Brief:
The Quest Terrier-Orion is a single stage, parachute recovery, sport scale version of the two stage sounding rocket. Quest rates this as a level 2 kit.

Construction:
All of the components for the kit came in a sealed plastic bag with a hang tab and full color face card. All the components were present and in good condition.

In the bag were:

• 1 10-7/8" T35 (1.378" diameter) body tube
• 1 15-7/8" T25 (0.984" diameter) body tube
• 1 Blue thrust ring
• 2 Die-cut card stock centering rings
• 1 Yellow motor mount tube
• 1 Motor clip
• 1 Plastic nose cone
• 1 1.5 gram clay weight
• 1 Plastic Reduction Transition
• 1 1/8" launch lug
• 1 24" White elastic shock cord
• 1 24" Yellow Kevlar® shock cord
• 6 Tyvek labels
• 3 26" shroud lines
• 1 14" plastic parachute
• 1 1/8" balsa laser cut fin sheet
• 1 Water slide decal sheet
• 1 Instruction sheet
• 1 Launch Procedures sheet

On all of the Quest kits that I have even built, the instructions have always been well thought out, well illustrated, and easy to follow. Those for the Terrier-Orion are no exception. I would imagine that only the most novice rocketeer would have even any problems following along. By color coding the parts, Quest has eliminated most of the possible problems that could occur.

Let me give a quick side note at this point. It's really amazing what the color of the parts can do to your opinion of "quality". When I took the card stock centering rings from the package, I was somewhat put off by their brown color. It brought to mind the cheap "chipboard" that is used on the back of writing tablets. Upon closer examination though, they were actually thicker and more rigid that the shiny white rings that are often packed in the "Brand E" kits.

After inspecting all of the parts and reading through the instructions, I started the build with the motor mount. This went together with no problem. Next, the shock cord is anchored to the mount in typical Quest fashion and the motor mount is glued into the lower body tube section.

As the glue on the motor mount was drying, I cut out the fins and sanded them into a nice airfoil. The balsa was firm and the laser cutting was clean with very little charring. I marked the tubes with the tube marking guides. One oddity here is that the guide for the upper tube has marks for a launch lug even though there is not lug that is mounted on the upper tube. After marking the lines, I glued on the fins with yellow carpenter's glue and a couple of dots of CA to hold them in place while the slower glue set. I also put the launch lug on in the same manner.

Next, I put fillets on the fins and lug. Then came the part about Quest kits that I really don't like. The spirals on their tubes would at best be called "inconsistent". On these two body tubes that came with the kit the spirals varied from almost completely unnoticeable to nearly a 1/16" wide. Each tube spiral and fin got a good coat of thinned Elmer's Wood Filler and was sanded smooth.

At this point, I deviated from the instructions and original design of the kit. For the life of me, I couldn't see a reason to pop the parachute out of the nose of the rocket with the shock cord tied all the way in the back. Since I had already connected the shock cord to the motor mount, the option of moving the anchor to the middle of the rocket was out, so I decided to make my Terrier-Orion mid-body separation. I cut a section of 1/4" square basswood stock and anchored it into a slot that I had cut in the plastic transition. After sanding the wood to the curvature of the upper tube, I tied the elastic shock cord to the basswood crossbar and glued the transition into the upper airframe.

I then cut a hole in the back of the nose cone to fit the clay nose weight in though. I added a little extra modeling clay in as well to offset the weight that was moved further towards the rear of the rocket by putting the recovery system in the lower half instead of the upper half. After epoxying in the clay, I glued in the nose cone with CA. The parachute was assembled and tied to the front end of the shock cord and construction was complete.

Finishing:
I sprayed the entire filled rocket with Kilz primer and sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper. With the highly unpredictable weather here in southern California this year, I decided to take advantage of good weather and make the initial flights in only primer.

After it's successful round of flights, the Terrier-Orion had earned its colors. The paint scheme that Quest recommends looks a good deal like a Nike-Smoke with its signature yellow and red fins. After a bit of research on the Internet, I was unable to find supporting documentation for this color scheme. I decided to go with my paint scheme as it was the most common that I was able to turn up in my search.

Construction Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Flight:
There are only three recommended motors for the Terrier-Orion. I decided to start out with a C6-5. I loaded up the motor, put in a small handful of dog barf wadding, and put the chute easily into the large lower tube. There was plenty of room in the lower tube, so I was happy that I decided to put the chute in there instead of the smaller upper tube.

There was a bit of unnoticed gunk on the launch rod that I had chosen for my first flight. Upon ignition, the rocket hung with the motor firing for a split second, wasting valuable impulse. After freeing itself, the Terrier-Orion shot upward. The C6-5 arched over the top and was about 2 seconds beyond apogee when the ejection charge went off.

For the next flight, I went with the shorter delay of the C6-3 and ejection was right at apogee.

The last flight of the day was on the smallest motor. The B6-4 was a good motor for the rocket. It would be a great small field motor for this airframe.

Recovery:
With my reconfigured recovery system, the worst thing that I could see happening was that the shock cord might damage the fins on the upper section, but they are somewhat protected by the shoulder of the transition.

Quest's Kevlar® and elastic shock cord system is outstanding. Just by looking at it, the elastic cord seems awfully thin, but it is fairly well removed from the hot gas of the ejection charge and holds up fairly well.

The parachute is well sized for the kit. It recovered at a safe pace that didn't have it drifting out over the horizon.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
The Terrier-Orion is good quality kit that would be good as a first sport scale rocket. The quality of the kit's components is good with the weak point being the tube spirals. If Quest could get a handle on these, this kit would have rated a 4 to 4-1/2.

The instructions are clear and easy to follow with no "gotchas" that I noticed. While the paint scheme might not be exactly scale, it is attractive and should be reproducible by fairly novice modelers.

Overall Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Brief:
This is a rocket with a double set of four fins and 18mm motor. I got it as a free rocket from EMRR’s rocket video competition. It came in a clear bag with the usual art card.

Construction:
Kit consists of:

• 1 launch lug
• 1 length elastic shock cord
• 1 length of Kevlar® cord
• 14 inch parachute.
• Nose cone
• Plastic transition
• 2 Body tubes
• Engine motor mount
• Engine block
• Pre cut balsa fins
• Motor clip
• Decal sheet

To build the kit I used:

• Model knife
• Razor saw
• Aluminum oxide sand paper
• White PVA glue
• Bostick glue
• Sanding sealer
• Enamel spray paint
• Enamel brush paint

I was impressed with the quality of the kit. The balsa fins were laser cut and the balsa was good quality. The body tubes were strong. Kevlar® cord supplied as standard. (Why won’t Estes take a leaf out of Quest’s book and supply Kevlar®?) One new change from the kits I have had from Quest in the past is that the motor tube comes with a slot pre-cut for the motor clip.

On the negative side, one of the tubes was slightly oval and something that has to be an oversight on Quests part; the shock cord is far too short. The overall length was 4 feet, but as it is fixed to the motor mount and the nose cone, therefore has to pass through the length of the 30 inch rocket. There needs to be at least 2 foot more added to the cord.

The instructions are clear and straightforward, and the rocket builds quickly. With the exception of the two sets of fins, the build was not much more advanced than a level one rocket, but with the two sets of fins, level two is about right.

Also nose weight needs to be added so you need a razor saw to cut out access to the nose cone. A two part nose cone would have been better.

Finishing:
I sealed the balsa fins as the body tubes had some deep spirals in them.

Then the rocket was sprayed white. Two coats were needed. The tip of the rocket was sprayed gold as was the transition. The fins were hand painted with enamel paint.

The decals provided were the waterslide variety and were undersized. The strips that wrap around the BT were far too short. This ruined the look of the rocket. With the short shock cord and poor decals, I can only give the rocket a 3 out of 5 on the EMRR scale.

Construction Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight and Recovery:
Flies on B6-4 or C6-3 and C6-5

I used 2 sheets of Nomex® wadding and a 10-inch Mylar chute-–I don't like Quest's chutes and 10 inch seemed to be about right as my rockets always manage to drift into trees, so I under-parachuted the rocket.

First flight was on a B6-4. Launch was straight. Anything below a B and this rocket would have struggled to gain height. Ejection was just past apogee and the rocket recovered fine on the 10 inch chute.

Second flight mirrored the first, almost exactly.

The third flight was on a C6-5. The flight was considerably higher and with a squirrelly path. With next to no wind, the Terrier Orion drifted into the top branch of a tree.

Flight Rating: 4 ½ out of 5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Brief:
Scale model of the Terrier-Orion, a two-stage payload carrying rocket. This kit features 8 fins, BT-55 and BT-50 body tubes, plastic parachute, and adhesive decals. The kit is flown as a single stage.

Construction:

• Die-cut balsa fins
• Kevlar® cord and shock cord materials
• 11” BT-55 body tube
• 16” BT-50 body tube
• PNC-50 nose cone
• 1.5 gram clay weight
• Plastic reduction transition
• Quest type engine hook
• 2 cardboard centering rings
• Engine block and engine tube for 18 mm motors
• Adhesive decals
• Plastic parachute with shroud lines

I found the Quest instructions easy to follow. I followed the directions as outlined, including attaching the Kevlar®® cord to the engine mount. Some of the components were a little beat up, such as the engine mount and the centering rings, but the damage was slight.

The balsa for the fins was good quality. I removed them and sanded the edges round. Even with eight fins it was a simple, straightforward build, which I enjoyed.

Finishing:
After construction, I primed the rocket with Wal-Mart primer, sanding and priming several times. I painted the body white and the fins yellow and orange, per the instructions.

After the paint dried, I carefully cut out the decals and applied them to the body tube and fins. My primary concern with the decals is that were a little small – they didn’t wrap all the way around the body tube.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I flew the rocket twice, both on Estes C6-5. The prep was quick and easy. Sadly this rocket was not stable enough, even with the nose weight. It did some wide corkscrew turns on the way up and was less than respectable. The second flight was a rough one and it lost a fin.

Recovery:
The recovery was not an issue on the first flight. The second flight, however, it came down hard on a piece of asphalt because it flew so squirrelly.

Flight Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary:
A nice looking rocket that didn’t fly well for me. I will add more nose weight and repair the fin before flying it again. Hopefully it will perform a little better.

Overall Rating: 2 ½ out of 5