The Interceptor: This rocket kit is the new release of the Estes Interceptor. It flies on 18mm B and C motors. This kit was modified with an ejection-gas baffle and Kevlar shock cord mount, and an Iris Altimeter Payload Section. After 6 months, it's finally ready. Construction went well, but painting using bargain-price Home Depot paint resulted in "orange peel" finish, which had to be sanded off - TWICE, and re-applied. The paint then reacted with the primer (SAME BRAND!!) and crinkled and cracked the finish. Re-sanded again and then used the expensive but acceptable Testors paint for $5 per 3 oz can. Clear-coat, decals, then 3 more clear-coats and finally it's done. With the generous glue, extra paint and the added electronics bay, she weighs in at 164.5 grams (5.6 oz.) and is 3.2" longer than stock. I'll plan to use the shorter ejection motors than recommended, just in case it's a little too heavy. Typically for me, this model only passed a string-stability test after I added 17 grams of nose-weight on the base of the nosecone. (Am I doing them wrong??) We'll see how well she flies, but she sure is a pretty gal!
We DID see how she flies, and it wasn't pretty. This model is grossly overweight. The baffle (10 grams?), payload section (19 grams), and the heavy nose-weight (17 grams) makes this too much for even a C6-3 motor. I'm going to send this up on a D10 just to see how well she can fly. Then I'm going to have to take out that nose-weight and see if it's stable enough for flight, I expect it to fly better that way. If it does not and it is destroyed, at least I'll have that one good D-flight to remember.
With the Apogee (Aerotek) D10 motor, this model has flown This rocket has flown higher than the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Singer building in NY, NY, and the Chicago Temple Building.
I won't want to fly this on a regular basis using the $10 apogee motors though, so instead I hatched a plan to add two small A10-3T boosters on the back, for a total impulse with a C6 motor of 26. The parts for the "solid-rocket-boosters" were obtained from two Estes 220 Swift rockets. I'm waiting to see how well it will fly without the nose-weight before proceeding with this plan. It would be my first cluster rocket project.
| Flight Date: | 2012-05-26 |
| Rocket Name: | Interceptor |
| Kit Name: | Estes - Interceptor {Kit} (1250) [2008-2011,2019-] |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | D10-5 |
| Expected Altitude: | 750.00 Feet |
| Wind Speed: | 5.00 mph |
| Launch Site: | Fort Indiantown Gap, PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 689.00 Feet |
Because of the extremely overweight condition of this model, the first-ever flight was quite disappointing. I expected to make good this time and prove this model could fly well by using a very powerful Apogee D10-5 composite motor. Since I knew I built it very well I expected this model could handle the extremely powerful ejection charge of the Apogee motor. My launch sheet showed that I expected it might fly to over 700 feet – purely a guess.
This composite motor lit well and quickly with a copperhead ignitor. Very quickly a six-inch long orange stream of fire lifted this model off the pad with a loud roar and an acceleration of 8Gs. The motor burned for 1.3 seconds with a steadily declining thrust, reducing the average acceleration down to 4.7 Gs. As the motor pushed all 198 grams (7 oz.) straight up into the air it reached a speed of 135 mph before coasting for the next 5.7 seconds. The ejection charge was a bit late – luckily – as the rocket was still ascending. The parachute ejected at 684 feet, stopping the rocket at an apogee of 689 feet in the next 2/10ths of a second.
The parachute opened cleanly and the rocket then descended at 9 mph. The flight was over after 57.5 seconds when it landed far across the road into the next field in very tall grass where it was recovered without a scratch. No scratches, but there was a three or four inch hole in the nylon parachute, burned clean open from the powerful ejection, even though it was through a baffle and a thin layer of wadding to keep soot off of the nylon.
So I proved this model can fly well, next I intend to remove some of the 17 grams of nose weight and see if it will do any better with a C6-3 motor in very light winds.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Apogee D10-5 |
Sponsored Ads
 |
 |