Brief:
Single stage using three D12 motors, parachute recovery.

Construction:
Three body tubes, three fins using through the wall construction, plywood centering rings, 5' x 1/4" elastic shock cord tied to screw in plywood crosspiece, and 16" nylon parachute.

I bought this rocket quite a few years ago, inspired by a visit to the Huntsville Space & Rocket Center. I found the assembly pretty straight-forward, and made no modifications. I thought the engine assembly was pretty neat, this big structure of plywood & tubes - somewhere I have a picture of the engine assembly with the through-the-wall fins fitted in place to see what it looked like, if I ever dig it up I’ll scan it and send it in. The fins are pretty sturdy balsa with an outer edge of some hardwood glued on. I assembled it more than seven years ago, but never painted or flew it.

Finishing:
I didn’t go to any extremes of filling in the spiral weave of the body tube, or the joints between sections. I did use MinWax sanding sealer on the fins (a lot cheaper than AeroGloss, requires over night drying versus about 15 minutes though). For painting, my 7 year old decided it would look good in gold, a trip to Wal-mart yielded a spray can of brass finish that looks pretty good - could probably use a second can to get it really shiny though.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
Finally got a chance to fly the Maxiforce at CMASS/Amesbury, July 27. It was a nice day, light variable winds, and nice overcast to make it easy to see higher rockets. Lots of launches that day! Loaded up the Maxiforce with 3 - D12s, bundled up the igniters, clipped them up using my multi-engine adapter, and off it went - on just 1 engine, dragging my clip lead with it. Went in nose first, but at an angle and not hard, then ejected and blew the body off the nose cone. No damage done. All igniters had burned.

Tried the unburned engines in an Estes Impulse, and again just one engine fired, although it flew okay on just one (and both igniters had burned). By now I was thinking I had a dud engine, but it fired okay and launched an Estes Eliminator just fine. So now I’m stumped, and out of D12 engines (which couldn’t get my V2 off the ground either - jammed the nose in but good when it hit - had to slice the body tube 2" to get it out). I’m thinking of getting an Aerotech 24mm reloadable (or several) and trying that. After the initial case expense, seems to be about the same cost per launch - well, maybe a little more, since I can get E9s at $10.25/3 and E18 reloads are $13.46/3if you can find any in stock anywhere - but also higher power.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
I really enjoyed building this rocket, and think it is a shame that Estes discontinued this line. The large diameter body tube allows the ’chute to be inserted easily.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5