| Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
| Manufacturer: | Estes  |
Brief: The Argus II was one of the first Estes Design of the Month plans that I printed off back in 2001. Six years later it was flying, showing just how quickly things can happen in this hobby. Not! Construction:
For the most part the Argus is a simple 3FNC kit but with multi-piece fins that give it some style. The fin parts were cut out of 3/32" balsa, then glued together with wood glue, set between two sheets of waxed paper, and placed under a heavy book overnight. Once the glue was dry, the fins were sanded and placed onto the body tube using LocTite Gel CA. Double glue fillets were then made with Elmer's Wood Glue.
The Argus II is a 3FNC rocket with a slightly more complicated than usual built-up fin set and an Estes Interceptor decal. The resulting rocket looks like a support ship for the Interceptor fleet and is a pretty decent performer due to its smaller size.
The plans can be found here. The parts list:
Internally the only modification made was to use a 36" length of Kevlar knotted and slid into a small slot that I cut in the forward centering ring. The knot was glued on the back side of the ring, and set close enough to the edge of the ring to allow the glue fillet to cover the Kevlar when the motor mount was glued into the body tube.
Finishing:
Tube spirals and balsa grain were deleted with alternating coats of Valspar primer and thinned Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish. Each coat was sanded when dry and a final coat of primer was applied before the entire rocket was painted with Valspar gloss white. To date, decals have just been the leftovers from an Estes Interceptor clone. More are obviously needed, but I have yet to find any that I really like.
Construction Rating: 5 out of 5
Flight and Recovery:
Both flights so far have been on C6-5s, due to both the bulky nature of the rocket and the size of the field I was flying on. First flight was on a breezy day and exhibited some windcocking as it left the pad. This normally would have been a good thing, allowing for a nice, close return to the pad area, but the parachute that I chose for this flight decided not to unfurl. The Argus still came back to the flight line, and for a moment it looked like it was going to be another of my ill-fated birds to find the access road on the first flight but a timely gust of wind allowed it to cross the asphalt. No damage was incurred as a result of the "parawad" recovery.
Second flight was on another breezy day. On this flight I tilted the rod into the wind and was rewarded with a perfect flight and a recovery just a few steps from where I stood watching and photographing. It rarely works that way, but it's nice when it does.
Flight Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary:
PROs: Very cool yet fairly simple design. Makes great use of the Interceptor decal sheet. Should be a great small field flier on a B6-4.
CONs: None noted.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
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Flights
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