Public Enemy Honest John

Public Enemy - Honest John {Kit} [?-?]

Contributed by Dave Way

Construction Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Flight Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Manufacturer: Public Enemy
Style: Scale

Public Enemy Honest JohnBrief:
THe Honest John is a 38mm motor high power rocket single stage scale kit with parachute recovery.

Construction:
Kit arrived in good shape from Rocket Garden. Kit had a very impressive two-piece nose cone, one large body tube, a shorter body tube (electronics bay), four pre-shaped large fins, two stout wooden centering rings, and a very adequate harness supplies. I chose to upgrade the chute to a 60" Spherachute.

The instructions were pretty simple and straightforward. No problems as everything fit well and was prepped very nicely from the factory. One great thing about this and all Public Enemy kits is the way you pre assemble the fin and engine mount system before installing it into the tube. It allows easy access for reinforcement with fiberglass or epoxy. I glassed all of the joints to the motor tube. It added a little weight but is very strong. I added the old nut and bolt motor retention that has always worked great for me.

Finishing:
I finished my kit in the white sands theme of black and white. I used Krylon primer over the entire model and put several coats on the nose to get it to stick. I painted every thing gloss white, then added black highlights with either black Krylon or black Monokote adhesive to finish to scale. Lastly, I printed out some decals on my computer to really add scale qualities to the kit.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Public Enemy Honest JohnFlight:
My first flight was with a 3-grain Cesaroni Pro38. It really took off slow and realistic. After the engine quit burning the rocket sounded like a bomb whistling, which was really cool. The seven second delay on the motor made for deployment just past apogee. The 60" Spherachute deployed perfectly, bringing the big missile down without a scratch. The flight was perfect very stable and slow.

Recovery:
Everything was great with recovery setup and construction. Public Enemy kits come with very heavy nylon strap along with quality chutes. I usually put in larger chutes in all of my kits due to rocky area and altitude I launch from. (Thin air = fast fall. The 60" chute brings the HJ down real slow and soft.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

Motor tube out of the body assembly is a real bonus for ease of beefing things up and alignment. All I did different was add a bigger chute. I love the sound it makes during flight.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Other Reviews
  • Public Enemy Honest John By John Coker

      I wanted to try out Public Enemy's rocket kits after I got their catalog at a ROC launch. I like sport-scale rockets so I ordered the Honest John and SA-14 Archer kits. Public Enemy makes larger versions of both rockets, but I wanted the smaller ones so I could launch them at LUNAR ("H" motor maximum). Both kits use 38mm motor mounts.  The rocket flew for the first time at ...

Flights

Comments:

avatar
B.R. (January 1, 2001)
The only draw back to the Outlaw kit was particleboard centering rings and bulk heads. Particleboard is not as strong as Plywood and will fail much quicker. I know this because I am a PB and plywood salesman. For the money spent plywood should have been supplied. Everything else was perfect!! This review is very good.

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