RocketReviews.com - Estes - Mini Max

Brief:
Smaller version of Estes' classic Der Red Max kit. It has a balsa nose cone, waterslide decals, streamer recover and is powereed by Estes 13mm Mini Motors. The model was built and the review submitted as part of the 2010 EMRR Challenge for the "Hit List" component.

The quality of this kit was very good. I had purchased two kits for the "Hit List" part of the EMRR 2010 Challenge. Both arrived from http://JonRocket.com in great condition. The parts were very good quality. I especially liked the quality of the nose cone and fins.

As with all Estes’ kits I have built, the instructions were very clear and easy to follow. They had plenty of illustrations for first time modelers.

First is sanding the fins. The instructions show my preferred method. Sand each side of the fin sheet before removing the fins. Then cut them out and "stack" them when sanding the edges. This helps to keep them uniform. The leading edges were rounded and the root and trailing edges left squared.

The motor mount is then assembled with the motor tube, two centering rings, an engine hook and Mylar hook retainer. This was pretty straight forward.

Tube marking is them done with a cut-out marking wrap and lines extended with a door jam or other angled marking tool.

The three fins are then glued on and aligned. A fin alignment guide is provided, printed on the instruction sheet.

The body tube is then marked for the launch lug attachment and the lug is sanded and glued on.

The motor mount is then glued into the body tube flush with the end. This is a change from many other Estes kits. Many glue in the motor mount before attaching the fins.

The instructions then call for screwing in the eyelet to the balsa nose cone. There was no mention of gluing in the eyelet in the instructions.

For the eyelet, screwed the eyelet in the center of the nose cone base and then unscrewed it. I epoxied it in the hole and spread some epoxy around the base. With larger rockets, I would have epoxied in a harder wood dowel for mounting the eyelet.

The shock cord attachment uses the standard three-fold Estes method. The folded, glued mount is then glued in the top of the body tube far enough down not to block the base of the nose cone when inserted.

I prefer to use Kevlar® cord attached to the motor mount, but stuck to the instructions for this review.

Finishing:
The balsa fins and nose cone were very good quality and were easy to sand smooth and finish.

The instructions called for filling and sanding the nose cone and fins. I did this and also filled the body tube spirals at the same time.

I filled the spirals on the body tube for this stock Mini Max and decided to not fill the spirals on the modified Mini Max to show the difference.

I used cheaper ColorPlace primer and paint from Wal-Mart with very good results. It's about 1/3 the cost of the Krylon they sell and I often get better results with the cheaper one. Both brands are made by the same company.

The waterslide decals are applied last. After they had dried for a day, I painted Future floor wax over them with a fine, flat paint brush to seal and protect them.

Flight:
We flew three flights on Estes A3-4T motors. All flights were nice and straight despite the wind we had that day. This is a great flying little rocket.

Recovery:
Recovery was great on all three flights with the provided streamer. No damage at all.

Summary:
I had fun building both this unmodified Estes Mini Max and a modified version. Both flew great on the A3-4T motors. I highly recommend this kit.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2010-04-18	John Bergsmith's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Nice straight and stable boost. Good performer on the A10-3 that will work great at most small...
2010-05-09	Thomas Malthouse's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Picture Perfect. A10-3 really is perfect for this little beastie.
2010-05-23	Todd Mullin's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-
2010-05-23	Todd Mullin's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-
2010-05-23	Todd Mullin's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-
2010-05-25	Jason Orosco's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Nice flight a little walk to recover this one.
2010-05-25	Jason Orosco's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Good flight.
2010-07-30	Duane Boldt's Estes Mini Max	A3-4T	-	Drag race with modified Estes Mini Max. the modified one didn't ignite because of dirty contacts....
2010-07-30	Duane Boldt's Estes Mini Max	A3-4T	-	Great flight. Both rockets ignited and flew great even in the wind we had. These are both great...
2010-07-30	Duane Boldt's Estes Mini Max	A3-4T	-	Drag raced with a modified, shortened Custom Zero Gravity. Excellent flight of both rockets.
2010-09-05	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Motor heat melted the paint at the bottom of the motor mount and underside of the fins. ...
2010-09-05	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	I had to sand down a couple of A10s to fit into the motor mount. Seems to be a common problem...
2010-09-05	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	1/2A3-2	-	Maiden flight for the Mini Max. Flawless with 10s duration, recovered a mere 20 ft from launcher.
2010-09-06	Donald Besaw's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Excellent first flight, nice straight flight to about 300 feet. Great streamer recovery, landed...
2010-09-19	John Bergsmith's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-
2010-09-19	John Bergsmith's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Nice flight.
2010-10-05	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Second flight on Estes 6 inch chute. Deployed at about 50 feet above the ground. I might be...
2010-10-05	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	The first try with a new Estes 6 inch chute. The chute didn't deploy, just a wad of plastic. ...
2010-10-23	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Clone of previous flight. 18 second duration.
2010-10-23	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Tried a homemade 6 mylar chute - complete failure. The chute, made from a mylar baloon, stayed...
2010-10-23	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Used dual streamers - plenty of room in the body tube. All flights weathercocked in gusty winds.
2010-11-06	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Another successful flight with chute deployment. 23 seconds.
2010-11-06	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	A good flight using a loosely-packed Estes 6 inch chute. There's not much room in there for much...
2011-05-30	Matthew Bond's Estes Mini Max	A3-4	-	First Flight of the Mini Max. Swapped out the streamer for a 9" nylon chute. Nice boost, very...
2011-06-01	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	First flight after some much needed maintenance on the Mini - dents filled in NC, longer shock...
2011-06-08	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	The combination of the wind and the 6 inch chute meant quite a long drift from the launch pad. ...
2011-06-30	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A3-4	-	Perfect flight with no wind this morning. Recovered on a 6 inch chute, almost landed on top of...
2011-07-10	Glen's Mini Max	A10-3T	-
2011-07-10	Glen's Mini Max	A10-3T	-
2011-07-16	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A3-4	-	6 inch chute didn't open until about 50 feet off the ground. Still a nice flight.
2011-07-16	Tyler Runyon's Estes Mini Max	1/2A3-4T	161 feet	Straight boost off the mini launch pad. Thought that it was going into neighbors yard, but landed...
2011-07-20	Tyler Runyon's Mini Max	A10-3T	264 feet	Straight up with a little bit of rolling. Drifted a little, at least away from trees.
2011-08-05	Chris J Taylor's Mini Max	A10-3T	-	Great little rocket flown over 10 times, cracked a fin on second launch rough landing on pavement....
2011-08-17	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	Straight up despite the gentle breeze. A pretty flight.
2011-09-21	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	A nice launch with my old reliable Mini Max. Launched with my son today.
2011-09-25	Glen's Mini Max	A10-3T	-
2011-10-05	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A3-4	-	I haven't given up on using the Estes 6-inch chute with this rocket, even though it rarely opens...
2011-12-18	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	A10-3	-	I use the empty playground area to launch, since some RC guys were using the soccer fields. A...
2012-02-01	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	Estes A10-3T	-	First of eight flights today. Nice flight and close recovery with minimal breeze.
2012-02-01	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	Estes 1/2A3-4T	-	Oops! I meant to grab an A3-4, but mistakenly got a 1/2A3-4. Not a good thing. An unimpressive...
2012-03-14	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	Estes A10-3T	-	Routine, although the MM didn't seem to gain the altitude I normally see. This little rocket is...
2012-03-18	Dean Booth's Estes Mini Max	Estes 1/2A3-2T	-	Just a little warm up flight to check the winds for my glider launch. Not too high on 1/2A power.
2012-04-11	Paul Nortness's Mini Max	1/2A3-4T	200 feet	Great first flight. streamer took a bit long to unravel but once it did it slowed MiniMax down...
2012-04-11	Paul Nortness's Mini Max	1/2A3-4T	200 feet	Second flight, winds were a tad stronger than last time. Perfect small field flight. Got up about...
2012-05-19	John Bergsmith's Mini Red Max	Estes A10-3T	-
2012-05-20	Bill Eichelberger's Mini Max	A3-4	-	Really impressive flight that almost recovered perfectly, but it caught a thermal, then a breeze...

Estes - Mini Max

Flight Log

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