Estes Pro Series II E2X Booster
Estes - Pro Series II E2X Booster {Component} (009752)
Contributed by Lester Anderson
| Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
| Flight Rating: | starstar_borderstar_borderstar_borderstar_border |
| Overall Rating: | starstar_borderstar_borderstar_borderstar_border |
| Published: | 2014-03-27 |
| Manufacturer: | Estes  |
Brief
This is a "add on" booster for Estes's new "EXII Pro Series 2" model rockets. It holds the new 29mm F15-0 black powder booster engine from Estes.
Components
A some cardboard tubes, for the outer body, motor mount tube, a coupler, a cardboard thrust ring, three plastic fins, two strong plastic centering rings, and a Pro Series 2 engine retainer.
Construction
Pros: it 's fast. The instructions state that it goes together with epoxy, so if your fast enough, assembly will be over with in about 30 to 45 minnutes, depending on your epoxy of choice. Just make sure you scuff up all the mating surfaces first, so the epoxy has a good surface to grip.
Cons: The three plastic fins need to be glued together first. This makes them feel weak at first, but once the CA glue holding the fins together is cured, they feel rock solid.
Finishing
The pros and cons of this are exactly the same thing. Everything is pre-colored black, so no real finishing is needed. There is one white "Estes" sticker that comes with the kit and that is it.
Flight
I suspect that the F15-0 engine is not powerful enough to use as a booster. I flew this under my Trajector this previous Sunday (02/16/2014) and the combination started cartwheeling as soon as the rocket left the rod. The instructions did not say anything about wind speed safety, and my launch wind speed was only about 8mph.
Recovery
Kind of hard to describe a recovery when both rocket and booster were on the ground.
Summary
It's an interesting concept, 29mm BP engines in a two stage rocket. Perhaps the F15-0 engine needs to be a little more aggressive to achieve safe flight speed. My previous flight of the Trajector was on a Aerotech F22-6 composite in the 29-40/120 reload casing, with a successful flight and recovery.
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dhbarr (March 27, 2017)
If, for some reason, you want to put a 29/40-120 in there: you'll need to lengthen the MMT slightly, and also widen the forward end of the plastic MMT top-cone ( or leave it off entirely ).