Another venture into rocket recycling: starting with my poor Estes Mean Machine which was shoddily-built and landed in a tree on its first and only flight; subjected to a decade of poor storage ever since.




Since I have no desire to restore it: I've marked it for chopping into two BT lengths: 30", and 24". The former will become this rocket, which I sketched up last night in Photoshop (view in separate tab):


The fins and profile are being salvaged off a rocket I built for my Exploring Tech class in my junior year of HS back in 2007. Named "Firehawk"; it flew the highest since I was the only one with actual rocketry experience, but crashed spectacularly due to motor mount failure - they wouldn't let me use serious rocketry components beyond balsa wood, so it was cobbled together from a wrapping paper tube, plastic straw launch lug, cardstock for the motor mount, styrofoam for the nose cone (coated in glue to protect it from paint), rubber bands for a shock cord, and trash bag for a parachute. The tube was just a bit wider than BT-60, which this rocket will be based off, but will retain the original length.



To avoid confusion with my Estes Firehawk, I've opted to rename it after the obvious:

Mmmm acetone where've you been all my life? Less than an hour's time I had the lower 30" of the ex-Mean Machine cut, stripped, and sanded bare with time to clean up the donor fins off the old Firehawk.


I do believe I saw the NC-60 pack at my LHS the other week so I'll stop in and pick up the cone tomorrow. Otherwise since we're re-using the MM from the Mean Machine I think I can have this done and ready for filling tomorrow night.

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[jonrevProjects]

I liked the GT V6 version a lot better. But the regular 4cyl version was fun to put out after it caught on fire. Your rocket probably won't catch fire, though.

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I love sanding.

^Like its namesake, it probably won't catch fire at all if the owner isn't an idiot.

(PSA: fires only affected the 1984 model year - a combination of running low on oil from the factory, about 200 cars getting out with defective connecting rods, and overly-aggressive driving. All were recalled to have additional heat shields installed. Of 370k Fieros built, not even a full-percentage caught fire - they were, in fact, the safest car ever crash tested without airbags; only beat by the Volvo wagon which had them.)

My town's hobby shop (as usual) failed me with a nose cone and I've given up on them as they're really a bike shop with a barely-stocked spinning rack of 3/4fnc kits and engines, but I did get the body filled and fins on, tonight. Might cannibalize one of my mothballed Estes Patriots for a nose cone.

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[jonrevProjects]

All the defective ones must have been shipped to TN. I put out several myself, so one would figure the law of averages would indicate more than a fraction of a percent.

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I love sanding.

The number ranges from the 130s to 260 (the NHSTA recieved 135 reports, far as I can tell) - neither of which make a full-percent. Any of them catching fire, now, is due to age or accumulation of leaves and crap in the HVAC blower up front.

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[jonrevProjects]

I'm just talking about mid 80's and maybe into the very early 90's. I don't think I've seen one on the road around here since then. Considering there never were many around here, the percentage was pretty high, but as a whole, it's probably not much higher than most other cars within the first few years of service.

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I love sanding.

Still alot of them up here - we had almost 80 attend the local annual gathering last Sunday. This shot's from a couple years back, but had roughly the same turnout.


Went to a nearby Ace Hardware that strangely always had an amazing rocket selection - their parts selection has vanished since I last looked, but I still found a clearanced Stormcaster that takes care of my NC and LL deficiency. I can probably also use the motor mount in my queued Renegade clone, which will use what's left of the Mean Machine tube and NC.




On an unrelated note: that particular Ace is still just as dangerous to my wallet as I remember...

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[jonrevProjects]

Nice work! On an unrelated note, do you still do the Halloween decorations per your photos from several years ago? Using The Beast coaster idea?

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SAM #0354

^Yeah; based on the Demon, actually. Setup will be getting underway in a couple weeks.


Did more filling and priming last night, still needs another round of both, but today I put the laundry on and flight prepped it for testing tomorrow with a C11-3 and D12-5 if the former works OK. Tomorrow has ideal weather for the Astrocam so I'll take advantage of it.

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[jonrevProjects]