Construction Rating: | starstarstarstar_borderstar_border |
Flight Rating: | starstarstar_borderstar_borderstar_border |
Overall Rating: | starstarstar_borderstar_borderstar_border |
Manufacturer: | Quest |
Brief:
Since my other MMX plans for the day did not work out, I pulled out a couple of the Quest Ready to Fly rockets I had,
paying attention to the ones that had never flown. The Little Joe II was up first. There's not much to say about this
one except that its an itty bitty plastic version of the Little Joe II.
Construction:
The rocket came with its own "Silo" launcher, one of the hallmarks of the Quest MMX series. I long ago
abandoned it and its finicky operation and use modified versions of my normal range gear instead. Besides that, it came
with a few motors and the rocket itself.
There is no construction. The rocket is assembled already and lacks only the insertion of the motor.
Finishing:
Neither is there any finishing. Everything is pre-colored.
Construction Rating: 3 out of 5
Flight and Recovery:
The MMX motor is inserted by twisting out a bezel ring at the aft end of the rocket. The motor is then slid in and
the bezel replaced. The next step would normally then call for inserting the igniter into to silo launcher and setting
the rocket on top of it but, as mentioned before, I bailed on the silo long ago. Instead, I inserted a regular Quest
igniter and held it in place with a sharpened twig as a plug. The rocket was then set on the rod and hooked to the
clips.
The launch button was pushed repeatedly and the igniter failed to ignite. I took the rocket down, checked things out, replaced it on the pad, and the same thing happened again. Finally, it was noticed that the continuity tone was coming from arming the wrong pad. I had failed to explain to the young lady at the controls which set of cables I was using. In a fit of youthful exuberance, she pushed the button and the rocket went up. I only saw it for a moment or so around apogee, admittedly a rather low occurring event. The NC failed to eject and deploy the streamer but the rocket fluttered down fine anyway.
Flight Rating: 2 out of 5
Summary:
My overall impression of this one is not great. I'm not a big fan of the silo launcher and the rocket is not a great
performer. I do, however, think it has a place. It is a reasonable starting placing for getting into MMX and could be
fun.
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5
Sponsored Ads
M.K. (August 21, 2009)