RocketReviews.com - Estes - Renegade (2109) [2003-]

Brief:
Very cool looking, two stage design. The upper stage can also be flown as a single stage rocket.

Construction:
There are a fair number of parts in this kit. Tubes included are two BT-60 for the airframe, two BT-50 side pods for the booster, two BT-20 for engine mount tubes, and two short lengths of BT-5, again for the booster. Also included are various couplers, adapter rings, centering rings, two die cut balsa sheets, a decal sheet, clay weight for the upper stage nose cone, and seven nose cones. All parts were of standard Estes usage and quality with one exception. The PNC-50KA nose cones (part number 71028) had a noticeable lengthwise offset between the two halves. This does detract somewhat from the look of the model.

The instructions follow a fairly logical order; building up various sub-assemblies and then assembling these into a finished unit. I used epoxy for most of the construction as I expected the booster would take quite a bit of abuse.

I did have one problem with the fin pod tubes. You are to glue a PNC-5A nose cone into each end of a short length of BT-5 body tubes, however, the BT-5 tubes were shorter than the length of the shoulders of the 2 nose cones butted together. I had to grind down the shoulder on one cone for each assembly to achieve the proper fit.

One thing I would change about assembly in retrospect, is to wait and install the booster tubes until the booster and booster tubes have been painted. This would make it easier to paint them a contrasting pattern.

Two things that I changed were substituting a 3/16" launch lug for the provided 1/8" lug and using a longer shock cord that what was provided.

Finishing:
I used my standard finishing method for this kit. I followed the box art fairly closely with respect to colors, etc. The decals were the standard stick on decals that Estes uses. The two large yellow "Renegade" decals that go on the booster were so thin that the yellow doesn't fully cover up the underlying black paint.

Flight:
While building this kit, I became quite concerned about the weight of the booster and the prospect of flight damage. The booster has five fins, two booster tubes with nose cones, and two fin pods with two nose cones each in addition to the main BT-60 body tube. That is quite a bit of mass to fall from the sky. As it turns out, my fears were well founded.

The instructions call for you to tape the two motors end-to-end and then friction fit the motors into the model. I found this to be somewhat cumbersome. What I've done is to install each motor separately, and then add tape to the stage coupler to hold the stages together during staging. So far, this has worked quite well.

My first flight was a B6-0 staged to a B6-6. Liftoff was slow and graceful, with staging occurring at a relatively low altitude. The combined rocket was very stable, but I am glad that I used a bigger launch lug and therefore, a bigger launch rod. The sustainer ejected about 2 seconds past apogee, which suggests that a shorter delay would be more appropriate with a B booster. Both booster and sustainer were recovered without incident.

Second flight was a C6-0 staged to a B6-6. Liftoff was again slow, but the model reached a significantly higher altitude and velocity before staging. This time, the sustainer ejected near apogee and was recovered without damage. Unfortunately, my fears about the heavy booster were realized when one of the booster fins broke off upon impact.

Recovery:
The booster is too heavy to "tumble recover". The ROCC flying field is a farm bisected by a grass airstrip. The booster landed on the airstrip and still broke a fin. I would hate to fly off of a hard packed surface or asphalt. I may try adding parachute recovery to the booster soon.

There is plenty of room in the sustainer for wadding and to place the parachute, allowing the sustainer does recover quite nicely on its supplied 12" parachute.

Summary:
This is a great looking rocket that suffers some from poor quality in a couple of the parts and from having too heavy a booster that is overly prone to breakage. Both of these are correctable problems. The booster should recover via parachute, and quality engineering at Estes should take a look at the problem parts. Anyone building this model would be well advised to consider these upgrades as well.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
1989-02-14	Donald Laskey's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-6	-	booster great but the sustainer ejected on the ground.
2004-01-11	Donald Besaw's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-6	-	Nice first flight, slow liftoff. Staged nicely. Booster recovered close to pad, it came straight...
2004-01-17	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Renegade	B6-0/B6-6	-	Cool model received as Xmas gift from kids. Model staged at a low altitude. Might try a C booster...
2004-02-22	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-6	-	C6-0 is much better booster for this model. Unfortunately, one of the booster fins broke upon...
2004-03-07	Donald Besaw's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-7	-	Very nice flight, went up slow and straight and continued upward at sustainer ignition, Went maybe...
2004-03-13	James Reyome's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-7	-	Great first flight for neat new rocket. Booster very sticky due to tight fit on sidepods, may have...
2004-03-20	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Renegade	B6-0/B6-4	-	Good flight & no damage to the booster!
2004-04-18	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-4	-	Broke another booster fin. Need to redesign the booster.
2004-05-15	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-4	-	Ejected a bit early this time. Will probably go with a longer delay from now on when using a C6...
2004-05-16	Bob Bernatchez's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-7	-	Model took off to the south after staging. Upper stage is lost.
2004-07-20	Jeff Hale's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	Rocket went almost parallel to the ground shortly after booster stage. Will build another one -...
2004-12-18	Robert Davis's Estes Renegade	3xD12-0/C6-7	-	Awesome lift-off on 3 Ds! This one was fun. One fin (booster) came loose in flight, and another...
2005-05-28	Jeff Lane's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-4	-	Stayed upright but still a very slow boost. Sustainer flight was good. A booster pod broke off on...
2005-05-28	Jeff Lane's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-6	-	Boosted lazily off pad, arced over and ignited sustainer horizontally at ~20ft. Deployment after...
2005-06-18	Mike Kiss's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	Slow easy lift off, stayed stable, staged perfectly at about 150 ft, sustainer flew to about 800...
2005-06-18	Jeff Lane's Estes Renegade	B6-0/A8-3	-	Perfect flight after fixing booster recess. No damage to booster or sustainer.
2005-06-25	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	B4-4	-	Maiden flight with two coats of primer. Really great flight. Nice slow liftoff with low altitude...
2005-06-25	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	B4-4	-	Another great flight. This rocket/motor combo is great for small fields. For all of the flights on...
2005-06-25	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	B4-4	-	Another great flight. I was able to run and catch it before it touched the ground.
2005-07-03	Jim Hinton's Estes Renegade	2xC6-3+C6-0/C6-7	-	first lauunch with C6-3's in side pods, worked very nicely. Only one chute fully deployed on...
2005-07-23	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-6	-	During the booster flight, the rocket went up at a 50-degree angle. After successful staging, the...
2005-07-23	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	C6-0/A8-5	-	Again, it weathercocked or just plain leaned over, whatever you want to call it. Still a really...
2005-07-23	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	C6-0/A8-5	-	Great flight. THis rocket tends to weathercock a bit. It might just need more noseweight.
2005-08-13	Mike Kiss's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	Slow lift off that turned horizontal just before staging, 2nd stage flew horizontal about 500 ft,...
2005-09-24	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	C6-0/A8-5	-	Again, staged a little low. Definitely going to upgrade to a 24mm motor mount.
2005-09-24	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	C6-0/A8-5	-	Flew/staged kinda low.
2005-10-16	Jeff Lane's Estes Renegade	B6-4	-	Good flight, single stage.
2005-10-23	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	B6-4	-	Cool flight. Nice and low.
2005-10-23	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	B6-4	-	Again another cool low flight.
2005-11-06	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	B6-4	-	Cool flight. A litte squirrelly on the way up and the chute took a little while to open up, but...
2005-11-26	Donald Laskey's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-6	-	booster great but the sustainer ejected on the ground.
2005-12-31	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	B6-4	-	Great flight. Nose hit the body, slightly chipping the paint.
2006-05-20	Mike Kiss's Estes Renegade	C6-0/A8-3	-	Good flight, still struggles off the pad, too heavy, booster broke 2 fins again, sustainer no...
2006-06-03	Todd Mullin's Estes Renegade	1XD12-0+2XA10-3/B4-4	-	Great boost! Clustered the booster because the standard configuration has always been sluggish of...
2006-06-24	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	D12-0/B6-4	-	Booster broke a fin on landing b/c of gained altitude with D12. Sustainer section did not eject...
2006-07-09	Edward Chess's Estes Renegade	B6-4	-	Flown single stage for small field.
2006-07-13	Jeff Lane's Estes Renegade	B6-0/B6-4	-	Perfect liftoff straight up, good staging, beautiful deployment. More proof that reducing the...
2006-10-02	Ed Scientist's Estes Renegade	C6-0/A8-3	-	Well it was ugly. Great boost with seperation at about 75 feet. The sustainer failed to ignite...
2006-10-06	Todd Mullin's Estes Renegade	F40-M	-	Yee-ha! My second Renegade mod, this time with a single stage 29mm motor mount! Beefed up with...
2006-12-30	Gerry Williams's Estes Renegade	C6-5	-	MAIDEN FLIGHT: Good flight, excellent recovery. Do it again! :-J
2006-12-30	Gerry Williams's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	SECOND FLIGHT: With booster stage (thought staging might fail as coupling seemed tight), launched...
2007-01-14	Todd Mullin's Estes Renegade	D12-0/2XA10-3T/B4-4	-
2007-01-27	Todd Mullin's Estes Renegade	F52-4	-	Motor delay burn by... Ejected violently and early
2007-02-24	Todd Mullin's Estes Renegade	D12-0+2XA10-3/A8-3	-
2007-03-10	Dragan Mejic's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-7	-
2007-03-25	James Powers's Estes Renegade	C6-0/B6-6	-	Boost stage went well. After separation, booster lawn darted and impaled itself 1 inch in ground,...
2007-03-25	James Powers's Estes Renegade	B6-4	-	Perfect first flight. Nice slow lift-off, recovery ~30ft from launch pad.
2007-08-12	Mark Van+Luvender's Estes Renegade	2xA8-3+C6-0/C6-5	-	Modified with 18mm mounts in the booster side pods. All three boosters lit on the ground, great...
2007-08-19	Scott Turnbull's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	Good staging and booster sep. Recovered off-field.
2007-11-11	Jesse Heady's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	Nice slow take off, went up about 100ft then straight back down into the ground. At impact the...
2008-02-23	Reed Johansson's Estes Renegade	D12-0/B6-6	-	Good flight. I cut the side pods and added two small parachutes to the booster to slow its...
2008-05-24	Andy Turits's Estes Renegade	B6-0/B6-4	-	Low motors, first flight. Slow take off. Sustainer fired perfectly at no more than 20 ft to an...
2008-09-20	Edward Chess's Estes Renegade	B6-0/A8-5	-	Good set of motors for small field. Lost both booster fin tip pods, but easily repaired.
2009-03-28	Duane Boldt's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-7	-	This rocket flew excellent on the C6-0/C6-7 combo. Much better than using the B6-0's in the...
2009-07-25	Duane Boldt's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-3	-	Actually the C6-3 on the sustainer worked out very well on this flight. Beautiful!
2009-07-25	Duane Boldt's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-3	-	Again a great flight on same combo. Used this flight for NARTREK Bronze Two-stage requirement.
2009-07-25	Duane Boldt's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	Awesomely high flight. Staged perfect, but wind picked up and had to chase the sustainer about...
2009-08-22	Duane Boldt's Estes Renegade	C6-0/C6-5	-	Was a great flight. Booster kit kinda hard on the asphalt. Had to touch up paint later.
2009-10-10	Edward Chess's Estes Renegade	B6-0/B4-4	-	Short boost on a B6-0, but that limited the damage to the booster to a broken fin--all the pods...
2010-12-16	Brian Hoover's Estes Renegade	C11-3	-	Moded for rear ejection, flown w/out paint as a test for the mod. Flight was good and stable,...

Estes - Renegade (2109) [2003-]

Flight Log

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