RocketReviews.com - Estes - Big Dawg (2151) [1998-2000]

I built a Big Dawg recently, and flew it when my son's Cub Scout pack was invited to Tripoli Nebraska's October launch.

Construction was straight-forward for a through-the-tube rocket. Estes' instructions were very good, however, it appears that the motor tube has been shortened since the illustrations were drawn. They show a three inch tube. The included tube measured 2 3/4 inches, and as a consequence, you may be misled by the drawing illustrating the position of the forward centering ring. Contrary to the illustration, almost no motor tube extends beyond the front of the tube. Go by the measurements, not the pictures! The nose cone came with flashing that needed to be trimmed and sanded before finishing, also the centering rings would not fit in the body tube unless they were turned sideways. They required much sanding before they fit properly. As with any construction project, you need to do a test fit before gluing. Other than that, construction went fine.

As a former model airplane builder from the 60's, I was impressed with the precision of the die-cut fins. The only problem there was that they were thicker than the slots in the body tube, and needed to be sanded to fit. I did deviate from the instructions when gluing the motor tube in. I didn't glue the rear centering ring in until after the motor tube had been glued. This gave access to the motor tube/fin area which allowed me to put glue fillets on all of the inside fin/tube joints. When these were done, I glued the rear centering ring in place. Aero-Tech uses a similar technique on their mid to high powered rockets.

I gave the rocket two coats of gray primer shortly before the launch, but didn't have time to paint it in the black/gold finish that I had planned. This worked out well, I liked the flat gray finish, it gave the rocket a sort of 'militarized' look. Someone at the launch came up and asked me if it was a scale model. It does have sort of V-2 proportions.

I flew the rocket twice. The first flight was on an A8-3, which is a good shake-down motor for a first flight. It doesn't go very high (100-150 feet), but will let you know if everything's working O.K. The second flight was on a B6-4. If you have the space, this would be the minimum recommended motor. It was fast off the launch rod, and climbed high and straight. I had 'reefed' the parachute lines because of the high winds, but in spite of the reef, it still drifted about 300-400 yards. It appeared to come down unscratched, but an over-enthusiastic recovery person (a kid) stepped on it and broke a fin. The fin has been repaired and it will fly again soon.

Overall, I'd rate the Big Dawg a 4. The fit and finish of the parts could have been better, but the problems were fixable. The flights were very good. It flew nice and straight. The recovery system appears to be good enough to prevent damage (the rocket is fairly light). Now I'm eyeing another kit, epoxy, and a 24mm motor mount. With a D or E motor, it might still be airborne when the kids get to the landing site!

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
1999-04-24	Paul Smith's Estes Big Dawg	C6-5	-	Perfect
1999-04-24	Paul Smith's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Perfect
1999-04-24	Paul Smith's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-	Perfect.
1999-04-24	Paul Smith's Estes Big Dawg	1/2A6-4	-	Barely made it into the sky - ejected very low, but fully and safely.
1999-05-02	Paul Smith's Estes Big Dawg	C6-3	-	Flew straight towards low flying airplane that I thought was a truck - never saw until launch.
1999-05-29	Bob Kaplow's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-
1999-06-20	Bob Kaplow's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-
1999-08-07	Bob Kaplow's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-	1 fin loose
2000-05-13	Cliff Oliver's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Good flight. Recovered within 100' of pad
2000-10-01	Steve Terrell's Estes Big Dawg	C6-3	-	Shortly after leaving the launch rod, it did two complete loops, then buried itself in the ground,...
2000-10-08	David Logan's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Nice straight flight, drifted a ways even with spill hole. I like the tracking smoke in these...
2000-10-09	Steve Terrell's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-	Beautiful flight with ejection right at apogee. Nylon chute was melted in a few spots and did not...
2000-10-21	David Logan's Estes Big Dawg	C6-5	-	Great boost to about 750 ft. Appeared to be coming right back to pad. Caught a high alt. wind and...
2000-11-12	Steve Terrell's Estes Big Dawg	B4-2	-	Very good flight. I had added nose weight to avoid the flight problems on 10/01, and I think it...
2000-11-25	Steve Terrell's Estes Big Dawg	C6-5	-	Very good flight even with the wind. This rocket gets off the pad quick. Not too much...
2001-06-24	Rick Adams's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-	Used 15 inch crepe streamer because of small field. Dawg drifted about 30 feet from pad and landed...
2002-05-05	Malcolm Smith's Estes Big Dawg	C6-5	900 feet	Fast boost, slight weather cock into prevailing wind. Ejected slightly nose down at apogee. Simmed...
2002-09-13	Donald Besaw's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-	Nice flight. Nose cone poked a small hole in the body tube. Fixable though.
2005-05-28	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Big Dawg	C6-5	-	Great first flight. Recovered near the park road, but just barely missed recovering ON the road.
2005-07-10	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Great flight. A group of kids had stopped to watch and one of them caught it.
2005-07-10	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Over the hills and far, far away. I told the kids that if they could find it, they could keep it....
2005-10-01	David Logan's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Great little flier. Landed about 20 yards out with a spill hole cut in chute.
2006-04-08	Richie Plye's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Estes dent. Repairable, but it'll never look the same.
2006-06-04	Richie Brunjes's Estes Big Dawg	C6-5	-	Straight up , real nice flight , cool OOP kit from e-bay
2006-06-24	David Logan's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Motor hook snagged on clothes pin, holding rocket on pad during entire burn cycle. No damage to...
2006-06-27	Richie Brunjes's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Launched right into a low cloud on a B!! Close recovery
2006-07-23	Richie Brunjes's Estes Big Dawg	B6-4	-	Real high even on a B
2006-10-02	Richie Brunjes's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-	good flight
2008-03-02	Doyle Tatum's Estes Big Dawg	A8-3	-	Nice flight - streamer recovery

Estes - Big Dawg (2151) [1998-2000]

Flight Log

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