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Old 09-25-2016, 02:44 PM
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georgegassaway georgegassaway is offline
Contest, Sport, it's all good......
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
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I saw and used some Estes B14’s in 1970-71. Neat motors but I preferred C6’s when I wanted more than a B6.

But for contest flying I did use a few Centuri B14’s around 1973. They SUCKED. Did not perform at all like the old Estes B14 from years before. IIRC a 2-stage egglofter of B14-0 to B4-6 took off more like a B4-0 booster (no typo, I do mean it did not even seem to take off as fast as a B6-0 would have).

Having found out later about at least one explosion at Estes during B14 core drilling, killing a worker, I wonder if the Centuri B14’s of that time period (1973-ish) were either not drilled or otherwise made differently to avoid the drilling. Obviously they were made on the same machines as Estes but they definitely did not perform like the 1970-era Estes B14. I also do not think the later Estes B14’s performed the same, either.

So, I think your test is too much Apples and Potatoes.

A really good test would be an old 1970-ish Estes B14 vs B6 of the similar time period, or at least an old Estes B14 since the B6 has not changed too much in thrust profile over the years.
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