Estes #2446 Mini Honest John
 

In the midst of paint and glue drying on other projects (with four days at home it is a luxury to build!) I have finally opened one of the new Mini Honest Johns. There must have been a sale at Hobby Lobby as I received three for $21.98.

The parts are pretty routine for contemporary models. 14mm motor mounts and no clip (which I will probably add). There is an addendum reminding you to add tape to the middle of the motor for a secure fit. Although I seem to recall a conversation that the motors are actually slightly narrower at the cap than the nozzle due to the press action.

Laser cut fin and LL standoff are in the bag, as is a very nicely moulded nosecone. Includes panel lines and a decent representation of the spin motors in their recesses. Very little flash on the mould line too. All the requsite tubes are nicely packaged without any compression - but then the largest one is a short 6.5" section of BT-50. When you dry fit these two you will swear that the tube is too short - checking on Peter Alway's drawing the airframe is about 50-50 between the JATO motor and the warheard/spin section.

The instructions are also consistent with the current Estes copy department - well planned and nicely detailed in the drawings. The construction sequence follows the logical progress to the completed model, and the painting and detailing section provides some nice suggestions for products to complete.

The decals are a little peculiar in that instead of copying the original two releases they decals have been innovated a little. Here some language issues from Guangdong creep in in that there is now "Fairing Table Data" to be placed at the tip of the NC. There are also now only two fin manufacturer plates (they are unique to each fin - check the current Exclesior Rocketry release for 1919 and look at the serial numbers...) for the model, but the addition or replacement of the warhead and airframe decals I suppose makes up for that.

The U.S. MILITARY decal is a curiousity I suppose given that the previous release supplied three U.S. Army decals with the correct stencil. I am sure that there is a valid regulatory reason for the change but it is a shame. You can of course recreate the US Army marking with some careful cutting of the supplied decal.

Photos when completed.

Hobby Lobby had them? Mine doesn't.

Mine had three. Now they do not. I will check after the holiday to see if there are more.

Bought all the ones my Hobby Lobby had as well....left one for you Dave. ;)

At that size, with a plastic nose cone, they may as well put a plastic fin can on it too...

Mine neither. I was just there Thursday and they had no new models that they haven't had for the last six months. Ended up using the 40% coupon on a Patriot that is destined to become a true upscale of the Alpha.

Build and/or parts pics?

At this point I imagine the balsa fins are substantially cheaper than an injection moulded fin can. A fin can with fins attached is horrendoulsy wasteful of steel and time when compared to burning the fins into 3/32 balsa sheet. I suppose with China buying up as much cut balsa as they can get their hands on (not to mention planatation seed plants) all our wood is going to have a decidedly eastern grain.

I suppose with China buying up as much cut balsa as they can get their hands on (not to mention plantation seed plants) all our wood is going to have a decidedly eastern grain.

That is a reason for me NOT to buy one then!

In paint.

Nice looking rocket!