RocketReviews.com - Estes - Mini Max - Review by John Bergsmith

Brief:

The Estes Mini Max is a smaller version based on the BT-50 of the Estes classic Der Red Max. The Mini Max is designed with a 13mm motor mount making it powered by Estes mini engines, and can reach altitudes in excess of 300 feet. As designed, recovery is accomplished with the included streamer.

The new Mini Max has all the great looks of the classic version, right down to the really cool skull and crossbones decals. Like many of our new and classic kits, the Mini features a balsa nose cone, laser cut balsa fins and waterslide decals.

Construction:
A very nice Balsa Nose Cone, Laser cut Balsa Fins, card stock centering rings, engine hook, BT-50 body tube, and Waterslide Decals

The instructions that Estes provides in the kit are excellent and include illustrations. This combined with the fact the Mini Max is very easy to construct resulted in no issues during the build.

The motor mount is constructed using typical methods. The only thing I changed was to add a Kevlar shock cord that ties around the motor tube between the upper and lower centering ring. I used a small amount of wood glue inside the body tube and the motor mount was inserted into the BT. The next step was to I fill the spirals. After sanding the BT, the tube was marked for the fin locations and the launch lug. The laser-cut fins are made from 3/32 hard balsa. The fins were shaped and glued onto the BT using a very small amount of 5 minute epoxy. The launch lug was attached to the bt using epoxy as well. Once the fins were attached and allowed to dry, small epoxy micro balloon fillets were created around the fins and launch lug to add some strength and to clean up the joints.

Finishing:
I sealed the balsa fins and nose cone with two coats of Minwax Polyurethane. Once dry they were sanded smooth and coated using thinned spackle that was brushed on to fill the wood grain. The filler was sanded off and the rocket was primed with two coats of Dupli-Color® High Fill primer sanding between coats. The nose cone was painted black using two coats of old formula Krylon spray. The body was painted red using two coats of old formula Krylon spray. Once the body was allowed to completely dry the classic Red Max decals were installed. I know in the recent past there have been problems with the waterslide decals that Estes has provided. No such issues were experienced with the Mini Max decals. The completed Mini Max looks fantastic.

Flight:
The Mini Max is designed to fly on the following motors, 1/2A3-2T, 1/2A3-4T, A3-4T, A10-3T. I decided to use the A10-3T for the first flight. The first flight was nice and straight with no stability issues. The A10-3T turned out to be perfect with ejection occurring close to apogee. The altitude achieved is tough to estimate, but it was over 300 feet easy.

Recovery:
I chose to use a small 8" chute instead of the streamer. The small chute worked great, and I'm sure the streamer that is included in the kit would be sufficient as well for a safe recovery.

Summary:
The Estes Mini Max is a great addition to the available kits on the market today. This is a very easy to build model that with the included instructions can be successfully assembled by the novice builder. Estes has done a terrific job at providing a very high quality kit. The rocket flies great as designed and is durable. I've said it before, but the Der Red Max is a classic design that flies great in every size. Plus, you can't find a cooler set of decals on a rocket anywhere.

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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