RocketReviews.com - Estes - Interceptor E (1350) [2008-2008]

Brief:
Estes has done it again with this 150% upscale of the beloved K-50 Interceptor designed to fly on their black-powder "E" motors.

Construction:
The rocket kit was packed in Estes' traditional plastic bag with three-sided cardboard placard. It consisted of:

For the first time I can recall I had a part missing from an Estes kit. This one had one of the three decal sheets missing. As I write this, Estes Customer Service is probably working to fix the shortfall.

Great Estes instructions, as I expected. This is an actual 150% upscale of the recently re-released Interceptor. A fair lot of serious thought went into this design with the through-the-tube fin installation, the well-planned-out multi-panel fins and wings with reinforcing strips and the way the motor mount tube also serves as a "stuffer tube" to reduce recovery malfunctions due to high body volume.

I did some modifications to the recovery harness and stuffer-tube motor mount, figuring this would be a wadding-intensive rocket otherwise. I used two 12" stainless-steel fishing leaders as a shock-cord mount - one I removed both swivel and snap from the ends of and attached at both ends to the top centering ring, the other I left stock and threaded onto the first. I also inserted one-quarter of a stainless-steel pot-scrubbing pad into the stuffer tube and capped it off with a conveniently-sized cap from a spritz bottle into which I drilled two quarter-inch holes for ejection-gas ports. I replaced Estes' included 36" black elastic shock cord with 48" of elastic shock cord from a tent-pole.

After all the upgrades to the recovery harness, my Interceptor-E tipped the scales at 10.5 ounces (not counting motor weight). The was probably due because I used CA gel instead of epoxy as recommended by the instructions. I filleted all the fins with Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue® as well and applied a coat of tube-type plastic cement and a coat of Elmer's White School Glue® on all my fins as filler. (Lighter by far than several coats of primer as suggested).

Finishing:
Finished this one in the same gray spray primer with blue pods, antennae and tail cone scheme I used on my 1250 Interceptor. They look like sister-ships, really classy.

These decals were ULTRA-THIN. I was almost buffaloed by them. Make ABSOLUTELY SURE you get a GLOSSY surface on the rocket or you will get these tangled beyond hope. In fact, I strongly recommend you get a color photocopy of the original sheets made and use a product called Decal-It (made by Connoisseur Studio Inc.). This marvel converts print into decals...you apply six coats of it (looks like thinned white glue) to the paper copy, wait 2 hours for it to dry, then soak the copy in water for an hour and peel off the paper, leaving a clear copy with print in color on it. Apply the decals made this way with a coat of the stuff.

Flight:
The Interceptor-E has only one recommended motor, the Estes black-powder E9-4. Luckily, this is ALSO the recommended motor for my D-Region Tomahawk. The Interceptor-E has a solid motor hook for retention, and due to my baffle refit needs no wadding.

Launched at my buddy Darrell's field which had a bit of a roll at takeoff but that might be a trivial fin-misalignment at work. Gorgeous 24" bright-red nylon parachute that drifted a bit after ejection at apogee. We tracked three flights of 400, 425 and 440 feet respectively.

This beauty is well worth the nearly $50 price tag. I ought to get another one and upgrade it to a 29mm motor mount and basswood fins and see what it's capable of with a high-end "F" or "G" RMS load.

Recovery:
I described my modified recovery harness under construction. A brief recap: I used a pair of 12" fishing leaders as a Y-harness to retain a tent-pole elastic shock cord and emulated the Aerotech baffle system. The harness went together well and is as solid as a battleship with very little weight penalty and the stainless steel scrubber beats using wadding.

The Interceptor-E is a decent flyer considering its fairly high drag and the 24" nylon parachute is about right for it. No burning, damage, or wear on any recovery tackle...the Y-harness should outlast the airframe!

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2007-12-19	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	D12-3	-	Excellent first flight, the D12-3 works great in this rocket. Nice slow boost to maybe 200 feet. I...
2008-04-12	William Beggs's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	Great first flight! When it got to apogee it started to fly like an airplane. Really cool!
2008-04-13	Todd Mullin's Estes Interceptor E	E18-4	-	Great drag race with Jim DeVeau! Ripped off the pad on this motor. Slight damage to right strake.
2008-04-26	Todd Mullin's Estes Interceptor E	E18-4	-
2008-06-14	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	E18-4	-	Great flight, nice loud, smokey and fiery boost. Reached maybe 600-700 feet and the delay was more...
2008-07-03	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	E28-4	-	Excellent flight on the E28T. Fast punch off the pad but everything held up nicely. Short drift on...
2008-07-12	William Beggs's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	Great flight
2008-08-30	Tim Reidy's Estes Interceptor E	E18-4	-	Perfect Flight. This RMS configuration is beautiful
2008-11-08	William Beggs's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	Good flight and recovery. Rocket arced over and flew more like an airplane than a rocket.
2008-11-08	Robert Koenn's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	First flight on this bird. I flew nicely albeit not too high and arced a bit downwind. However...
2008-11-22	John Bergsmith's Estes Interceptor E	E28-4	-	First flight - Nice boost with no issues. Recovered with no issues on the 24 chute. This seems to...
2008-11-23	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	E18-4	-	Great first flight! May want to consider cutting the delay down to 3 seconds in the future.
2008-11-23	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Great flight!! Possibly the perfect motor for this rocket!!
2009-01-17	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Kind of an underperforming flight. Probably due to the low temps.
2009-01-23	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Beautiful flight, nice loud, smokey and fiery boost to maybe 1,000 feet. I might see a 24/60 F35W...
2009-01-25	Todd Mullin's Estes Interceptor E	F12-3	-
2009-03-21	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Shock cord snapped. Broke off one tip pod and cracked a strake. It was a clean break, so it...
2009-04-05	Howard Smart's Estes Interceptor E	F39-9	-	2 inch zipper. Repairable.
2009-04-18	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F39-6	-	Another bonus delay motor. Couple of the fins got dinged up, so they'll need to be repaired. I...
2009-06-20	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Bit of an early ejection. No damage, for a change.
2009-07-22	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	F35-5	-	Awesome flight!!! This rocket and the 24/60 F35W reload were definitely made for each other. Very...
2009-08-01	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Great flight, flew in a drag race with another IE and F24W. Mine took off way late. Nice short...
2009-08-09	Todd Mullin's Estes Interceptor E	F12-5	-
2009-09-12	Edward Chess's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	Maiden Flight was picture perfect. Both wing pods split along glue seam...very odd. Easily...
2010-01-16	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Great flight.
2010-02-20	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F39-6	-	Cut 2 seconds off of the delay. One of the tip tanks split open along the glue line, but should...
2010-02-21	John Bergsmith's Estes Interceptor E	E28-4	-	Cool looking flight, recovered with no damage.
2010-02-21	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Tubular Kevlar shockcord tore out of the model, pulling out a layer of body tube from the inside. ...
2010-03-21	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F39-6	-	Model cracked a fin on landing. Should be easy to repair.
2010-04-03	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	F39-6	-	GREAT flight on the F39T. Very fast punch off the pad but everything held up nicely. Moderate...
2010-06-05	Donald Besaw's Estes Interceptor E	F35-5	-	Excellent flight, this kit loves this motor. Nice straight boost to maybe 1,200 feet and had a...
2010-06-19	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Model dove right towards 10' high corn. Found model after a multi hour search.
2010-08-14	Edward Chess's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	Great straight boost and excellent chute deployment. No damage.
2010-09-14	Tyler Kastner's Estes Interceptor E	D12-S	275 feet	Came down fast. I suggest replacing the parachute with a bigger one.
2010-11-20	Edward Chess's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	Hard field landing broke left pod. Already repaired.
2010-11-21	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F24-4	-	Good flight, just some damage to one of the tip tanks.
2010-12-19	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F39-6	-	For some reason, the parachute never caught air. Landed flat with minor damage.
2011-06-11	Edward Chess's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	good flight, at apogee, no damage
2011-10-08	Edward Chess's Estes Interceptor E	E9-4	-	Good boost into substantial wind. Ejection caused NC to slam into left wing pod, breaking NC in...
2012-01-29	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Interceptor E	F39-5	-	Perfect flight

Estes - Interceptor E (1350) [2008-2008]

Flight Log

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