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  #1  
Old 06-01-2009, 12:57 PM
rokitflite's Avatar
rokitflite rokitflite is offline
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Default Yes! QUEST Big BP Motors!

As I am sure many of the folks here will tell you; working for or even owning a model rocket company will not make you rich in most cases. But sometimes being an employee certainly has its benefits! FINALLY after several scrubbed attempts, Foosefest 2009 was a go and I got to test fire about half a dozen of the new Quest D, E, and F black powder engines. In short I will say they will be worth the wait!!! The only real instruction I received with the engines was “not to wear my best underwear when flying these motors”. That was good advice since I started with an F12-4. I was a little concerned about the weight of the model as I understood this to be about the same thrust rate as an Estes D12. We loaded the engine up into Jim Filler’s “Extended” Big Daddy which was basically a standard Big Daddy with a 29mm engine mount and a full 34” length 3” dia. body tube. The model weighed in at 409 grams without the engine, with the engine installed, the weight was bumped up to 511 grams. Knowing that an Estes D struggles with anything over 12 ounces and we were now over 16, we called a “heads up flight” and pressed the launch button… POWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!! The rocket leapt off the pad and for over 4 seconds rode upwards on a column of thick white smoke. What is interesting about all of the new Quest engines is that the delay grain burns loudly so instead of 4 seconds of thrust and 4 seconds of delay, it SOUNDED like 8 seconds of thrust… VERY COOL!!! A little after apogee the chute popped and after what SEEMED to be a close to 1000 ft flight, the model landed within about 50 yards of the pads. Beautiful!

The second engine I chose was the D8-3. I ASSUMED, as did the rest of us, that this would be a slightly whimpy D, and thus loaded it up into my BT-80 upscale mosquito which weighed in at 212 grams. I had flown this model with C11s so I figured it should be safe. The engine ignited instantly and blasted the model off of the pad with more force than I had seen in any flight it had made with a D12. And the nice long roar was very pleasing! The model went way higher than it had on any previous flight, and thanks to Jim’s advice; “You should point it straight up” (instead of a little into the wind), I had a 10+ minute walk to recover the model.

Craig WAS going to fly his Pem Tech Kraken on one of the D8s, but after we saw what it did to my Mosquito, we decided to put the engine in his heavier Neubauer Rocketry Orion II. The model ripped off the pad to a very respectable altitude and recovered safely. Another outstanding flight, and the delay time seemed spot-on.

Next up was my “Pirates Booty” rocket which had been waiting to fly for months http://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?t=1043 . I decided to go with the E12-4 for this model. Without the engine the model weighed 430 grams, the engine added another 87 grams for a total weight of 517 grams or 1 lb, 2.24 oz. Yet another flawless flight with lots of smoke and noise. These motors really sound “angry”, and that just adds to the coolness factor. I would guess that it made it to around 600-700 feet and I got more exercise recovering it.

Kevin’s Valkyrie got the next E12-4. The model weighed 360 grams without the motor so we were confident that the E would do its job. We were not disappointed and it roared skyward for another great flight.

The last flight was Jerry’s Standard ARM with another D8-3. The model weighed about 10 oz. and had itself a picture perfect flight. Unfortunately I was waist deep in tick grass looking for a model when it launched so I did not round up the photographers in time.

To sum it up, THESE ENGINES ROCK!!!

Below are some of the outstanding photographs that Craig took, and Kevin will be adding some youtube links to this thread later on.
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  #2  
Old 06-01-2009, 01:00 PM
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rokitflite rokitflite is offline
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Mo pictures...
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  #3  
Old 06-01-2009, 01:09 PM
jetlag jetlag is offline
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So, when is the availability date? Looking forward to these!
Great pics, BTW!
Allen
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  #4  
Old 06-01-2009, 01:13 PM
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Shreadvector Shreadvector is offline
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Estes D12 has 10.21 Newtons of average thrust.
http://www.nar.org/SandT/pdf/Estes/D12.pdf

SOOOO, it all depends on what the actual thrust-time curve looks like and the real mesured average thrust. And, as we all learned from the famous old C5-3 motors, long burn is not so bad if the initial peak thrust is HUGE and the sustainer is decent enough to keep the model from falling out of the sky.

The long burning FSI motors had a problem with the falling out of the sky part.

THe way those motors looked at NARAM-50, I would have guessed they had a pretty decent initial thrust (from a huge dome of burning propellant) followed by a decently moderate sustaining thrust (because of the large diameter and fairly small nozzle).

Once we all see a thrust-time curve we can all know the facts.

In the meanwhile: I'm quivering in antici.......................................Patio n.
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Old 06-01-2009, 01:18 PM
foose4string foose4string is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rokitflite

To sum it up, THESE ENGINES ROCK!!!




Indeed. As Scott pointed out, these things make lots of noise and smoke. Surprisingly, they produced a little more thrust than any of us expected. Obviously, they aren't intended for heavy, draggy rockets, but I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised by these motors. Good stuff Quest!

Since these were beta motors, the casings were just a bit too long to fit into a standard mount. There was plenty of empty space at the end of the casing and we just trimmed them to fit with a razor saw. It was worth the effort. This will not be an issue when these motors are ready for general consumption.

Scott, thanks for bringing these motors yesterday. Had a great time.
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  #6  
Old 06-01-2009, 01:24 PM
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rokitflite rokitflite is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jetlag
So, when is the availability date? Looking forward to these!
Great pics, BTW!
Allen


From what Bill said...

http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showp...56&postcount=13
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  #7  
Old 06-01-2009, 01:55 PM
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Jerry Irvine Jerry Irvine is offline
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I am thinking the increased diameter makes the initial thrust slug last considerably longer, perhaps 50% more, which is a BIG factor in liftoff safety. Most model rockets are over optimum mass to begin with, so this brings the power unit closer to the airframe unit on the optimum weight (for altitude) continuum.

Plus they are cool and the pictures rock!

Jerry
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  #8  
Old 06-01-2009, 07:25 PM
zog139 zog139 is offline
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Yeah have to chime in....................... I was very impressed with the power the Quest motors had along with the extra cool "crackle" during the delay train ! Of course I am also impressed with Craig's picture taking skills !

Thanks to the Zicafoose crew for their hospitality and thanks to Scott for bringing the motors and letting us give them a try !

Hopefully Kevin will get the videos up for all to see sometime soon.
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  #9  
Old 06-01-2009, 08:03 PM
Bravo52 Bravo52 is offline
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I like pictures....... yeah, pictures are good. I like pictures. No video.....Uh Oh, fifteen minutes to Judge Wapner......
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  #10  
Old 06-01-2009, 08:09 PM
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