Construction Rating: | starstarstarstar_borderstar_border |
Flight Rating: | starstarstar_borderstar_borderstar_border |
Overall Rating: | starstarstar_borderstar_borderstar_border |
The Stellar Dimensions kits looked so interesting that I had to try one. SDI has a lot of other kits like the Vector, and all are pretty reasonably priced; I paid $8 for mine from Discount Rocketry.
Construction | 3 |
Flight | 2 |
Overall | 2½ |
The instructions are poor, with only three illustrations. Also included in the kit is a brief science fiction story (that isn't very well written) on a separate sheet which would be better used for expanded kit instructions. If you've ever built a laser cut kit of any type before, you won't have any trouble, though, the pieces fit together rather intuitively, you'll only need to consult the directions in a few places.
Overall Length |
175/8" 448 mm |
---|---|
Effective Diameter |
11/16" 27 mm |
Fin Span |
4" 102 mm |
Dry Weight |
12/3 oz. 47 g. |
The mediocre laser cutting and poor instructions and materials offset the phenomenal fit, finely etched details and ease of assembly enough that I'd rate this bird a 3 on the Essence scale for construction, just average.
Engine | AGL (ft.) |
Speed (ft./s) |
Accel (Gs) |
---|---|---|---|
A8-3 | 160 | 105 | 15.1 |
B4-4 | 365 | 170 | 16.1 |
B6-4 | 380 | 195 | 16.3 |
C6-5 | 720 | 295 | 19.1 |
Flight tests were conducted at Live Oaks Vocational School on Sept. 10th, 1999 @ 10 AM, before solar heating kicked up any serious winds, though there was a 2-3 MPH intermittent breeze from all directions. Sky was clear and temperature was about 75ºF. My Vector's first flight on an A8-3 was better than I thought it would be, but it did wobble a little and burned the 'chute a bit at ejection. She recovered OK, though, with no damage. Her next flight on a B6-4 had a lot more wobble, and she weathercocked into the wind some. I used more wadding this time (six squares instead of three), and the 'chute was none the worse for wear, but the wadding didn't come all the way out at ejection.
These flights caused no damage to the rocket itself, though the baffle plates were covered with soot and burned ejection particles. With no real good way to clean these, they'll eventually clog up enough to restrict the ejection charge, but I don't know if that's good or bad. After these two flights, the engine compartment and top of each engine also had some soot, indicating a poor seal between the engine and aft baffle plate. While a standard, cylindrical wound kraft-paper body tube would probably violate some paradigm held by the manufacturer, it would solve all these problems.
Both ejections appeared to be very close to apogee, confirming my estimated CD of 1.1. On the second ejection, the nylon engine retaining ring came off and was lost forever in the grass of the launch field. When I got home, I cut off the ring mounting tabs and added an Estes engine hook, which you can see in the photo at right. I cleaned up the soot in the engine compartment with a damp towel and retouched the paint before I took the photos.
Though the Vector presents no more frontal area than a typical Estes E2X bird like the Banshee or Hijax, and weighs about the same, her rough, blunt leading edges and poor surface finish detract from her performance. The Vector's less than "stellar" flights, wobble, poor ejection gas management, and the loss of the engine retaining ring make me rate her a 2 on the Essence scale, needs improvement.
Sponsored Ads