RocketReviews.com - Estes - Shuttle Xpress (2183) [2003-]

Construction:
The rocket parts include two body tubes, plastic fincan halves, fins, launch lug and nosecone. The recovery system consists of a pre-made plastic parachute, and an elastic shock cord. The gliders are made from foam parts, each with a plastic launch hook and a set of decals. The foam wings have two adhesive strips on them that are use in the assembly of the gliders.

Assembly is quick and easy. The two motor mount halves are glued together. Then following the header card picture, the fins and launch lug are glued onto the fincan, and the lower body tube is glued into place. After the glue sets, the tube coupler is glued onto the top of the lower body tube. It is important to align the launch lug on the tube coupler with the lug on the fincan. Then the upper body tube is glued on the top of the tube coupler. The shock cord is attached to the rocket using the standard glue-and-fold paper method. The parachute is pre-made, but put a dab of glue on each not to prevent them from becoming undone.

The Gliders are made of foam. The launch hooks of the gliders are glued into to the foam bodies with white glue. Then the fuselage decals are applied, care has to be given, since the decals can only be applied once. Using a knife, the slots for the vertical stabilizer are cut into the decal. The stabilizer is then glued onto the body. The decals for the wings are applied, and then folded to give the wing the right angle. Do not fold them to much (the instructions recommendation is to much) because the wings will crack. Once the desired angle is achieved, the backing on the adhesive is removed. Attaching the wings is easy.

Finishing:
Since the rocket already has its decals in place for you and the gliders decals are applied during assemble, there is really no finishing stage of this rocket. The only problem I see is the gliders loosely hang from the side of the rocket. This may cause premature deployment of the gliders. They should have some support on the boosters fins so the gliders wings have something to rest upon.

Flight:
Because of the snow, I did not have the opportunity to properly trim the gliders. I knew that they we too nose heavy, and no amount of adjusting the elevators was going to fix that. The glider needed some clay to add to the tail. On the first of March, I got the opportunity to fly the rocket. I went over to Phillip Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH to witness their Team America Challenge flights. Besides their two challenge flights, we also flew some regular rockets. I loaded my Shuttle with a B6-4. There was the problems of the gliders blowing around on the booster while the rocket sat on the launch pad. Once I adjusted the rocket so the gliders would not sway, the countdown commenced and the rocket shot off with a B6-4. Very nice flight, but as predicted, the gliders nose dived into the snow. When warmer weather comes, I plan to properly trim the gliders using clay, and I may add something to the fins to prevent the gliders from swaying on the booster.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2002-01-26	Donald Besaw's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Nice first flight. Both shuttles augered to the ground almost straight down. Need to do some major...
2002-11-30	Jon Revelle's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Good Flight, Good Recovery. Gliders however didn't work well and they nose-dived. (00-00-03 means...
2003-01-26	Donald Besaw's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Nice first flight, both shuttles augered to the ground almost straight down. I need to do some...
2003-02-05	Donald Besaw's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B4-2	-	Nice flight. Delay was longer than 2 seconds. Nice glide from one shuttle, the other augered into...
2003-03-16	Donald Besaw's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B4-4	-	Very nice flight. Finially got two decent glides from both shuttles. No damage.
2003-03-16	Chan Stevens's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Cheap foam gliders did OK, not great
2003-07-06	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Kid's launch. Added a rock to the clay in the glider's back end. Still no help. They need work,...
2003-07-06	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-6	-	Kid's launch. Gliders flew somewhat better after clay had been added, but still need work.
2003-07-21	Donald Besaw's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Very nice flight. Both shuttles actually glied down perfectly and both also landed in a water...
2003-08-10	Donald Besaw's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Very nice flight although the booster landed in some standing water and was half submerged when I...
2003-08-31	Donald Besaw's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Nice flight after drying out completely from the last flight. Rocket and one shuttle was recovered...
2003-09-27	Jim Salem's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-3	-	Great flight and great glides from both gliders --- be sure to follow my tip above to turn the...
2003-11-02	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Glider trim attempt #3.
2003-12-25	Jon Revelle's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Good flight. Gliders nose-dived. Rocket landed 2 feet from the pad.
2003-12-30	Jon Revelle's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Chute almost didn't open. Need new glider mount.
2004-04-24	Kyle Hancock's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	No gliders. Shock cord seperation, no damage and all parts recovered.
2004-06-05	David Logan's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	Great flight and glides. Flaps were glued in a vertical position and worked great.
2004-06-26	David Logan's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	Seemed to go a lot higher than previous flight. The rocket landed before the gliders about 200...
2004-07-17	Dwayne Surdu-Miller's Estes Shuttle Xpress	A8-3	-	Low boost, ejection about 10 feet from ground. Severely underpowered. Don't use A8-3!
2004-07-31	Brian Mercer's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	Flew without gliders. The parachute melted a bit. my chute packing was done by my 2 yr old. Well,...
2004-07-31	Brian Mercer's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B4-4	-	Those gliders are DOGS, no offense to the pooches. They flew like rocks. The booster flew great.
2004-11-13	T Muir's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Weather cocked into wind. Gliders made steep dive. Need to work on flaps to get increased flight...
2005-10-01	David Logan's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Good low flight, one glider gracefully circled back down, landing within 5 feet of launch pad, the...
2006-05-04	Matt Gillard's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B4-2	-	clean separation, gliders red baroned in, far to nose heavy.
2006-05-18	David Culp's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	Good straight up flight, gliders came straight down, lost one though. Good rocket, gliders stink.
2006-07-08	Moe Bertrand's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Good boost - gliders suck as gliders.
2006-08-20	Kyle Hancock's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-3	-
2007-08-25	John Lee's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Rocket worked great and looks good; gliders did not work at all and tumbled all the way home.
2007-11-10	William Beggs's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Great flight and reovery.
2007-11-10	William Beggs's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-3	-	Great flight and reovery.
2007-11-10	William Beggs's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	Great flight and reovery.
2007-12-16	John Lee's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-5	-	Perfect flight-garbage gliders. I'm keeping the rocket but the glider 1 did not survive descent...
2008-01-12	John Lee's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	great flight without the parasites.
2008-01-26	Tom Benson's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Flaps at about 25* and some tail weight added, but the gliders still dropped faster than I'd like....
2008-03-02	Natalie Ryan's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Flew w/o shuttles on a windy day. Delay clocked in at over 6 seconds - way too late. Chute popped...
2008-04-06	Natalie Ryan's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Nice flight, much better delay this time.
2008-05-25	JST's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Nice, but slow first flight. Only seemed to go up about 450 feet. Gliders did not detach until...
2008-05-25	JST's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	Nice flight up to around 700 feet. Gliders detached themselves with SPEED right around the time...
2008-08-26	Matt Gillard's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-2	-	gliders stil came in steep, 10 seconds fall
2009-01-17	John Lee's Estes Shuttle Xpress	A8-3	-	good low flight without the gliders
2009-03-07	John Bishop's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-3	-	1st flight. Painted bottom of glider wings black, but still lost one. Too busy watching booster...
2009-03-08	John Bishop's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B4-4	-	Launched with one glider- arrow straight boost. Glider came down hard and fast, falling not...
2009-03-21	Matt Gillard's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B4-2	-	gliders nosed in hard
2010-02-14	John Bishop's Estes Shuttle Xpress	C6-5	-	Flight without gliders, excellent flight.
2010-02-14	John Bishop's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	One glider disengaged during boost, the other came down and glided beautifully.
2010-02-14	John Bishop's Estes Shuttle Xpress	B6-4	-	Second flight where 1st glider disengaged on the boost. 2nd glider spiraled beautifully. Must...
2011-11-06	Ed Rodrigo's Shuttle Xpress (2183)	B6	-	First flight with a trusty B6-4. Skipped the gliders for the first flight just to make sure it...
2011-11-06	Ed Rodrigo's Shuttle Xpress (2183)	B6-4	-	First flight with the gliders. Wind was low, and everything went fine. Both gliders recovered.
2011-11-06	Ed Rodrigo's Shuttle Xpress (2183)	C6-3	-	First two flights with B6-4 motors went well, so got adventurous and decided to put in a C6-3. ...
2012-03-24	Dwayne Shmel's Shuttle Xpress	B4-2	-	Perfect flight and safe recovery. Gliders flew well.

Estes - Shuttle Xpress (2183) [2003-2010]

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