Manufacturer: | Modification |
Brief:
The Incredible Shrunken Rage began it's life as a full length Quest Big Rage.
Unfortunately, the booster suffered a recovery mishap that really crumpled the
body tube above the fin can. So rather than fixing the booster, I just took the
fin can/motor mount assembly and nose cone and mounted them onto the black
payload tube and PRESTO!!! The Incredible Shrunken Rage was born.
Modifications:
This was basically a length reduction of a Quest Big Rage by completely
eliminating the blue booster tube which was significantly damaged due to a
recovery mishap and simply mounting the fin can/motor mount assembly and nose
cone to what was originally the black payload tube.
Some prepping of the payload tube was required for the fin can but no extra techniques were required and no extra tools other than a hobby knife were required.
Construction:
For this modification, I used the Big Rage fin can/motor mount, shock cord
assembly, black payload tube, one of the junky Quest parachutes, nose cone, and
an Estes launch lug.
I started by removing the fin can assembly from the damaged booster body tube. Since I had used plastic cement, this was not a hard task at all. I then carefully removed the coupler from the payload tube and sanded the inside of the tube to allow the fin can to fit smoothly into the tube. The fin can was into the body tube then I scraped some of the shiny black coating off the surface of the tube and glued an Estes launch lug onto the tube followed by applying some fillets to secure it.
PROs: Very easy, quick to do, and it shouldn't cost you anything.
CONs: None that I can think of.
Finishing:
No finishing was required due to the hot pink fin can and nose cone, black body
tube and the pink and black decals on the fins and body tube.
Flight:
With this rocket, I had to resort to friction fit retention as the cheap Quest
hook was broken off. Wadding is required.
I have flown this rocket on Estes B6-4 and C6-5 motors with good success. Even though it ended up considerably shorter, the stability was not affected.
I also recently flew this on an Aerotech D21-7T 18mm SU motor which made it just explode off the pad and out of sight in an instant.
Estimated altitudes:
Motor | Estimated Altitude |
---|---|
Estes B6-4 | 250-300 feet |
Estes C6-5 | 650-700 feet |
AeroTech D21-7T | 1200+ feet |
Recovery:
I have had a few recovery mishaps where the two cords separated but no damage
was sustained.
On flights where the recovery was normal, the 12 inch chute proved to be a bit big and will eventually be replaced with either a smaller chute or a streamer.
Summary:
I really liked what resulted from this modification. It turned out to be a
great little rocket capable of flying on Estes B6-4 motors to neck snappin'
Aerotech D21-7Ts.
If your Quest Big Rage booster ever suffers a recovery mishap and won't fly again, you might want to consider giving this a try.
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