| Construction Rating: | starstarstarstar_borderstar_border |
| Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Published: | 2013-09-24 |
| Diameter: | 0.98 inches |
| Length: | 17.30 inches |
| Manufacturer: | Quest  |
| Skill Level: | 2 |
| Style: | Futuristic/Exotic |
Brief
This kit looks to be a downscale of the Shrox designed Firefox-SHX sold by Apogee rockets (http://www.dynastar-rockets.com/Firefox.html), with different paint sceme and decals. Still a very involved little kit. It flies on 18mm Estes or equivelent engines, and just looks cool. I built 2 of them in tandem to go along with the Quest AerospaceOne rocket that they fly with. Kinda like how the US Air Force always has a couple of fighter escorts trailing behind AirForce One when the President is on her.
Components
This kit is built with Quest's standard set of parts. The motor mount tube is a little thinner than I like, but the quality of all the other parts is equal to Estes in my opinion.
Construction
Let's see ...
Kit pros: just a cool looking kit. Unusual in the fact that the main body tube is two pieces and cut at an angle, but it is that same feature that makes it look good.
Kit cons: Having to glue together the offset centering rings to thicken them up proved to be a little frustrating. My fingers were too large to fit inside an 18mm body tube after I turned 14, so using some kind of tool to sand the inside diameter is definately a need (thank you Dremel).
I had read other blog posts of this kit's construction before building my own, so I was aware of some of the Quest suprises like the need to flex your engine hook so it curves into the motor mount tube.
Finishing
I wanted my pair to look as much like the facecard as possible, so this ment masking the strake and tail fins, as expeted. The kit instructions were rather clear on finishing requirements, with one exception. My only "con" is that the decal for the "engine nozzle" was on the decal sheet in 2ca pieces, and in different sizes than each other. After applying said decals on one, I discovered that the longer one needed to be trimmed to fit, but it needed to be shorter than the short one. That meant the short one needed trimmed also. I put the excess peices between the diagonal tail fins, completing the ring.
Flight
Straight as an arrow and wicked fast. I thought a B6-4 would be a good motor, but both of them left the pad about a 1/4 second before rocket they were supposed to escort. Does anyone still make a B-4 impulse engine?
Recovery
Both rockets came down within 50 feet of each other. They had a little bit of shroud line tangling with the diagonal tail fins, but these birds are soo light that the belly landing they did resulted in no damage.
Summary
Good thing I got the two of these when I did as Quest has discontinued them. They were a fun build, and look good.
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Flights
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