| Construction Rating: |  | | Flight Rating: | | | Overall Rating: | |
Contributed by Matt Gillard
 Brief:
a neat little rocket that separates into two halves for recovery, one maple seedling and the other tumbling head over
heels. I got this rocket from The Model Shop in the UK after coming second in the 2006 EMRR Challenge. (Thanks to EMRR
and Paul Lavin from The Model Shop/Deepsky.)
Construction:
The kit consists of two body sections, a two part plastic nose cone, a sheet of balsa fins, and a 18mm retention
ring. All came in the usual plastic bag with an art card. The kits goes together easily with a little care to align the
rear fins between the two smaller fins on the top half of the rocket. Unlike most Estes rockets, you do not shape the
leading edge of the fins. The instructions are of the normal Estes quality with clear diagrams to aid the modeler.
Estes put this as a skill level two, which it is, but only just barely.
Finishing:
Finishing was done with two coats of primer with sanding down between coats. The body tubes had hardly any spiral to
fill. I sprayed the top half a crimson red and the base a pale yellow. The decals are the waterslide type and went on
easily. A layer of varnish finished things off. The only "gotcha" is that you have to be careful not to build
up too much paint between the two smaller fins on the top half or you may have problems getting the two halves together
smoothly.
Construction Rating:
5
out of 5
Flight and Recovery:
This is a light rocket and it flys off the pad fast. All three flights where straight and true.
At ejection, the two halves separate the top half has a maple seed recovery, which is relatively slow. The bottom
half tumbles a bit quicker. Both recovery systems do slow the rocket down. Both parts recovered side by side and all
three flights where crowd pleasers. This is definitely are rocket that provides something out of the norm.
My third flight was on a B6-2. The sensible member of my club said that it would put the rocket too high and it
would drift into the nearby woods (and home to several of my rockets). I chose to ignore him and I am now thinking of
buying another Tornado
Flight Rating:
5
out of 5
Summary:
This is a rocket that everyone should have in their fleet or at least one like it.
Overall Rating:
5
out of 5 Flight Log| Date | Rocket Name | Motor(s) | Altitude | Notes |
|---|
| 2000-07-08 | Eric Miller's Estes Tornado | A8-3 | - | Good Flight. Nice to have friends along to track the separate sections. Landed fairly close to the... | | 2004-08-08 | Kyle Hancock's Estes Tornado | B6-2 | - | First flight. | | 2004-09-19 | Kyle Hancock's Estes Tornado | A8-3 | - | | | 2005-03-20 | Kyle Hancock's Estes Tornado | B4-4 | - | Recovered both parts | | 2005-05-24 | Nelson Eisel's Estes Tornado | A8-3 | - | First rocket I ever built, when I was 13... first flight since then! And it came back! Most... | | 2005-06-24 | Nelson Eisel's Estes Tornado | 1/2A6-2 | - | 1/2A6 gives a nice low flight and yet a very satisfying whoosh. Recovered both parts again, I... | | 2005-06-27 | Reid Smith's Estes Tornado | A8-3 | - | Top section tumbled into a yard of someone in my neighborhood. Went to find it after I was done,... | | 2007-02-10 | Dan Eastwood's Estes Tornado | A8-3 | - | First flight, unpainted, motor not taped in. Est'd 300-400 ft straight up. Both halves drifted as... | | 2007-03-08 | Matt Guerin's Estes Tornado | A3-4 | - | This was the first launch on a 13mm engine in my front yard. The flight was beautiful, but the... | | 2007-03-26 | Dan Eastwood's Estes Tornado | 1/2A6-2 | - | First flight with new bottom half. Used low power motor to avoid losing, recovered easily. ... | | 2007-04-21 | Dan Eastwood's Estes Tornado | C6-5 | - | Too much power for this sleek bird - painted Estes' gold/white scheme. Beautiful 1000'+ flight... | | 2007-05-21 | Matt Gillard's Estes Tornado | A8-3 | - | good take off, lost against cloud, both parts seen after eject, main boby spins giving a slow... | | 2007-05-21 | Matt Gillard's Estes Tornado | A8-3 | - | similar to first flight. | | 2007-05-21 | Matt Gillard's Estes Tornado | B6-2 | - | went very high. both parts tumbled ino a wood down wind - drat. |
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