RocketReviews.com - Estes - Thunderstar (2192) [2004-]

Brief:
A fairly accurate single-staged scale representation of the Starchaser Industries' Thunderstar (their entry in the Ansari X-Prize competition) that uses a two-engine cluster like the real rocket was planned to.

Construction:
The rocket kit consisted of a white BT-60 body tube for the main airframe, a dual 18mm motor mount (consisting of two fairly thin centering rings, two 4" long motor mount tubes, two motor retainer hooks, two engine block rings, and two mylar retainer rings), a plastic nose cone, a laser-cut sheet of balsa fins, a mylar/paper launch lug, a yellow spacer tool tube, a 1/4" wide rubber band for the shock cord, a preassembled 18" plastic parachute, and a bag full of plastic detailing parts. All the parts were present in my kit. None were damaged though some of the longer thinner plastic detail parts had slight warps in them which disappeared when they were glued in place.

The instructions were typical Estes fare: well written and illustrated and in a fairly logical order. Plastic parts were not on molding sprues, they had been cut off at the factory. That was a courtesy I wish they hadn't done when it came to the tiny escape-tower nozzles because I kept dropping the fool things.

Only one minor "gotcha": the dual mount centering rings are prone to breaking in half at their outside edges. I filleted the area between the tubes heavily with Elmer's gel School Glue to prevent any ejection-gas leakage.

I used a 48" section of 3/4" x 3/4" aluminum angle for a straightedge to extend the wrap-around guide lines the length of the tube. This works as well as the old door frame as well as on tubes that wouldn't fit in the frame too.

I wasn't all that impressed with the laser-cut fins. They weren't any easier to work with than die-cut fins would have been. I attached them with CA then filleted with the Elmer's gel.

I added a 28" black shoelace to the end of the rubber band shock cord Estes provided--cheap insurance against denting the tube.

Finishing:
Finish for the balsa parts was two coats of Testor's Non-toxic Cement for plastic models to seal the grain. This was the first time to do this on a model rocket, but I do it all the time on static models and it gives a nice smooth finish with no sanding between coats. I painted the base coat white with Liquicolor Artists Acrylics. (It was too grungy a day to spray paint.) Then used model enamel from Testor's for the silver on the nose cone and black on the display base with its nozzles.It was a simple paint scheme that anybody with a few rockets in their fleet could do this one without any fuss. I wish the kit would have used waterslide decals instead, but that's just my personal preference.

It looks really great on my display shelf between my Aerotech Warthog and my CC Express with its expanded payload-section modification.

Flight:
My flight testing was at the AARG launch at the Hutto Hippodrome in beautiful rural Central Texas. It needed eight squares of fireproof tissue as wadding for each of three flights. I loaded two Estes B4-4 motors for its maiden flight, since there wasn't any significant wind. I used the stock 18" parachute included in the kit. The club set me up on a multiple launcher powered by a 12-volt deep-cycle battery. I had a very nice straight flight, which was tracked to 575 feet (using the single theodolite triangulation method). Not bad for my first cluster bird in over fifteen years...

Second flight was two B6-4s. Once again, a very nice straight boost with ejection just after apogee, which was 700 feet at that point according to the guy with the calculator. A little more drift than I liked on this flight, I probably need to switch to a 12" chute for my next flight, since I'm going for broke with two C6-5s for that one.

Flight number three was with two C6-5s and a 12" chute to 890 feet! Not bad at all for a scale model.

Recovery:
The Thunderstar uses the folded paper Estes shock cord fastener and rubber band shock cord, to which I added a 28" black shoelace for cheap insurance against the notorious "Estes dent" effect caused by their too short shock cords. It went together well.

There was no damage and the recovery speed was about right. I used a 12" chute for my flight on C6-5s. It came down closer to the pad on that flight and almost too fast.

Summary:
Main PROs: nice plastic detailing parts, well-planned use of a 2-motor cluster to represent a 2-motor prototype, headline-grabbing subject.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2005-01-15	Donald Besaw's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-4	-	Great first flight, both motors lit with no problems. Very long walk for recovery. Everyone was...
2005-03-19	Donald Besaw's Estes Thunderstar	2XA8-3	-	Very nice flight. I wanted to burn some A motors, both lit with no problems. Zipped up to about...
2005-05-29	Peter Reed's Estes Thunderstar	2xB6-4	-	good flight, took off fast, almost lost in high grass, no damage sustained
2005-06-19	Peter Reed's Estes Thunderstar	2xC6-5	-	great altitude, chute deployed but got tangled on nosecone, no damage sustained
2005-12-18	Kyle Hancock's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-4	-	First Flight
2006-03-01	Donald Laskey's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	only 1 motor lit and she went up about ten feet. she also lost a fin.
2006-04-01	Kyle Yawn's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	Only one motor lit. Went up about 50 ft and weather cocked badly. Hit the ground before...
2006-04-15	Kyle Yawn's Estes Thunderstar	2xB6-4	-	Repaired broken fin and nose cone. Launched in a field too small. Had a great boost but drifted...
2006-04-30	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	Great first flight with dual A8-3. Went pretty high on such small engines. Rocket weighs 3 ozs.
2006-05-07	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Thunderstar	2xB6-4	-	Nice flight on B6's.
2006-05-07	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	Only one engine ignited, rocket went very low but chute ejected just in time, no damage. Praise...
2006-05-07	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	Second try with dual A8-3 today went as planned. Amazing how it really moves with two A8-3s.
2006-06-16	Anonymous Joe's Estes Thunderstar	2xC6-5	-	Summer camp launch. Perfect flight, straight up. Parachute melted, came down a little fast, slight...
2006-07-16	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Thunderstar	2xC6-5	-	Nice lift off on dual C6-5s. Wind came and it drifted into forest.
2006-07-16	Joe Cacciatore's Estes Thunderstar	2xB6-4	-	Nice lift off on 2 B6-4s.
2006-07-23	Richie Brunjes's Estes Thunderstar	2xC6-3	-	Nice
2006-07-23	Richie Brunjes's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	Good first flight , not very high
2006-08-03	Moe Bertrand's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-4	-	Dead straight boost...perfect flight.
2006-08-03	Moe Bertrand's Estes Thunderstar	2XC6-5	-	Dead straight boost - perfect flight.
2006-09-10	Richie Brunjes's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	Nice flight
2006-10-02	Richie Brunjes's Estes Thunderstar	2xB6-4	-
2006-10-07	T W's 2192 Red	B6-4 X2	-
2006-12-03	George Beever's Estes Thunderstar	2XB4-4	-	First flight on model. Nice boost, but due to weak ejection charges the parachute did not deploy....
2007-03-24	Mike Morley's Estes Thunderstar	2xB4-4	-	Reached a respectable altitude, drifted with the wind, recovered 150 yards downrange.
2007-03-24	Mike Morley's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	Low, but spectacular.
2007-03-25	Chan Stevens's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-4	-
2007-06-02	Zane Brant's Estes Thunderstar	B6-S	-	swireved out of control and impaled my simese cat >3
2007-06-02	Mark Van+Luvender's Estes Thunderstar	2xC6-5	-	Wow! Great shot off the pad and kept going! Drifted awhile on recovery, but found in a cornfield...
2007-07-28	Dwayne Shmel's Thunderstar (X-Prize)	2XB6-4	-	Nice maiden flight. Straight up (I mean STRAIGHT). Perfect ejection and recovery on stock chute.
2007-08-05	Dwayne Shmel's Thunderstar (X-Prize)	2XA8-3	-	STRAIGHT up flight with early deployment. Safe recovery. An A8-5 would be better choice.
2007-08-25	Dwayne Shmel's Thunderstar (X-Prize)	2XC6-7	-	Love this rocket, went straight up and had a perfect deployment and recovery
2008-04-05	Ray King's Estes Thunderstar	2XC6-7	-	Great Flight - Rocket jumped off the pad and screamed into the air. It was very windy so I reduced...
2008-07-26	Dwayne Shmel's Thunderstar (X-Prize)	2XB6-4	-	Perfect flight and great recovery.
2008-10-12	Mark Robertson's Estes Thunderstar	2xA8-3	-	First flight and first cluster for me. Both motors ignited using Quickmatch. Very satisfying to...
2009-02-21	Moe Bertrand's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-4	-	Nice flight out of the tower at SSS' Phoenix Regional Meet-17...our first local contest of the...
2009-02-21	Moe Bertrand's Estes Thunderstar	2XC6-5	-	Nice flight out of the tower at SSS' Phoenix Regional Meet-17...our first local contest of the...
2009-04-18	Moe Bertrand's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-4	-	Sci-Fi Future Scale event. Great flight of my Thunderstar.
2009-05-03	Dwayne Shmel's Thunderstar (X-Prize)	2XB6-6	-	Both motors fired, great flight.
2009-05-09	Moe Bertrand's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-4	-	Sci-Fi Event. Another nice flight of my Thunderstar. Popped a fin off on landing. Repairable.
2009-06-20	Dwayne Shmel's Thunderstar (X-Prize)	2XC6-5	-	C6-7 is a better choice. Good flight and recovery.
2010-05-30	George Beever's Estes Thunderstar	2XB6-6	-	Great flight.
2010-06-19	Dwayne Shmel's Thunderstar (X-Prize)	2XA8-3	-	Low but good flight.
2011-10-22	Kurt Knox's X-Prize Thunderstar	2xC6-5	-	Perfect flight, nice and straight.
2011-11-06	George Beever's Estes Thunderstar	Quest B6-4 X 2	-	Good flight.

Estes - Thunderstar (2192) [2004-2004]

Flight Log

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