Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
Diameter: | 2.60 inches |
Length: | 38.50 inches |
Manufacturer: | Estes ![]() |
Style: | Sport |
Brief:
This is a single stage "E" engine, three fin rocket built for parachute recovery.
Construction:
The Executioner kit includes one 65mm body tube made of wrapped cardboard. There are three pre-cut plywood fins. A 24mm engine mount and centering rings are included, as well as an E engine spring clip motor retainer. The shock cord supplied is 1/4" rubber band material. The nose cone hollow molded plastic. A 24 inch parachute is included with the hardware.
The instructions are easy to follow and no templates are necessary as the fin slots in the body tube are pre-cut. No special tools were required for assembly. This rocket goes together as easy as the 1973 Estes Alpha beginner's rocket and even looks like an up-scaled version of the Alpha. All personal supplies were purchased from Hobby Town USA in Charlottesville, VA.
Due to the tremendous body tube size, this kit would be excellent for payloads such as an altimiter or camera. I did not want to use an entire package of recovery wadding on every flight, so I purchased a Flis Kits engine baffle kit off of the internet. This was money well spent. The baffle seems to ease the force of the ejection charge and definitely requires less wadding. Using the baffle, the rubber shock cord never burned at all during four E motor flights.
Finishing:
I had to sand out the fin slots a little bit as the supplied plywood fins were a little bit too tight. Estes supplies "Executioner" decals as well as a red sort of radiation symbol and several smaller "Estes" decals.
For finishing, we used some inexpensive grey automotive primer from the auto parts store. Then a base coat from a Testors small white enamel spray can. The color was applied with Testors silver and red spray enamel. Regular 3/4" masking tape as well as Scotch tape (for a finer line) was used in combination with newspaper to get a unique, but easy paint pattern.
Construction Rating: 4
Flight:
We used an E9-6 for most flights. This engine is perfect for the Executioner. The motor is held in by the supplied motor clip. Even though we put a Flis Kits ejection baffle kit inside the rocket two pieces of blue wadding were used just to be sure. A 3/16" X 4 foot music wire launch rod was used and worked well.
The Executioner launches are exciting and it flies very nicely. Each flight it was visible all the way through apogee due to it's size! Nice straight boosts with easy recoveries on the supplied 24" chute.
Recovery:
After four nice flights there was no damage at all to this big bird. I believe the ejection baffle helps in this regard. The materials supplied by Estes are good and this model is easy to assemble.
Flight Rating: 5
Summary:
Overall this is a good kit for getting into the higher power rocket motors. It is easy to assemble for anyone who has built a rocket model before. What I really enjoy about the Executioner is the slow lift offs. I was able to snap an "action" shot for the first time with this model. Its size allows the camera something to focus on. It doesn't just disappear into the sky as so many smaller rockets do.
Overall Rating: 4
Other:
After losing this rocket in a high tree, I found the body tube on the ground about a week later! I had to make a new shock cord mount. I used an old Bic disposable razor handle to cover up and hide the shock cord knot "bump" on the outside of the body tube. After painting it looks like a RCS (Reation Control System) motor or a LOX fuel port!
This is a large 24mm through the wall fin rocket put out by Estes. It utilizes the standard elastic shock cord and plastic parachute system that Estes is well known for, which in this case isn't the best option for this particular rocket. More on that later. The components are of good quality. The instructions are well written and in logical order. I found the construction of this ...
New "E" motor rocket from Estes. This is a big rocket at 3 feet tall and 2.6 inches in diameter. It has a single 24mm motor mount and uses a 24 inch parachute for recovery. Flights to 600 feet are possible. The kit came in one of Estes' infamous plastic bags. The kit included the body tubes, motor mount tube, coupler, centering rings, spacer for D motors, launch lugs, retention hook, plywood ...
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J.M. (May 21, 2002)
I also really like this kit. I found the construction to be a breeze as stated. I did make some minor modifications to mine though. I replaced the elastic band with about 7 feet of 1/8" nylon rope for the shock cord. I also tried an 18x30" mylar parachute from another kit instead of the plastic Estes chute. I removed the forward piece of metal on the motor hook so I could use 24mm RMS motors rather than limit myself to the Estes E's. The adapter provided works great for a spacer for AT's 24mm casings.:-) First flight was with an AT single use E-15, 4. Flight was straight up and very high. Estimated around 1000 ft. Ejection was perfect at apogee and it floated downward. I realized the 18x30" chute was way too big for this light rocket. The second flight, I used another E-15 but a 7 sec. delay. 7 sec. was too long and the shroud lines on the mylar chute ripped through 3 of the 8 holes. The chute didn't open properly and it came down hard. Suffered 2 cracked epoxy fillets and about an 1/8" zipper. Repairable. I fixed the cracks with CyA and also switched to a 24" nylon parachute. The last launch I went to, The Executioner flew on an AT RMS F-12, 5. Thick black smoke and she was gone! Estimated altitude was around 1300 ft. Once again, perfectly straight flight. ejection was just after apogee and it floated down nicely with the new chute. This time, I also used a piece of 9x9 Kevlar for flame protection as the 2.56" body tube is a wadding hog. I do feel the $32.00 price tag is a bit high for this bird although it is a great flier and could be radically modified for larger, more powerful motors. I'd put this right up there with the Big Daddy as an Estes favorite for mods!