Manufacturer: | Hawk Mountain Enterprises |
Brief:
A 38mm minimum diameter all fiberglass rocket of unparalleled quality.
Construction:
The rocket airframe is spiral wound solid fiberglass tubing. The kit included
the main airframe plus a payload section, with a fiberglass coupler and plywood
bulkhead. The nose cone is solid resin, with no casting marks. The fins are the
molded Acme 38mm fin canister. Motor retention is provided by an
AeroPak 38mm aluminum retainer. The shock cord
is Kevlar®, the chute by Rocketman, and Alan also included a Nomex® heat shield.
Alan even included the Acme conformal launch
lugs.
For a rocket that can break Mach 1 without a sweat, this is one easy rocket to put together. The hardest part is milling out the bottom of the fin canister to fit over the AeroPak retainer....just cosmetic. The whole kit can be easily put together in the time it takes 30min epoxy to dry. Just make sure that you sand all of the areas to be epoxied....remember, it's fiberglass, and has to be grooved. Because of the fin canister, this kit is as easy as the Estes E2X kits....I would consider it "almost ready to fly"!
Finishing:
What can I say? Solid fiberglass...no spiral lines, a nose cone without any
injection marks....this rocket is almost pristine. The fin canister is the only
part that needs a little work. But a coat of finishing epoxy, and you are in
business.
Construction Rating: 5 out of 5
Flight:
I've flown it 3 times now. I195J, I211W, I435T. The 195J came in ballistic
because of a bad ejection charge. Alan sent me a new airframe and it has been
rebuilt. The I435T broke mach. Because of the Nomex® shield, no wadding is
required. The flight was arrow straight right up to 5000' and came down quite
fast on that tiny chute. I'd love to see one of the bigger Kosdon motors in
this tiny thing.
Recovery:
The chute is small, but still tough to get into the frame. Alan suggests using
a twisting motion to slip it into the frame. I packed the cord in first, and
then the chute lines, followed by the chute. The recovery is very fast on the
tiny chute, but that is intended because of the super high flights. The Acme
canister can take quite a beating, however.
Flight Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary:
This has got to be the highest quality kit I have put together to date. Alan
took every great product on the market and put a kit together. The only problem
is that I want to fly a 54mm J800! Guess what....the Transonic II is the 54mm
version! The kits are, however, very expensive. But, there's always room for
the Ferrari.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Brief: A high altitude, 38mm minimum diameter, fiberglass, mach capable rocket. Very high quality parts. Construction: 2 fiberglass 38mm diameter body tubes. One main tube and one payload section. Includes a fin can made of high impact plastic and fiberglass. Approximately 8ft of 3/8" Kevlar ® strap, and a Kevlar ® reinforced Nomex ® heat pad. A Rocketman ...
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S.S. (May 1, 2001)