The Executioner is one of the larger Estes flying model rockets. It is over 3 ft. tall and is said to reach altitudes of 590 ft on an E motor. When opening the kit, a pleasant surprise was found. This kit comes with slotted fins. This is the only Estes kit I've build with through-the-wall fins. The pleasant surprises didn't stop there, the fins themselves are plywood! The kit does cost over $30, so it would be fair to expect quality parts. The slotted, plywood fins had "build me strong to fly on composite motors" written all over it. During construction, epoxy fin fillets were added. A little epoxy was also used to strengthen the motor mount and shock cord mount. While not surprising at all, a less pleasant discovery was the extremely short shock cord. This was replaced with a much, much longer elastic shock cord. This rocket kit is a great entry into mid-power rocketry, it can be flown on Estes E engines without modifications of any kind. To launch the Executioner on E motors, you'll need an E launch pad (with 1/4" launch rod) and controller.

Parts List

The kit comes in a clear plastic bag. The face card is more like half a box. It has a front, two sides and a bottom.

- slotted body tube
- upper body tube and coupler tube
- motor mount tube with E engine hook, centering rings and retainer ring
- 2 launch lugs (1/4")
- 3 laser-cut plywood fins
- plastic nose cone
- decal sheet
- 24" parachute (assembled)
- instructions

Construction

Don't be misled by the "Skill Level 3" designation, this model rocket kit is very easy to build. In fact, the slotted fins make it very easy. No need to mark the body tube and it's easier to get the fins on straight.

Start by building the motor mount and glue the centering rings around it. Draw a launch lug marking line between two fin slots. Sand the fins and glue them in place.

Finally, attach the pre-assembled parachute to the nose cone and attach the launch lug. Apply glue fillets to the joints between the launch lug and fins. If you have plans to launch this rocket on composite engines, it's probably a good idea to use epoxy for the fillets instead.

Finishing

OK, I'll admit it, painting a rocket sky blue wasn't exactly one of my brighter ideas. The paint scheme (silver and black) on the face card looks really nice, be it a bit time consuming to create. As this rocket was built with only a few days to complete it for a club launch, an easy paint scheme was selected (blue and black). As the blue went on the rocket, it coated it well and looked really nice. No black paint was used.

As it turns out, the rocket is large enough and flies slow enough so that the color selection really isn't an issue. While the decals (two) look nice, they were not used.

Measurements

As mentioned earlier, the Executioner is over 4 ft tall, 38.5" (97.8cm) to be exact. This rocket uses BT-80 body tubes and has a diameter of 2.6" (66mm).

Flight Data

Suggested Estes rocket motors are : D12-3, D12-5, E9-4, E9-6.

For the first launch, an E9-6 was used. Wonderful flight. If you like bigger rockets which take off slower, you'll love the Executioner. It must have gotten very close to the advertised 590 ft. Actually, it looked like it went higher, which was likely not the case.

For the next flight, a D12-3 was selected. Again, a great flight. The 24" parachute is just the right size. Doesn't drift too far and two flights with no damage.

As the rocket had been flying so well, a composite motor had to be next. It performed beautifully on an Aerotech F12J-5 RMS reload. Delay was a bit too long, a 3 second delay would have been better in this case (angled launch rod). The ejection charge fired and disaster struck. The shock cord broke and the rocket came down body tube first and was damaged. It can be repaired.