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Old 08-26-2012, 06:43 PM
tfischer tfischer is offline
Craftsman
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 202
Default Estes Skywinder repairs

Hi all, been awhile since I've posted here. Hope all is well with everyone.

After about 15 years of successful launches (and some not-so-successful, but easily repairable), my trusty Estes Skywinder had a really hard fall today. Launched it for a group of kids (after they all launched some Fliskits DooDads that we all built together, every single one of them worked beautifully) and not sure what happened but the rotors never activated, and the poor thing lawn-darted right onto an all-weather track. The top 3" or so of the nose cone shattered, and the body tube bent into a lovely "Z" shape.

Since this rocket never failed to impress (heck, people were impressed even with this "final" launch lol) I'd like to rebuild or replace it. But its been OOP now for at least a decade.

So my questions:
1) Anyone have a kit, new or used, assembled or not, they're willing to sell, or can point me to one for sale?
2) Barring that, any advice on how to get this bird to fly again? I think I can cobble together a nose code repair (possibly fiberglass mesh/repair compound? It's a heavy nose anyway...) but I'm at a loss about the body tube. It was a narrow diameter (since the rotor blades fit around it to make the rocket of a diameter somewhere between a BT-20 and BT-30) and was much thicker than a standard body tube.

Whether or not this one flies again (I sure hope it does), I'd be interested in everyone's advice on a new helicopter-recovery rocket that's as reliable and easy to use as this Skywinder was.

Thanks!
-Tim
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