I just received a motor order from AC Supply which also contained a couple of the new little Star Hopper. This little model looks like a bigger brother to the little Luna Bug. It is a BT-20-based 13mm motor-powered quick build that uses most of the same techniques as the recent “Beginner” level models that use a plastic fin can with slide-in fins and a screw-on motor retainer. As such it goes together like the Ghost Chaser, Starship Octavius, Illusion, and the new Astrocam, with no glue required.

Sadly, while the fin to fin can interface is similar to those other models the fins are not interchangeable with those others as they are a different size. One hopes there will be many more fins that work in this system.

One unique feature of this model is a wire shock cord mount which slots a Z-bend into the fin can at one end and lies along it and up inside the BT-20J-length body tube after the body tube is slid and latched onto the fin can.

Here are a number of pictures. I don’t know what order they will actually appear in, though they were selected starting with a parts picture and ending with the fully assembled model.

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__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

Here’s the Star Hopper next to a Luna Bug.

This Star Hopper came out a fraction of an ounce below the estimated weight. With a bit of luck it will fly Friday. I’m still puzzling how to get an altimeter into it.....

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__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

The contrast between the Hopper and the Bug is interesting - new age versus old school. I wonder if we’ll see upsized versions of the Star Hopper with 3D printed fins?

That is really cool, and another new nosecone for Estes. How is the quality of the tube?

Yes, a new BT-20 nose cone. It's blow-molded and quite light.

The tube, all 2.75 inches of it, appears to be a piece of the white BT-20 we see in current kits, with a factory-applied wrap.

__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE

It flies!

A10-3T is better from a delay standpoint than A3-4T. If I flew it on an 1/2A I'd use a 2-second delay, not a 4.

It gets nowhere near 400 feet up....but I don't have any real numbers to back that assertion up—yet.

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__________________
Bernard Cawley
NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member
SAM 0061
AMA 42160
KG7AIE