Estes - Speed Freak (RTF)

Manufacturer: Estes

Construction Rating:
Flight Rating:
Overall Rating:

Contributed by Warren Rhodes

Brief:
The Speed Freak is a RTF rocket that comes in a starter pack that includes the launch pad, controller, and cell battery for the speed reader. This British pack does not come with motors.

Construction:
Rocket is ready to go. I was using this rocket as a test vehicle to look at different shapes of parachute with the same surface area.

Construction is very easy. A button cell is added to the speed reading capsule--you will need a small cross head screwdriver to put the battery in. Apart from that, the rocket is ready to fly.

Finishing:
No finishing is required. The fin can has a shiny metallic coating and the body tube has holographics on it.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
The motor is added and the rocket has a retention cap. We used 4 sheets of wadding. We looked at 4 different parachutes, but for the first flight we used the parachute supplied. All flights were with a B6-4 motors.

Each flight took place on a calm day, and the rocket took a near perfect straight lift with ejection at apogee at about 250-300 feet.

Recovery:
As we used our own parachutes, I can not really comment on how the rocket recovered. The nosecone comes down on its own streamer, which nearly alway landed near the pad without damage. Our least successful parachute brought the rocket down a bit too fast and caused a fin to crack.

The fins reflect sunlight really well and we were able to see the rocket rotate due to the flashes of light reflected.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
This was a good stable rocket for our parachute project. As a starter kit, it's good as everything is there and the rocket looks good. The speedometer is not too accurate but does add another dimension to model rocketry

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2008-05-18	SRP Crew's Speed Freak	C6-5	-	Pretty nice flight. Deployment was fine. Both the chute and streamers slowed the decent down a...
2010-05-30	Bob Francis's Speed Freak	B6-4	-	Got "ERR" on nosecone.
2010-06-05	Bob Francis's Speed Freak	B6-4	-	Landed on roof of school, but someone helped get it down. "ERR" when measuring speed and height.
2010-06-05	Bob Francis's Speed Freak	C6-5	-	Rocket body landed on the roof and got stuck in a gutter. Unable to find nosecone.
2012-02-19	Bob Francis's Speed Freak 2	B6-4	-	Time: 11:18 am. Temperature: 40 degrees. Wind variable 5 - 10 mph from the north. Partly...
2012-05-07	Bob Francis's Speed Freak 3	C6-5	-	Time: 7:00 pm. Temperature: 67 degrees. Wind: calm. Weather: Partly cloudy. Good flight....

Comments:
M.P.M. (June 11, 2006)
How does the capsule measure speed? Also, what size body tube does it use?
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