannot really recomend them to a newcomer in the hobby. The quality is dodgy at best. [I'll bet you never thought a Yank would know THAT term!]

I would HIGHLY recomend the Estes Big Bertha. Very big and durrable for a first time kit. Very easy to build too, BUT......

Stop in here from time to time during construction and ask questions! Try a search first to see if it's been asked before.

Actually nobody here seems to mind repeating themselves so ask away!

sandman

 

[Elbmod]

Don't touch the apollo with a barge pole - too simple by far - my 2 year old built one!

Big bertha is a good choice!

 

[jflis]

Check out the FlisKits Rhino also

https://fliskits.com/products/rocketkits/kit_detail/rhino.htm

jim

 

[powderburner]

Big Bertha is a very good one, many of the FlisKits are great, but I think for a fun flyer and a good all-around bird, I just have to say Fat Boy.

Build it stock, it flies great on 18mm motors. If you have a small field or tight fit, you can get a low flight with A's, but it still performs nicely with B or C power. It is big & fat & slow moving in flight, and is easy to track visually. For some reason, it always gets the local kids to come out in big numbers.

For a surprise, I like to fly one of my Baby Fat Boys. So many people have thought of this, it is probably impossible to track down who did it first, but it really doesn't matter. Get a Baby Bertha kit and cut down the body tube length, scale some fins (I think the BFB is something like 60% size), and have a blast. If you have a really small flying field, convert the Baby Bertha motor mount to 13mm and swap in a streamer. I am thinking of getting some nice decals made for my next one.

 

[WiK]

I get paid tommorow!

Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions. I have chosen to get an Estes Fat Boy, and maybe a Fliskits Flea and a Fliskits Overdrive.

I'll post some pics during construction and ask if anything goes wrong



Thanks,

-Phil

 

[cydermaster]

Not a bad choice - I've built a Fat Boy, and they're a good laugh to build. Its got TTW (Through The Wall) fins, so getting the fins in the right place, and getting them to stay there is not a problem.

The Flea looks good too, I've been looking at one of those to replace my Estes Viking (RIP). Rockets like this go like the clappers. After many flights, my Viking had developed an Estes dent. As I was in fear of loosing it (it was a very high flier), I'd never been above an A8-3 on it. The dent was getting worse, and it was obvious that the poor thing was only gonna make one more flight, so I bunged in a C6-3, which I had handy.

After a final fairwell salute, from me and my mate, I pressed the launch button. Whithin a split second, the bird was out of sight, and still in the boost phase. We couldn't see it, but we heard the ejection, and my mate caught sight of a streamer comming down a couple of fields away. I only got the nosecone, streamer and some shockcord back - looked everywhere, but couldn't find the body.

I ran a few Computer Sims, and the concencious seems to be that the rocket ejected at approx 1,200ft, and was still travelling spacewards at a fair rate of knots. That bird went out in style

As the Flea is even lighter, than the Viking, the flights on that should be spectacular!

 

[cydermaster]

........and this is the photo of the remains of my Viking I ment to include at the end of my last post.

Another great rocket gone to the Happy Launching Ground.

 

[Austin]

Wik,

I have the Fatboy and Flea but have not yet built them. The Overdrive though is a fantastic kit and excellent flier!!! I put mine up several times on different motors at NSL this year...a good choice for a 13mm rocket. Here is a pic of mine:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/ctulanko/album/index.php?display=overdrive/ov.jpg

I REALLY like the different fin patterns...really cool looking!

Carl

 

[jflis]

You really have to see Carl's Overdrive (and, frankly, ALL of his models) up close and in your hand, to really appreciate them.

Carl does *museum* quality work, he really does.

How he gets those big clumbsy fingers to do such fine work, i'll never know...