The Shadow is a great BIG kit. I have the Optima, which is the exact same rocket. All built stock and it flys like a dream. Mine has gone up on motors from Estes D12 and E9 to AT RMS E28 and even a F39!

Some words of advice, however are in order. Motor choice is important with this bird! The Estes D12 is marginal for height! It will only get up to about 200 to 300' You can fly it like this in a small school yard with maximum inpact ( too the kids) but it has to be NO wind!

If you like taking pictures or video of launches, the Estes E9 is fantastic for this. Very slow liftoff with again ok height. Winds must be 5MPH or less! There should be a video at NARAMLIVE from NARAM-48 where I flew mine and Chris Taylor got a great movie of it.

With the Estes motors the launch rod must be at least 5' and don't launch if the rocket is doing any kind of swaying.

If you really have the room, the RMS loads are the way to go! The E28-7T is amazing! One minute on the pad and the next it is GONE. It is almost quiet with very little smoke or flame. Just a wonderful WOOSH as it tries to disappear.

The F39-9T is the most powerful 24mm you can use if built stock. You better have the room because this engine will take it high enough to almost go out of sight Great smoke trail, lots of noise and a real crowd pleaser.

The kit has some weak spots you will need to address before you build. Because of its size and bad habit of swinging as it decends, it will land on one or more fins almost every time. Mine was built stock with surface mount fins. Use the double glue joint method and get some multipul THIN fillets on them. I used Titebond II glue for the entire build. The fins will stay on just fine even with the strong F motor. They are also fine on landing with minor tip damage unless you coat the tips with thin CA. However, the body tube WILL start to fail right at the fin leading edge to body tube area!!!! There is no support there if you check the plans. You will need to add another CR right about where the fin leading edge will be or the tube will try to collapse. If you have not built yours yet, don't add the last (bottom) CR yet. Do the others and glue the motor mount into the body tube as per instructions. When it has set up add a tube coupler from the bottom so that it is up into the "weak" area. Then glue in the last coupler. Either way you will have a rocket that should give you years of satisfaction.

Mine has nine flights on it to date and is one of my favorites.

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__________________
Geoffrey

NAR 85416 L3 as of 4/2010

"There is never enough rope to do the job but it is always long enough to hang yourself up with problems"

Hi Mark, I'm glad you started this thread. I was starting to feel a little out of place with my rocket collection. Now I find I am actually way behind the mean curve.

Below are some pictures of my living room (yes, living room!!) where I do most of my building and storing of finished rockets. Yes, the wife is not happy but we are already using about 98% of the rest of the house for one thing or another and this was the only last open space to do this. Thankfully she understands I need an outlet for unwinding after work and so far is happy I am not at the local watering hole or worse!

I have since moved many of the rockets into some large plastic totes and into the garage. I haven't been able to put any cars in there in years and I have completely given up the hope of that ever happening.

At this time I have 123 unbuilt kits also in plastic totes in the garage in some overhead racks and I actually went out one day and opened each tote and marked on a piece of paper each rocket in that tote. I then taped the list to the outside of the tote where I could see it.

There is also a very large three ring binder stuffed full of copies of old plans, MRN rockets, DOM rockets, Barclone rockets, Excelsior Goonys and upscales of some of the classic Estes stuff. About 200+ plans in all. Enough to keep me busy for who knows how many years!!!

The built rockets are mostly Estes with a few Quest, LOC and some Aerotech as well. I have six rockets of my own design including one that I upscaled to a heavy wall BT-80 and used for my L1 Cert. I also made an upscale of the Estes Nike X to the same tube with TTW plywood fins for my L2 Cert. Right now I am finishing the rebuild of the 2.56X upscale of the Satellite Interceptor and finishing the paint on the 2.56X upscale of the Estes Deep Space Transport.

Since those pictures have been taken the fleet has grown with four scales of the Estes Hawkeye, an Estes original Deep Space Transport, Semroc Texas Firefly, Black Widow clone, Excelsior Honest Goon, Goonydent and Apogoon, QModeling Super Snooper, Flis Alien 8 and a streched and modified PML Miranda for duel deploy.

PHEWWE that's some spicee bunch!!

See you at the next meeting, yes?

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__________________
Geoffrey

NAR 85416 L3 as of 4/2010

"There is never enough rope to do the job but it is always long enough to hang yourself up with problems"

Dear Mikus
It only fills up a launch Pad if you have never been to a High Power Launch.
The PML Pterodactyl
The Scratch Built Alien with an Attitude
The Rocketman Praying Mantis
Our THOR Club 1/3 Scale Scratch Built Mercury Redstone, I am in the middle back row and my daughter Candy is in the left front Row.

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I just can't win.

I stumbled upon this thread and thought, "I have to show this to SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED" so she'll lay off of me.

I did show her.

She's convinced that I have "rigged" this whole thread and that the photos are from my secret stash.


I WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just can't win.

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

Well, to disprove THAT theory..Show her these pictures of my 'stash'





By the way, rent is due on your storage room....

__________________
Jon
SAM #0396
BAR 02/07
NAR 86940
KF4GUL
Aim high, fly straight!

She has been shown but it is to no avail. Unfortunately, that room looks suspiciously like one of the bedrooms in a duplex I owned and have leased to my nephew. Part of the lease conditions are that I get to use the garage as my rocket shop and have free access to the plumbing facilities whenever I wish. Sometimes I raid the fridge also (wouldn't want that stuff to go bad and you KNOW how college students live.)

Now my wife believes that I have unfairly stolen the use of one of his rooms and ruined his chances of finding a roomate to share expenses with. She absolutely refuses to go and look for herself because she's afraid "she might catch something." She remembers how clean I kept my hobby area when I pursued it here in the house and the less said about how I keep my office, the better.

Like I said, I just can't win!

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

I almost forgot. The multiple Star Trek kits and the Interceptor pretty well sealed my fate. She remembers all too clearly my trying to explain that they were prizes for a contest by my NAR section. She was the one that answered the door when they came in.

__________________
John A. Lee O.S.L.
Alamo Rocketeers NAR Section 661
NAR 87285, L1 8 March 2008
TRA 03040, L1 8 March 2008
Photos of the "Fleet": http://www.flickr.com/photos/23694991@N03/

I used to tell Mom, "...I want to fly rockets when I grow up!"

She said, "Make up your mind, you can't do both!"

Ah John, you totally forgot the 11th comandment: "Thou shall not take up bedroom/storeroom/kitchen space with rockets. Keep holy the kitchen table, end tables, coffee table, for wood, superglue and balsa dust are abominations to thy wife's eyes."

Don't ask how I know this stuff.

I now have my own space to work from....right next to the litter box.

__________________
Enjoy life, it has an expiration date.

That sounds REALLY familiar.

Are you sure you haven't been to my house?

Huh. I sanded a nose cone at the dining room table last night. Of course, I laid out a newspaper to catch the dust, and cleaned up after myself.

Maybe that last bit is y'all's problem...

__________________
NAR # 115523
Once upon a better day... SAM #0076
My site: http://rocketry.gonnerman.org