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Old 08-15-2016, 08:46 AM
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Rocket Babe Rocket Babe is offline
Sci-fi Heroine
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Alabama
Posts: 117
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The size of the model and choice of engines doesn't matter. It's a simple choice of powering what you build and how you wish to enjoy it. Do you want low & slow, or fast and out of sight? How far do you want to take it, a simple cluster, or staged AND clustered? It all comes down to the builder/flyer.

I like to cluster everything. For the Estes 1/100 kit, it flies just fine on a SINGLE D12 under the RIGHT conditions. It also flies well on a 5 engine cluster or as an 11 engine 3 stage. Just determine what you wish to do with a particular kit and make the upgrades.

Clustering is not a problem with most rockets but what you must remember is that anytime you upgrade any rocket you have to upgrade other things as well, i.e. launch equipment and size of field.

Many people have modified the Estes kit, below are a few links for you to check out to see how far you want to go - or not.

Go here: http://www.vernarockets.com go about halfway down the menu on the left side and look at all 3 Saturn's. There are other kits that are clustered in various ways there too. Together they will all give you several things to think about when clustering.

Then go here: http://www.sears572.com/supersaturnv.htm and follow all 7-8 pages. (Doesn't take long) This will show you how we did it. I'm sure you may come up with your own tweaks for doing yours, your way.

As a side note and as someone who's built and flown for a while now, the main thing I wish I could get all flyers to understand is this; when it's all said and done, it's all cardboard and phenolic, nothing Holy. Rockets are not irreplaceable. They are not people. If something crashes, you rebuild it and learn from the experience. Crashing something you've spent lots of time and money on isn't fun but you always learn something, you still have fun building and flying. If you just can't stand the thought of losing a rocket, clone it. 99.99% of all rockets can be cloned.

Good luck!

Verna
http://www.vernarockets.com
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHJHOK6
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O14ET8K
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CX1UPCG
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