What makes this flying model rocket interesting is its helicopter recovery mechanism. When the ejection charge fires, the motor kicks back, which causes the engine mount tube to slide out of the airframe slightly. This in turn, releases the flaps on each fin which causing the rocket to start spinning. Launch this rocket and watch it go up like any other model rocket. Then, just as the crowd starts to think your parachute isn't deploying, the Texas Twister turns over and appears to hang upside-down in the sky. As it remains in one piece from launch to landing, it could be used for helicopter duration competitions. An added benefit of the recovery mechanism used is that no recovery wadding is needed. There's not parachute to fold either. Simply insert a new motor, hook up igniter wires and launch again. The Texas Twister uses 13mm mini rocket motors, which are generally cheaper than 24mm model rocket engines, further lowering the total cost per launch.

Parts List

As is most often the case, this flying model rocket kit is sold in a clear plastic bag with a colorful face card.

- 2 airframe tubes with coupler
- motor mount tube with motor block
- 3 centering rings
- plastic nose cone with shoulder
- 2 launch lugs
- 3 balsa fin sheets
- plastic flap guide ring
- 3 orthodontic rubber bands
- fin marking guide (to be cut out)
- hinge strip
- decal
- instructions (6 pages)

Hobby supplies needed include scissors, CyA glue, plastic cement, wood glue, hobby knife, vasoline and sandpaper.

Construction

This model rocket kit is not difficult to build, considering its skill level 3 model kit. Be sure to read the instructions carefully and follow them and you should have no trouble building this rocket. As it requires the use of CA, it is not suited for younger modelers, unless an adult completes those steps.

This rocket is not assembled like most rockets. It is not your typical setup where you build an engine mount, glue it in airframe tube, attach fins, hook up parachute and you're pretty much done.

No, this is different, the engine mount has to be able to slide inside the body tube. Each fin has a flap. The nose cone is glued into the airframe tube. Things being different makes this kit a very welcome breath of fresh air.

It also requires that the modeler pays attention to the instructions closely. While building the review kit, a few mistakes were made (the flaps swing the wrong way). This does not appear to have impacted performance.

The balsa wood provided by Apogee for this model kit is of excellent quality, which makes building the Texas Twister even more enjoyable.

The nose cone didn't fit tightly enough to get the plastic cement to bond it to the airframe tube. A small amount of masking tape was applied to the shoulder of the nose cone. Now it could be glued into the body tube without a problem.

Finishing

While finishing the rocket, care should be taken to not get too much primer or paint on the engine mount tube section which slides into the body tube. The engine mount tube needs to be able to slide in order for your Texas Twister model rocket to have a fully operational recovery system. As you can see in the image on the right, there is no primer on the sliding part of the engine mount tube. First, a coat of automotive primer (Rust-Oleum) was applied. At this stage, the engine mount tube was placed all the way into the airframe tube. This was done without locking the flaps into position. This ensures no primer gets on the sliding part and all sections of the flaps get primer applied to them. After sanding the primer, a coat of white was applied all over the rocket. Here again, the engine mount was pushed up. We don't need white pain there as it is white (no primer). Finally, the yellow paint (Testors #921557) was applied all over the model rocket with an air brush. Try not to get too much paint on the part of the flaps which slide into the guide ring. The decal is easy to apply. It was applied in a different location than shown in the face card.

Measurements

This model rocket stands 14.38" (36.5 cm) tall and has an 18mm (0.736") diameter. Before finishing, it should weigh 0.62 oz (17.5 grams).

Flight Data

Apogee recommends the following rocket motors for use with the Texas Twister : 1/4A3-3T (maiden flight), 1/2A3-2T and A3-4T.

Launched with an A3-4T motor it went straight up and went quite a bit higher than expected. The flap system deployed fine. however it was hard to say if there was much of a helicopter recovery taking place. The rocket certainly came down nose first and not as fast as it would have without a recovery system. There was a mild breeze the day of the launch and the rocket used for review wasn't built correctly, which could easily explain why it came down a bit faster than expected.