Estes Executioner Help Requested

What I do is cut a suitable hole in the shoulder of the cone and use a needle nose pliers to position the nut and washer for the eye bolt. Then I dab a little epoxy over the nut to secure. Works great.

Ted Novak TRA#5512 IEAS#75

Hey,

That sounds great. Have a Farm King store down the street that has all sorts of hardware. Will have to explore this. Thanks.

Kurt Savegnago

I can't recall if the kit has Ply fins or balsa. But at this point you'd have been better off buying a nose cone and cutting your own fins to fit the new TTW dimensions.

Not really necessary. I've built several rockets using LOC 2.6" tube and the Estes cones, including my Super Ranger and Maxi Windy City Special. Unless you're within a meter or two of the rocket, you'd never notice the shoulder mismatch.

The key to any of the nose cones with the plastic eyelet is to NEVER connect more than ONE thing to the eyelet. If you run a quick-link through the eyelet, then connect your chute and shock cord to the eyelet, and you haven't filled the nose cone with a bunch of lead or clay to make it stable, you will be fine. If you connect both chute and shock cord seperately to the eyelet, then at deployment the chute will pull one way, the rocket the other, and the eyelet WILL break.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

No problem here Bob. The fins are plywood and TTW. I just had to sand the root a bit as it was sized for 24mm. A balsa cone would be an alternative but I think I'll try your recommendations below.

Eh, I like to make it look as perfect as possible even up close. :) I still haven't had the perfect paint job yet but I am doing alot better in the finish department in my old age. Besides I like to play with putty.

Had that happen with a small Nova Payloader. Got all the pieces back and on that one, since it is so small, I was able to epoxy plywood in the payload section and screw in a screw eye.

Another way to look at it would be to tie the nosecone part way up the shock cord and run the chute off a link at the end of the cord. Might be easier than butchering up the cone for a screw eye.

I've got a dual-deployment HPR bird with an Estes 2.6" cone on it. As Bob K. mentioned, I didn't worry anout the mis-match, I just used it as-is. As for connecting it to the rocket, I took mine and drilled a hole in the bottom next to the hole that was already there so I could connect it up with a 1/8" quicklink.

Then attach the 'chute downstream of the cone on the recovery harness, so it won't stress the connection on the cone. That's all you really need. It's held up fine to H-180's, I-211's and one CATO.

I also have a 29MM Executioner that I connected the cone using the stock eyelet. Lotsa mid-power flights and one crash later, the cone is hanging in there fine. The 'chute on this one is also connected down the harness to take the stress off the eyelet.

Guys,

Thanks, Such a simple remedy for my stupid question. Was stuck with the "tie everything to the eyelet" mentality I couldn't see around it. Just keep the main deployment force off the cone is the answer.

Kurt Savegnago

J.A. Michel wrote:

6 CRs is certainly overbuilt. 3 is sufficient. 2 is enough. even with yellow glue instead of epoxy.

Yeah probably overkill on the mount but I figure the weight would cut down on the altitude. Have a friend who lives in the middle of a farmland area and may consider in the future seeing if I could get a waiver from the FAA and do some launches from there in the spring and fall. Will need to see a sectional chart and see if any airways are nearby.

Kurt Savegnago