| Construction Rating: |   | | Flight Rating: | | | Overall Rating: | |
Contributed by Howard Smart  Brief:
This is a basic 3FNC two-stage rocket with direct staging. The fins on the booster and sustainer are identical, giving it a look that is just a bit different from other two-stage rockets.
Construction:
The parts list:
- 1 Nose cone, plastic blow-molded
- 1 Elastic shock cord
- 1 BT-50 sustainer body
- 1 BT-50 booster body
- 1 Tube coupler BT-50
- 6 Fins, die cut balsa
- 2 Motor mount tubes BT-20
- 1 Thrust ring
- 4 Centering rings
- 1 Decal sheet
Construction of this rocket is so simple that it could probably proceed without instructions. However, it is good to have the instructions to make sure that the centering rings are placed properly to leave room for the stage coupler.
Assembly was greatly accelerated by the use of an Estes fin alignment jig.
Finishing:
I chose to paint it just like it is in the ads, with a white body and red fins and nose cone. This was straightforward.
A note about the decals. I don't know whether mine were old or if they just took a long time to loosen from the paper. The first one I let soak for a couple of minutes, then took out and straightened out. The decal cracked into a bunch of tiny slivers. The other two decals I let soak for a longtime--about 10-15 minutes--before trying to move them. They worked fine after the long, long soak.
In order to apply the wraparound decal to the forward edge of the upper body you do have to trim off the upper clear part of the decal.
Construction Rating: 4 out of 5
Flight:
I launched it three times in one day with three terrific flights and no significant damage. This is a light rocket. On a C6-0 booster it is already going high and fast before it stages, then it is out of sight.
Recovery:
The elastic shock cord did give me one prang to the front end of the body tube. It was easily bent back out, but the decal was damaged.
The streamer is a good length, and the recoveries were at a good descent rate, and highly visible due to the hot pink color.
Flight Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary:
This is a great basic direct-staging two-stage rocket. I bought two--one for me and one for my daughter for her NARTREK Apollo level. We built them side by side. It is perfect for a first multistage rocket.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Flight Log| Date | Rocket Name | Motor(s) | Altitude | Notes |
|---|
| 2001-11-10 | David Logan's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-6 | - | Est SU B6-0/Est SU B6-6, Booster engine ejected, without fin can. Toasted fin can. | | 2002-03-23 | Mark Fisher's Custom Rockets Aztec | A6-4 | - | Maiden flight, perfect; A6 has dirty ejection charge. | | 2002-03-30 | Mark Fisher's Custom Rockets Aztec | A8-5 | - | B6-0 in booster, Great flight! | | 2002-04-26 | Donald Besaw's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/A8-5 | - | Beautiful straight flight. Became just a dot in the sky real quick. Perfect streamer recovery. No... | | 2002-06-14 | Steve Winchell's Custom Rockets Aztec | C6-0/C6-7 | - | Very fast lift off. Went out of sight. I managed to visually reaquire the rocket coming down on a... | | 2002-09-07 | Les Kurz's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/A8-5 | - | Good staging, very nice flight | | 2003-08-03 | David Logan's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-6 | - | Est SU B6-0/Est SU B6-6 staged. Flew out of site, landed about 15 yards from pad on a streamer. | | 2004-06-27 | David Logan's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/B6-6 | - | Nice flight and recovery. Landed 150 feet from pads using a 3x30 inch mylar streamer. | | 2004-11-29 | Jerry Nishihira's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0 | - | Est SU B6-0/Est SU B6-6. Weathercocked off pad, good second stage ignition. Apogee est 800'(?).... | | 2005-09-10 | Daniel Griswold's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/B6-6 | - | Upper engine scorched, but did not light. Lawn Dart. Repaired by removing 4 inches of body tube.... | | 2005-09-11 | Daniel Griswold's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/B6-6 | - | Straight as an arrow. Extremely high altitude. Recovered booster and sustainer within 300' from... | | 2005-10-01 | David Logan's Custom Rockets Aztec | C6-0/C6-7 | - | Super high flight, lost sight of it for a few minutes. Finally saw a flash from the mylar... | | 2006-04-29 | Andy Turits's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/B6-4 | - | Aztec booster launch was nice and straight to about 200 feet. First attempt at staging...not good.... | | 2006-06-04 | David Logan's Custom Rockets Aztec | C6-0/C6-7 | - | Nice high flight, perfect staging. Recovered using some carpenters chalk for a deployment cloud,... | | 2006-08-12 | David Logan's Custom Rockets Aztec | C6-0/C6-7 | - | Peftect straight boost, easily tracked using red chalk powder, and a 3x30 inch mylar streamer. ... | | 2009-01-31 | Howard Smart's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/B6-6 | - | Booster ejected motor casing. Otherwise great flight. | 2009-01-31  | Howard Smart's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/B6-6 | - | Nose cone rebound damage to BT at ejection. | | 2009-01-31 | Howard Smart's Custom Rockets Aztec | C6-0/B6-6 | - | Booster came in stable and hard, suffered a little damage. | | 2009-11-14 | Eldred Pickett's Custom Rockets Aztec | B6-0/B6-4 | - | came in ballistic |
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M.C.F. (April 19, 2002)