Brief:
Very cool looking, two stage design. The upper stage can also be flown as a single stage rocket.

Construction:
There are a fair number of parts in this kit. Tubes included are two BT-60 for the airframe, two BT-50 side pods for the booster, two BT-20 for engine mount tubes, and two short lengths of BT-5, again for the booster. Also included are various couplers, adapter rings, centering rings, two die cut balsa sheets, a decal sheet, clay weight for the upper stage nose cone, and seven nose cones. All parts were of standard Estes usage and quality with one exception. The PNC-50KA nose cones (part number 71028) had a noticeable lengthwise offset between the two halves. This does detract somewhat from the look of the model.

The instructions follow a fairly logical order; building up various sub-assemblies and then assembling these into a finished unit. I used epoxy for most of the construction as I expected the booster would take quite a bit of abuse.

I did have one problem with the fin pod tubes. You are to glue a PNC-5A nose cone into each end of a short length of BT-5 body tubes, however, the BT-5 tubes were shorter than the length of the shoulders of the 2 nose cones butted together. I had to grind down the shoulder on one cone for each assembly to achieve the proper fit.

One thing I would change about assembly in retrospect, is to wait and install the booster tubes until the booster and booster tubes have been painted. This would make it easier to paint them a contrasting pattern.

Two things that I changed were substituting a 3/16" launch lug for the provided 1/8" lug and using a longer shock cord that what was provided.

Finishing:
I used my standard finishing method for this kit. I followed the box art fairly closely with respect to colors, etc. The decals were the standard stick on decals that Estes uses. The two large yellow "Renegade" decals that go on the booster were so thin that the yellow doesn't fully cover up the underlying black paint.

Construction Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight:
While building this kit, I became quite concerned about the weight of the booster and the prospect of flight damage. The booster has five fins, two booster tubes with nose cones, and two fin pods with two nose cones each in addition to the main BT-60 body tube. That is quite a bit of mass to fall from the sky. As it turns out, my fears were well founded.

The instructions call for you to tape the two motors end-to-end and then friction fit the motors into the model. I found this to be somewhat cumbersome. What I've done is to install each motor separately, and then add tape to the stage coupler to hold the stages together during staging. So far, this has worked quite well.

My first flight was a B6-0 staged to a B6-6. Liftoff was slow and graceful, with staging occurring at a relatively low altitude. The combined rocket was very stable, but I am glad that I used a bigger launch lug and therefore, a bigger launch rod. The sustainer ejected about 2 seconds past apogee, which suggests that a shorter delay would be more appropriate with a B booster. Both booster and sustainer were recovered without incident.

Second flight was a C6-0 staged to a B6-6. Liftoff was again slow, but the model reached a significantly higher altitude and velocity before staging. This time, the sustainer ejected near apogee and was recovered without damage. Unfortunately, my fears about the heavy booster were realized when one of the booster fins broke off upon impact.

Recovery:
The booster is too heavy to "tumble recover". The ROCC flying field is a farm bisected by a grass airstrip. The booster landed on the airstrip and still broke a fin. I would hate to fly off of a hard packed surface or asphalt. I may try adding parachute recovery to the booster soon.

There is plenty of room in the sustainer for wadding and to place the parachute, allowing the sustainer does recover quite nicely on its supplied 12" parachute.

Flight Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Summary:
This is a great looking rocket that suffers some from poor quality in a couple of the parts and from having too heavy a booster that is overly prone to breakage. Both of these are correctable problems. The booster should recover via parachute, and quality engineering at Estes should take a look at the problem parts. Anyone building this model would be well advised to consider these upgrades as well.

Overall Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Brief:
The Renegade is a cool staged rocket featuring a tumble recovery for the booster and a parachute recovery for the 2nd stage. It also flies great as a single stage rocket.

Construction:
The kit came with a whole lot of parts, including two lengths of BT-60 body tubes (one of them was much shorter, of course, for the booster section), a tube coupler, a couple different types of nose cones, two BT-20 engine mount tubes, two short BT-5 tubes and two BT-50 tubes for the boosters, 8 fins, a decal sheet, 4 centering rings, elastic shock cord, a 12" parachute, as well as some other little couplers and adapters.

The instructions were very easy to follow and all I used was Elmer's white glue. This actually was my first rocket ever. My wife gave it to me as a birthday gift and I was thrilled with its looks. Building the model went well but there was one thing that looking back, I would have changed: the "boosters." The "boosters" that attach to the booster section fit between fins on either side and are easy to attach, but after the glue dried I tried to fit the two stages together and found it to be a tight fit since those pesky "boosters" were nearly touching the upper stage. This really became a factor once a couple layers of primer and paint were applied. Aside from the "boosters" though, everything else was fine with kit assembly and all parts fit perfectly.

Finishing:
I primed the entire rocket with grey primer, then painted the whole thing with a blue-black pearl paint. After the paint was dry I put on the decals, then sprayed it all down with Krylon clear coat. Decals went on fine, but I had to do a little trimming on the fin decals. Again, the painting is where the "boosters" were a problem. It was difficult getting paint down into the spaces between the "boosters" and the fins/body tube. Anyway, it worked out. Painting the "boosters" prior to attaching them to the lower stage would take care of that headache.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
Motor retention is friction fit with masking tape. To prep it, you use Scotch tape and tape the booster motor onto the bottom of the upper stage motor. Then you fit it into the upper stage. Once that is securely in place, you slide the lower section into the upper part (the booster section has a motor block in the lower engine tube to prevent the motor from falling out the back). I first flew this baby on a C6-0 in the booster and a C6-7 in the upper body. I wanted to see it fly, and that's what it did. Rather slow lift-off due to the weight and a great first flight to an unknown altitude.

Next flight was on the same configuration and it again flew perfectly. Since those first few flights I have always used a C6-0 in the booster section but have tried B6-4s and C6-5s in the upper section as well. I have flown it many time as a single stage on C6-7s and C6-5s. I even tried it once on an A8-3, but that was a nail-biter and the chute barely deployed with 20 feet to spare. Luckily I flew it over a grassy baseball field and it suffered no damage.

This is a picture of the Renegade launching after being modified. The booster is being powered by 3 Estes D12 motors, and the sustainer flies on a C6. Flight was spectacular to well over 1200'. Booster suffered damage to one fin during launch, but it is repairable and will fly again

Recovery:
The shock cord attaches to the inside wall of the body tube with regular white glue. I have never had it pull away or fail in any way and this rocket has flown over a dozen times. The upper stage recovers via a small 12" parachute. It comes down faster than I would like, but I have not lost any fins yet and we fly in the desert in southern New Mexico where the dirt is rather unforgiving.

The booster uses a tumble recovery but it is so stable that it comes down rather straight and fast, causing me to wince every time. The booster section began showing serious signs of wear after about the 4th flight, when the BT-50 tubes began crumpling slightly. I still flew it and it did fine. Finally, however, the shock from the 8th tumble recovery caused the motor mount centering rings to fail and break away. The booster section itself was fine, except the BT-50s were also destroyed. Fins were all still good and the upper stage was still intact.

Flight Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Summary:
I like this rocket and it looks cool when fully assembled for staged flight. It is nice to be able to fly it as a single stage in case you are out of booster motors (or money). It flies great either staged or single and all flights are fairly straight. The abuse that the booster takes is a drag. Some form of a streamer recovery would be great if you could swing that one.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Brief:
The Estes Renegade kit is a very sharp looking 2-stage kit that looks great in any fleet. It looks good on the shelf and it looks good in flight and staging. It flies on 18mm motors and used tumble recovery for the booster and a parachute for the sustainer.

Construction:

The Estes Renegade kit contains the following parts:

• 1 - BT60 x 18" Body Tube
• 1 - BT60 x 3.25" Body Tube
• 2 - BT50 x 5" Body Tubes
• 3 - BT5 x .75" Body Tubes
• 2 - 18mm Motor Mounts
• 1 - JT60 Red Tube Coupler
• 1 - Plastic Nose Cone (Molded with "cockpit")
• 2 - PNC-50KA Nose Cones
• 4 - PNC-5A Nose Cones
• 1 - 1/8" x 2 3/8" Launch Lug
• 1 - Clay Weight
• 1 - 24" Rubber Shock Cord
• 1 - Pre-Assembled 12" Plastic Parachute
• 1 - Decal Sheet

Instructions: As with most Estes kits, the Renegade's instructions are very easy to follow. I assembled this kit exactly according to the instructions included. The instructions are clear and the many good drawing help make it easier.

Ease of Build: The kit was very easy to build. The only part I spent extra time on was sanding the red coupler down some so that the stages would be able to separate effectively. It's also kind of a tight fit where the 2 BT50 body tubes and nose cones of the booster fit along the main BT60 body tube.

Tool and supplies: No special tools were needed to build this kit and I used Tight Bond II for the whole project.

Finishing:
PROS: This is a very cool looking rocket. It is one of the favorite of my kids when we go to launches. It is relatively easy to build. The instructions are clear and straight forward.

CONS: Quality of the decals could been much better. They are cool designs, but I would have prefered good quality waterslide decals (Like on Semroc rockets) or better quality adhesive decals (Like on Sunward rockets). Sanding required on coupler.

I noticed that Estes listened to some of the suggestions and their new Renegade has a 24mm motor mount and is single stage. I actually like the two stage version. I would like to build the 24mm version someday, but would even like to see a 24mm multi-stage kit.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I highly recommend C6-0 / C6-5 (or C6-7). I have had many great flights with that combination. The flight is much better than using B6-0's in the booster.

All of the flights I have had with my Renegade have been great. It appears from some other reviews that this is not so for everyone. I didn't do anything special, just followed the standard build instructions and have had great luck.

Recovery:
PROS: Looks very cool in flight and staging.

CONS: The booster takes somewhat of a beating when landing on concrete or pavement. Have had no issues when landing on grass or dirt.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
Even though the booster sometimes has hard landings on pavement, most tumblers would... Mine just flies so good and the kids really like how it looks and flies.

I would like to build another with a three motor cluster in the booster using the two BT50 tubes, maybe with a streamer or small shoot in one or both. Then stage off the center booster motor.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5