CONSTRUCTION:

The instructions are on a single sheet and straight forward. These ignitors are geared toward "H"+ motors, however, they can fit into "F" and "G" motors too. In fact, I could get RocketFlite's ignitors to fit in anything with a 28 average thrust nozzle and bigger. The instructions also describe a method of doubling over the ignitor wire before dipping, thereby getting a large amount of pyrogen to ensure ignition of your larger motors.

RocketFlite ignitor wires are AWG 22 solid zip wire with a very thin wire bridge soldered into place. They are then wound into a very easy bundle that actually aids in the dipping and drying process.

The process is very, very easy! I dipped 48 ignitors in 15 minutes! No wires to strip. Just dip, tap, set to dry. The pyrogen's consistency is excellent. Very smooth and it adheres to the wire very nicely. Truly an excellent and easy dipping process.

As I mentioned, the finished igniter tips would not fit into my smaller 24mm RMS nozzles. When asked about it, RocketFlite expressed that they had just recently found a source for the smaller diameter wires. "This new size is half the diameter of what we are currently using. We will be using this new lead wire to make our new ML-12 which should fit most E composite motors on up . . . I hope to have this product available by the end of next month. We do a lot of testing before we release our products to the consumer. "

I am looking forward to this but in the mean time, I took some 30 gauge wire and my IgnitorMan Conductive Primer and followed their procedure, substituting Magnelite pyrogen over IgnitorMan's pyrogen. This made some nice looking and narrow ignitors.

Overall, for CONSTRUCTION I would rate this kit 5 points. The Pyrogen is easy to mix and with the ignitor wires from RocketFlite you can make these things so fast.

FLIGHT/RECOVERY:

RocketFlite says, "This highly reliable electric match is great for all your motor clustering needs. Because of the type of binder we use and our new reformulated mixture, it will reliably fire every time - even on the most humid of days. Once ignited, the pyrogen burns for approximately one second at a temperature around 6,400 degrees Fahrenheit!" This is their picture since I didn't catch one myself.

Their web site states, "Peak amp requirement for successful ignition is 5 to 6 amps with a minimum amperage requirement of 2.6 amps for 118ms. This electric match can be instantly fired using any Hi-Capacity 9 volt rechargeable ni-cad battery (Radio Shack part# 23-299)." I use the Estes Command Controller with two 7.2V batteries for a 14.4V system.

I have used 5 of these igniters on various 29mm reloads and 6 of the ones made with IgnitorMan Conductive Primer on 24mm reloads. The 5 on 29mm motors all light first time. I had trouble with one on a 24mm motor. It just wouldn't ignite the little Black Jack, however, I launched my three 24mm cluster THOY Snipe and all three fired perfectly!

I had a friend test out some of the ignitors and he reported back, "Seems I used maybe 10 of those ignitors out of which 1 didn't light and 1 did, but failed to ignite a G75 black jack. More pyrogen perhaps? I don't know. They seem similar to the Ignitorman product which I've used w/100% success (but I dip the pyrogen rather heavily)." Indeed, when I dipped these I was trying to make them as narrow as possible, so these couple of failures could have been from a lack of pyrogen.

Another friend tested them indicating, "They all lit and were reliable. In fact, I loaned one to someone to light his level 1 cert motor when his copperhead failed. I used them on my GTX taking off with tons of smoke on twin G33 smoky reloads. Also the big green Kiss Me I'm not Irish and my LOC 4 29SS on twin 29mm motors ignited successfully. I plan to try them on a 4-G rocket I'm expecting to get from AAA Model Aviation fuels this week. Also, they will fire off my clusters, 5 Flavors and Kiss Me I ain't Irish. I'm also working on using them to airstart clusters with the help on an Adept stager, namely, the ES231."

Rocketflite has just reported to us, "We have changed the formula since that last batch. It seems when more than four igniters were being used at once it taxed the ignition system so hard that one or two of the electric matches failed to ignite! We have since changed the formula which resulted in a much lower starting temperature. Once cured you can set this stuff off with a 40 watt soldering iron. Ignition takes place at 502 degrees F instead of 1190 degrees F. We have no control over the types of launching systems being used out there so we took it upon ourselves to reformulate. I fired 4 sets of 12, yes I said 12!!! ML-16's and every one of them fired correctly and instantly. We are very confident that this new formula will work reliably with any clustered situation and we also increased the amount of plasticizer to help improve its resistance to high humidity environments. I put three ML-16 in a steamer for vegetables for 1/2 hour and then immediately hooked them up to our launching system all three fired. ( a little slower than normal but they ignited and completely burned) These babies will fire every time!"

For FLIGHT/RECOVERY, I would rate this kit 4.5 points.

Overall, the Magnelite kit is very good. It is the fastest way to make ignitors that work.

I am also impressed with the continuous improvement efforts. Rocketflite is going after the smaller diameter igniter wires. They also as mentioned improved their formula.

RocketFlite say you can make over 800 ignitors with a single kit for a cost of less than $0.65 each. That is a lot of ignitors! I give the kit an OVERALL rating of 4.5 points.