If I don't forget, I'll weigh mine tonight. It's significantly underpowered with a D12-3. It's flight fishtailed and was considerably lower than my Centuri Saturn V, iirc. It was bad enough that I flew it one time and retired it immediately after. Back in those days I didn't fill spirals or prime under dark opaque paints like olive drab or artillery green. There was no heavy finishing work. The nose was just that heavy.

You will have better flights on a full 40 n-sec E15/18 or E28/30 Aerotech Composite.
All the 24 and 29mm BP SU engines from Estes are what I would call "barely adequate" for anything classified as a "Maxi Brute"; case in point, the 1/45 Little Joe II has ONLY the E30 as a suggested motor; ZERO BP motors.

I considered something more powerful, but you know, one of the most memorable rockets I had as a kid was my Maxi-Brute Honest John. Yeah, it barely lumbered off the pad under a D12-3, and there was that sometimes sick feeling in the pit of your stomach while you waited for the chutes to barely open just in time (they always did), but I loved it. It was always a crowd pleaser, I think because you could easily watch the whole flight close up. It was a real polar opposite to my desire to put the biggest engine I could fit into the smallest rocket approach.

I appreciate it. I figured a D12-3 would be stretched to it's limits, which is why I'm thinking an E12-4 would be a better choice. I'm not looking to send this into orbit, but I do want to make sure I can have a safe reliable flight. Your data point will help.

My Maxi-Honest John flew great on Estes D12-3 motors. If one thinks it is marginal on a D12, they haven't seen the Pershing on that motor!

Yeah, I don't think I'd classify the Honest John was marginal to the point of being unsafe or having poor flight characteristics, didn't mean to give that impression. But in comparison it was low and slow compared to most rockets. It always worked and flew up straight as an arrow. But it always did worry me waiting for the chutes to open. :-) Maybe more because it was the pride of my fleet and I didn't want to see it crash versus it being in real jeopardy. I have a Maxi-Brute Honest John in the works on my bench too, but it's an Estes kit, not a clone.

The Pershing sounds about like the Maxi X-Wing on a D12-3. It was a 'lob' at best. No time, really, for chutes to fully deploy before hitting the ground.

Next flight (and that was the last, 30 years ago) was on an Aerotech E. That was workable.


Earl

Mine is 11.8 oz including the OEM recovery system...and a lot of dust from hanging from the ceiling.

Thank you!

I have all three lower fins printed and one upper fin. I did print the smaller scale version of the fin Leo provided. For better or worse, I decided to go with the larger, it visually looks more proportional with the larger lower fins. The larger version weighs 13 grams and the smaller 11 grams.