RocketReviews.com - Estes Super Alpha - Review by John Bergsmith

Brief:
An upscaled version of the classic Alpha that flies on standard Estes 18mm engines. Almost 20 inches tall, this rocket reaches heights of 600 feet.

Construction:
Balsa Nose Cone, Laser cut Balsa Fins, card stock centering rings, engine hook, BT-60 body tube, and Waterslide Decals

The motor mount is constructed using typical methods. The only thing I changed was to add a Kevlar shock cord that ties around the motor tube between the upper and lower centering ring. I used a small amount of wood glue inside the body tube and the motor mount was inserted into the BT. The next step was to I fill the spirals. After sanding the BT, the tube was marked for the fin locations and the launch lug. The laser-cut fins are made from 1/8 hard balsa. The fins leading edge was rounded and they were glued onto the BT using a very small amount of 5 minute epoxy. Once the fins were attached and allowed to dry, small epoxy micro balloon fillets were created around the fins and launch lug to add some strength and to clean up the joints. The launch lugs was attached to the bt using epoxy as well. The kit provides one long launch that I cut in half and installed them on the bt about 7" apart.

The only con was the nose cone. It was made from hard balsa which is good, but it was very heavy. I used the stock cone so it's no big deal. However, because of the weight of the cone hitting the advertised weight of 2.2oz is nearly impossible.

Finishing:
I sealed the balsa fins and nose cone with two coats of Minwax Polyurethane. Once dry they were sanded smooth and coated using thinned spackle that was brushed on to fill the wood grain. The filler was sanded off and the rocket was primed with two coats of Dupli-Color High Fill primer sanding between coats. The Super Alpha was painted silver with Dupli-color, and the metallic black was Rustoleum. Once the body was allowed to completely dry the Super Alpha decal was applied. The decal applied easily with no issues.

Flight:
I flew the Super Alpha three times on the first day. I used an Estes C6-3, C6-5, and a Quest C6-3. Preparation is very easy since the BT-60 gives you plenty of room to pack the chute. All three flights were perfect, stable, and recovered close to the pad. On one of the flights the nose cone impacted the top of the BT causing very minor damage that was easily fixed.

Recovery:
The supplied 18" chute is a little on the large size, so if it's windy be prepared for a walk. I used the 18" chute for the first three flights, but the wind was less than 5mph. a 12" or 16" would be better.

Summary:
The Estes Super Alpha is another great offering. It's a very easy to build model with great instructions. The rocket flies great as designed and is durable. The Super Alpha can be easily modified to accept 24mm motors as well.

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2010-08-14	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	(Apogee 12 inch 'chute rather than stock). Good boost - fairly straight. A bit late ejection. Good...
2010-08-27	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	D10-7	981 feet	Took three tries to get lit. Deployment way past apogee. 'Chute departed (swivel failed). Even so,...
2010-08-27	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	504 feet	Nice flight all the way around. Good boost, deploy, landing. AltimeterOne aboard.
2010-09-11	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	A nice easy flight. Good timing on 'chute and landing nearby. Forgot to put an AltimeterOne...
2010-09-18	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	-	AlitmeterOne timed out, so no altitude recorded. Otherwise a decent flight. No other details...
2010-09-19	Chan Stevens's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Hung on rod a tiny bit, arced over (some weathercock), but otherwise fine flight.
2010-10-09	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Dead straight boost. Good deploy and good 'chute (a 14 inch Quest 'chute). Again near landing in...
2010-10-09	Bernard Cawley's Estes Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Super straight boost with no roll at all. 'Chute deploy at about right time (hard to see against...
2011-04-09	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	B6-4	-	First flight of skill level 1 rocket. Good first flight. Very stable, little spin. Parachute...
2011-04-13	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Good flight. Rocket visible throughout. Good parachute deploy and open. Rocket landed on...
2011-05-04	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	B6-4	-	Good flight. Parachute deployed, but did not open. Rocket crashed in the grass about 15 yards...
2011-07-29	Bill Eichelberger's Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Great flight. Initially stuck the landing, but fell over when a breeze caught the chute.
2011-10-23	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Temperature - 64 degrees. High winds delayed the launch about 30 minutes. Weather station blew...
2011-11-20	Kurt Knox's Super Alpha	C6-5	-	Super flight
2011-11-30	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	419 feet	Wind blowing from the southwest. Partly cloudy. Launched 4:16 pm. Temperature 34 degrees F. ...
2011-12-16	CHRIS HERZOG's Super Alpha xlt	c6-3	-	flight was excellent and straight 3 seconds left it pretty high and the 18 inch chute let it glide...
2011-12-16	CHRIS HERZOG's Super Alpha xlt	C6-5	-	This was the second flight for the Super alpha XLT it again flew nice and straight but the delay...
2011-12-20	Dillon Frazier's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Textbook flight. Launched very straight. Didn't fly very high. Deployed parachute perfectly....
2011-12-24	Dillon Frazier's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Launched correctly. Ejection charge fired, but failed to deploy parachute, resulting in broken fin...
2011-12-29	Dillon Frazier's Estes Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Launched perfectly, parachute deployed and drifted down safely about 120 feet away from launch pad.
2012-01-06	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 4:13 pm, Temperature: 48 degrees. Wind blowing lightly from the west. Partly cloudy. ...
2012-01-10	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 4:30 pm. Temperature: 42 degrees. Clear skies. Wind blowing ~10 mph from the south. ...
2012-01-21	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	A8-3	-	Time: 3:40 pm. Thermometer was broken. Mostly cloudy. Calm. About 4 inches of snow covered the...
2012-01-30	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 4:22 pm. Temperature: 45 degrees. Wind ~ 5 mph from the south. Mostly sunny. Angled...
2012-02-18	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	B6-4	162 feet	Time: 4:55 pm. Temperature: 23 degrees. Sunny. Wind: calm. Skyhawker failed to launch 3...
2012-02-19	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	428 feet	Time: 11:35 am. Temperature: 44 degrees. Wind ~ 10 mph from the north. Launched with the...
2012-03-13	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 5:05 pm. Temperature: 70 degrees. Wind blowing ~ 10 mph from the south. Clear and...
2012-03-17	Hans "Chris" Michielssen's Super Alpha	Estes C11-5	-	While you would expect a higher altitude from a 24mm C engine, it was as high as a 18mm C6-5 would...
2012-04-03	Bill Eichelberger's Super Alpha	B6-4	-	Fantastic flight. Flights like this are why I call this B6-4 Field.
2012-04-03	Bill Eichelberger's Super Alpha	B6-4	-	A second perfect flight, this one on video. If I can ever figure out how to get it out of my...
2012-05-07	Bob Francis's Hi-Jinks 2	C6-5	-	Time: 7:10 pm. Temperature: 64 degrees. Wind: calm. Partly sunny. Good flight. Landed in the...

Estes Super Alpha

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