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: | 2011-11-25 |
| Rocket Name: | Vector Force |
| Kit Name: | Estes - Vector Force {Kit} (003210) |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | C6-5 |
| Launch Site: | Penn Manor School Lancaster PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 270.00 Feet |
The Vector Force has flown with an altimeter before, but this is it's first successful flight with the Altimeter 2. I was hoping to get some meaningful data on whether the -5 or the -3 would be a better delay for this heavy rocket. I have an answer, but not one I expected. The Vector, breathing heavy fire, took off slowly with a motor burn of about two seconds. The average acceleration was only 1.5 G's, but peaked at 5.4G's. Not going faster than 72 mph, the Vector was very vulnerable to the moderately strong wind. It started weathercocking into the winds before motor burnout, and continued to coast for 2.6 seconds as it went horizontal at 270 feet, then it continued it's arc downward. You know the feeling, seeing your prized rocket streaking in the wrong direction. Though it seemed like hours, the ejection fired on time 2.3 seconds after apogee, with the rocket having descended 75 feet to an altitude of 195 feet. I had confidence in the strength of the small, sewn nylon parachute and it didn't disappoint me. Once deployed, she descended at 18 mph to a soft landing a few hundred feet or so upwind. Flight time only 14.2 seconds. So which is better: -3 or -5 delay? I would always choose based on my expectation of the ideal flight, but in these winds that's only a farytale. No longer do I have to waffle on the choice. If it's windy, use a -3 because this heavy clump of wood pulp is always going to chase the wind.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Estes C6-5 |
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