The Vector Force: The Vector Force is a modern Estes kit. This was my first model I made as a BAR. It had very good quality balsa fins on my kit, thick and sturdy. You can see the design is inspired by air defense missiles. It is rather tall, but somewhat heavy because of the two reducers. Because it has two reducer stages it has two separate payload tubes. Estes tells you to glue the payload tubes, but why? Good idea if you want to be sure the rocket doesn't separate in flight, but why waste two very nice payload bays? I just make sure they are always good and tight with some masking tape. Mine is painted school-bus yellow and gloss black to better match the included decals. I added about 3 heavy coats of clear coat for a really deep shine. String stability tests with a C motor required about 20-ish grams of nose weight, but now it flies really straight up - provided there is little wind. The top payload tube has vent holes for a barometric altimeter. I've recorded flights in excess of 400 feet with C6 motors. This is my current go-to flagship rocket. I have tried some test flights with composite D engines, to see if I could kick this puppy past 1000 feet. It sure did! In the process, the shock cord was torn out from the mount. This model was repaired by installing a custom ejection baffle with a Kevlar shock cord attachment. Now I think she'll hold up to a few more D-powered launches and ejections. This rocket has flown higher than the NY Times Building in NY, and also the Chrysler Building including the pinnacle, and the Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta.
| Flight Date: | 2013-05-04 |
| Rocket Name: | Vector Force |
| Kit Name: | Estes - Vector Force {Kit} (003210) |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | C6-3 |
| Expected Altitude: | 420.00 Feet |
| Wind Speed: | 5.00 mph |
| Launch Site: | Halifax, PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 329.00 Feet |
Having spent an hour and a half this morning searching the tall grass for a small rocket, I decided it was a day for larger rockets only. The Vector Force fit the bill. Having recently reduced the overly-conservative nose weight on this model, I wanted to continue to test it on the much more affordable C6 motors.
As I brought it out to the launch pad, I couldn’t help smiling as I recalled how this model reached an incredible 282 mph using a $10 Apogee composite motor. I had hoped to try a C6-5, but the wind was just a bit too high so I opted for the more conservative C6-3 in case it weather cocked.
The rocket lit and accelerated off the pad at 7Gs. The 2-second burn averaged 1.7Gs, and the rocket reached a top speed of 76 mph. The lighter nose weight again kept this model from weather cocking into the wind too much. The delay was only 2.6 seconds, so the ejection charge fired at 316 feet, stopping the rocket very early. With the parachute opening, it took another 6/10 second before the rocket came to a stop 13 feet higher at an apogee of 329 feet.
The large, yellow Nylon parachute brought this model back to the tall grass at 12 mph, resulting in a flight duration of 21.8 seconds and a perfect flight. It landed a few hundred feet away, clearly visible in the tall grass. Unlike the two previous flights today, this big, yellow-and-black model was spotted right away.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Estes C6-3 |
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