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Estes - Maniac (2091) [1994-1998]

Manufacturer:Estes

Contributed by Doyle Tatum

(by Doyle Tatum) 

[Picture]I followed the instructions except for the following notes and comments: Steps 1-10 Only used the 1/4" lugs and placed a swivel on the parachute and cut a spill hole. This rocket is extremely easy to construct and goes together well. I painted mine florescent yellow, nose cone 1/2 florescent yellow and 1/2 florescent orange. The decals look superb on this scheme. The base coats are white primer. The first flight, D12-3, my chute did not open completely and the rocket slammed to the ground and crimped the body tube, slightly, above the fin assembly. The second flight, D12-3, the chute opened and the rocket floated 1500' into a stand of 100 foot tall pines. After a hard rain the Elmers glue holding the Estes mounted shock cord, turned loose and the body fell harmlessly to the ground. I ordered another nose cone from Estes and while I awaited arrival, I wrapped, the now exaggerated, body crimp with a piece of fiberglass. Also, I added a length of Kevlar® to replace the shock cord. I cut a small hole, next to the launch lug, and threaded the cord into and out of the body tube. Tying a few knots and then epoxying the Kevlar® against the launch lug, it is not only strong but virtually hidden. Repainted, the Maniac has had several flights on D, and E's with much better luck! 

UPDATED 1/00 -
The Maniac makes a great payload carrier. It is wonderful to get the Estes Astrocam to new heights! I built payload section for mine and added some blinking leds (kit from radioshack.com) for our clubs annual night launch in January.

    Flight Log

    DateRocket NameMotor(s)AltitudeNotes
    1994-06-03Ron Watkins's Estes ManiacD12-7- Good flight-predicted altitude-830 ft. -good recovery.
    1994-08-12Ron Watkins's Estes ManiacD12-7- Good flight-predicted altitude-830 ft. -slight drift on recovery.
    1995-07-21Ron Watkins's Estes ManiacE15-8- Good flight-predicted altitude-1,690 ft. -good recovery.
    1999-03-11Paul Smith's Estes ManiacD12-7- Beautiful flight - landed about 20' from pad
    1999-03-11Paul Smith's Estes ManiacC6-5- Perfect again
    1999-03-11Paul Smith's Estes ManiacC5-3- Perfect flight again.
    1999-03-20Paul Smith's Estes ManiacC6-3- Slow boost, lot of weathercocking. Otherwise perfect.
    1999-05-02Paul Smith's Estes ManiacD12-3- Perfect again.
    1999-06-03Paul Smith's Estes ManiacC6-3- Parachute came out, but failed to open. Semi-glided in fins first.
    1999-08-07Paul Smith's Estes ManiacD12-7- Used one of Dean's Davyfire igniters. Perfect flight.
    1999-09-04Paul Smith's Estes ManiacE15-7- Perfect flight. Very high - completely out of my sight. A couple of other guys getting set to...
    1999-10-03Russell Taragan's Estes ManiacD15-4- Rocket extended (additional 16in. ) for high-power flight. Ejection came before the burn ended, no...
    1999-10-30Claude Paquin's Estes ManiacE30-7- Impressive flight. Straight as an arrow. You can really push this rocket!
    1999-11-21Tom Binford's Estes ManiacG25-104000 feet Demo flight for elementary school. The teachers were still talking about it the next year....
    2000-01-01Paul Smith's Estes ManiacC6-3- Perfect flight, though lots of windcocking.
    2000-01-31Russell Taragan's Estes ManiacG55-10- An attempt to break mach with a rocket that was just too long leading to my first shred. I got...
    2000-03-12Scott Patterson's Estes ManiacD12-7- Exciting successful flight. Recovered about 100 feet away after flight of 970 feet (tracked).
    2000-07-15Dale Emery's Estes ManiacD12-5- Nice flight.
    2001-07-27Tim Burger's Estes ManiacC6-3- Underpowered.
    2001-07-29Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Now that was a wild flight, complete with three loop-the-loops! Recovered with the nose cone...
    2001-08-12Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5-
    2001-09-01Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Nice straight boost - added some nose weight after previous launch adventure in looping.
    2001-09-08Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5-
    2001-09-22Tim Burger's Estes ManiacE9-6- Long arcing flight. Too windy for this rocket/motor - should have stopped while we were ahead....
    2001-09-22Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Nominal, wind is getting up so more and more rod angle is needed.
    2001-10-20Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- Beautiful flight for third rebuild of this model.
    2001-11-18Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD9-4- Good flight, with 2-3 seconds of bonus delay. Was lucky to get it back, as it landed 18 inches...
    2002-04-20Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD15-7- Veri nice boost. Got lots of bonus delay.
    2002-06-08Andy Hobbs's Estes ManiacE9-6- 2nd flight of kit,very fast launch,over 1,000',shockcord burn thru the nosecone and chute were...
    2002-06-23Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD15-7- Lots of bonus delay on this load, again. Model recovered without damage.
    2002-11-09Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-7- Good flight.
    2002-11-23Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD9-4- Parachute wrapped itself around fin section. Model recovered without damage.
    2002-11-23Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5- Great flight.
    2002-11-30Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-7- Late ejection by design for a shorter walk. Good flight.
    2003-02-22Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Good!
    2003-03-08Tim Burger's Estes ManiacC11-3- Kicked the motor. Good flight.
    2003-03-08Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD15-7- Nominal.
    2003-03-08Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD21-4- Excellent! Some drift. Kicked the motor again!
    2003-03-22Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Good.
    2003-03-22Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD15-7- Nominal!
    2003-05-26Tim Burger's Estes ManiacC11-5- Good.
    2003-05-26Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Nice!
    2003-05-26Tim Burger's Estes ManiacC11-3- Nominal.
    2003-07-26Tim Burger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Very high. Landed hard and knocked the fin unit loose.
    2003-11-15Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacC11-7- No damage in spite of long delay.
    2004-01-17Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD9-4- Core sample! Time for rebuild #4.
    2004-12-18Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD15-7- Kicked the casing again. Found it, but I gotta stop doing that.
    2005-01-21Andrew Grippo's Estes ManiacC11-3- Nice stable flight but chute tangled in shock cord and didn't fully deploy. No damage to rocket,...
    2005-04-17Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD15-7- Definately need to get me more of these.
    2005-06-25Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD15-7- Excellent flight.
    2005-07-02Reid Smith's Estes ManiacD12-3- Second Launch, tried a D12-3 instead of a C... didn't realize that I should've used the recomended...
    2005-07-02Reid Smith's Estes ManiacC6-5- Nice maiden flight with this bird, kind of weak but thats to be expected with a C. Basically...
    2005-07-09Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- First flight of the day to check out the wind. There is no wind.
    2005-08-27Andrew Grippo's Estes ManiacD12-7- Forgot to load a chute but the rocket landed in the grass without any damage.
    2005-11-20Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5- Great flight.
    2005-12-18Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- Good flight.
    2006-02-19Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- Great flight!
    2006-04-30Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- Great flight.
    2006-05-20Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- First flight of the day.
    2006-07-29Andrew Grippo's Estes ManiacF21-8- Super fast boost and good delay. Very high flight but the winds were down and with a spill hole in...
    2006-10-15Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- High boost and then recovered close to the pads.
    2007-04-21Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- Great flight.
    2007-11-18Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-7- Great flight.
    2008-03-02Doyle Tatum's Estes ManiacD12-3- Another great flight from this tough rocket - recovery via x-form chute
    2008-11-23Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5- Got an ejection event, but the chute was not pushed out. Looks like there was a very weak...
    2009-02-21Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD15-7-
    2009-03-22Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacE28-7- Very high flight and recovery on the runway.
    2009-10-03Mike Caplinger's Estes ManiacE15-7- High, straight boost but the ejection snapped the 10-year-old stock elastic cord and the streamer...
    2009-11-21Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5- Good flight
    2010-02-21Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacE18-7- Swapped out the chute for a streamer for this flight. Best decision I made all day.
    2010-02-28 Mike Caplinger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Nice flight, recovered with streamer.
    2010-03-14 Mike Caplinger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Nice straight boost despite rising winds.
    2010-03-20Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5- Good flight.
    2010-05-08Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacC11-5- Good flight
    2010-05-30Mike Caplinger's Estes ManiacD12-5- Wind picking up but a nice straight boost.
    2010-08-14Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacC11-5- Marginal field, marginal wind. Too risky to fly anymore today.
    2010-09-18Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5- Great flight
    2010-11-20Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5-
    2010-12-04Mike Caplinger's Estes ManiacE15-7- Rocket launched accidentally when I wasn't watching. Descent was normal.
    2011-02-19Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5- Good flight. Stripped the chute but no damage.
    2011-03-19Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacC11-5- Good flight
    2012-01-01 Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD12-5-
    2012-01-28Bob Bernatchez's Estes ManiacD15-7-

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