Estes - Skinny Mini (880) [1987-1990]

Brief:
The Skinny Mini was a 'longneck'-style, 13mm, minimum diameter rocket that used streamer recovery. Mine dates back to the late '80's.

Construction:
The parts included:

• 2 sections of 13mm tubing
• tube coupler
• plastic nosecone
• 3 die cut balsa fins
• plastic streamer
• rubber band shock cord
• launch lug
• engine block

This was a typical skill Level-1 kit. As with other Estes kits, it came with good instructions, a fin marking template, etc. The biggest issue was making sure the two body tubes were aligned properly. This is always an issue with long, skinny rockets.

Finishing:
The kit came with decals. I originally painted mine as shown in the attached pic.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
The Skinny Mini flew on 1/2A and A engines. All my flights were on A10-3 with expected altitudes in the 700' range.

Recovery:
The shock cord was a rubber-band style as was typical of Estes at that time. It was tied to the nose cone shoulder and used a folded paper mount to the BT. This relatively wide cord made packing the streamer fairly difficult. It really needed some thin Kevlar® twine. One one flight the streamer didn't deploy and the tubing was destroyed. It was replaced and the rocket has flown well since.

Flight Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary:
Pros: Long and sleek design, easy to build and flew great Cons: Needed a thinner shock cord, tended not to deploy the streamer

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
1998-09-15	Dick Stafford's Estes Skinny Mini	A10-3	-	good flight
2000-09-09	Dick Stafford's Estes Skinny Mini	A10-3	-	nice flight
2008-04-20	Jason Orosco's Estes Skinny Mini	A3-4	-	Great flight, Landed about 50 feet from the pad.
2008-04-20	Jason Orosco's Estes Skinny Mini	A3-4	-	Great flight, Landed about 50 feet from the pad.
2009-03-28	Jason Orosco's Estes Skinny Mini	A3-4	-	Nice flight.
2010-08-21	Dick Stafford's Estes Skinny Mini	A10-3	-	Fast flight. I didn't see it until it was landing.
2011-08-07	Dick Stafford's Estes Skinny Mini	A10-3	-

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