Your favorite "A" burner...

[jflis]

Originally posted by Jacques
I seldom fly A's but for some reason I always liked to fly my Nike-Apache on A8-3.

oh man, I burn a *lot* of A motors... As I tell people, I *love* to fly... ...I don't particularly care for *chasing*...

Another fun A burner was my old Falcon boost glider. Good kit

 

[rebar_rocketry]

My favorite A burner was the Estes Saturn V. I would adapt it for A's and I wouldn't even need the parachutes. It would just clear the launch rod before it would run out of juice and I would run up and catch it before it hit the ground. Oh, the good ol' days

Seriously, my favorite was probably the smaller rocket Estes had in the super shot starter set. Don't ask me why. I think it was called the twister or something near that.

 

[slim_t]

Originally posted by brianc
One thing led to another and now we have a 2.2x upsize version!

Now that's cool. What is that, a BT60? Very nice.

Tim

 

[adrian]

My most frequent A flier is probably my mini-size ALARM. The body is BT-20, transitioning to BT-5 at the tail. It has flown on pretty well every type 13mm 1/2A or A that Estes currently make. (Apart from the A10-0PT. )

For small rockets like the Wizard, a spent 18mm motor with the nozzle knocked out makes a simple 13mm-18mm adaptor. Then you get to save money because 13mm A's come in packs of four. And you get the long burn and long delay of the A3-4T.

 

[lalligood]

I know I've already chimed in but...

...for some reason I had it stuck in my head that A motor = 18mm. Silly me

The most flown rocket in my fleet is my 4" 13mm Art Applewhite Delta Saucer! Most of it's flights have been in my front yard & done with the kids in the neighborhood who have been curious about rockets after watching me build/paint my larger rockets in my garage. It has almost 20 flights on it & could got for a million more with the Estes Blurzz A10-PT motors I have to admit that after a few flights with non-plugged motors, the pink saucer is now a color that I affectionately refer to as "smoked meat".

And it's a shame that Estes doesn't make an A3-PT motor... I dig the longer burn!

 

[DynaSoar]

Originally posted by eugenefl
I recently adopted a new favorite - the Semroc Skyhook. Although I probably wasn't around when the original Skyhook was a favorite, looking at this rocket and building it somehow brought back nostalgia from my days as a mini-rocketeer. I'm planning many flights with this rocket. A8-5s will more than likely be the norm for this bird as I don't care to lose it. Hopefully this will be the kind of rocket that logs many flights. I suppose I don't understand the usage of a 'chute in this small rocket, but I guess it adds character to the model.

So what's your favorite "A" burner? How many flights do you have on it?

My Semroc Sky Hook is my second favorite A bird (the original was my first rocket). My #1 fave is the Rock-A-Chute Mark II, also in Semroc clone form. The Sky Hook is faster and goes higher, but the Mark II flies so straight it's like riding a rod all the way up.

 

[brianc]

Originally posted by slim_t
Now that's cool. What is that, a BT60? Very nice.

Tim

Thanks. Yeah that's a BT-60, and a 24mm MMT (but I'll probably only use
my 18mm adapter)

The NC is from the Estes NC-60A multi-pak. I know it's not exactly
a match for the FF, but it's straight enough at the shoulder that the right
paint job will 'hide' the extra length.

 

[Len B]

Do two stagers count?
If so, I have a favourite. The Estes 0898 Mini Cobra. I flew the original one once. A-10-0 to A-10-3 was a bit of a mistake! I did get the booster back but the sustainer was long gone. I recently rebuilt the sustainer and plan to fly it at my next launch. This time the sustainer goes on a 1/4A or a 1/2A. I didn't use the kit fins though. They are cardboard and just begged to be replaced by balsa.

Paint is all that I need to get this one going again. I have over 60 of those A10-0's left. Too bad it's not still certified but that's O.K. for the local park launches.

Len Bryan

 

[mojack82]

Gyroc...

Jack

 

[carldoc]

A couple of favorites... I liked (and like) the Estes Wac Corporal going up. Another one would be the Estes Mark II. Speaking of that rocket, does anyone sell clone kits of the Mark II?

 

[grimlock3000]

www.semroc.com has a mark II

 

[carldoc]

The Semroc Mark II does not look like the Estes version. I went to Jim Z's site to get plans for the Estes type.

 

[sandman]

Semroc Mark II does not look like the Estes version

LOL! The SEMROC Mark II is not a reproduction of the Estes Mark II but of the G Harry Stine kit from 1957.

The Estes was the Astron Mark followed by the upgraded Astron Mark II.

So there are really TWO Mark II's.

sandman

 

[carldoc]

I see that the plans for the Astron Mark II call for bt 30 tubes and nose cone. Is there that much of a difference in size or can I get away with using BT 20 tubes? I don't recall ever seeing bt 30 tubes except when building the original Estes Mark II.

 

[saunassa]

in the beginning it was the Alpha III.

ordered from an ad in the back of a comic book - remember those old estes ads? showed up on my birthday. estes had shipped it even though i had only sent $1.75 in quarters and dimes vs the $2 it had gone up to.

flew that thing every time we launched for many years. nicknamed the 'ol faithful' flew it on a C in moderate winds and when half way down it stopped and started rising into the clouds until we could no longer see it. felt like loosing an old friend.

from then on it was my Estes Sprint all balsa, what a thing of beauty.