EMRR's OOP: Honest John

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REV 2.4 - Tue Aug 17 07:30:38 2010

OOP
Estes Industries
Honest John

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SPECS:

19.22" x 1.325" - 1.78 oz

ROCKSIM FILE:

Right Click to Download

SpaceCAD FILE:

MISSING - please submit here

REC'D MOTORS:

Small: A8-3, B6-4, B6-6, B8-5, C6-5, C6-7; Large: D12-3

(Contributed - by Casey Smith)

Brief:
This is the classic Estes Honest John. This is the middle kit, between the Little John, and the Maxi Honest John. This kit is standard with an 18mm motor mount, but I put a 24 mm in mine. It uses parachute recovery, but I use a streamer for AT engines.

Construction:
This rocket comes with the standard BT-55 and the BT-20 motor mount. It has an engine block and a clip for retention, as well a rubber band shock cord and a 12 inch chute. It also has 2 centering rings made from cardboard. There are 4 fins, and 2 standoffs for the launch lugs. This is the plastic nose cone model, the original came with balsa.

This kit is extremely easy to build. It would be great for a re-release. The fins are balsa that need to be sanded and filled, but other than that it is straight forward. I did throw out the rubber band shock cord and used regular elastic nylon. The instructions are very easy to follow.

Finishing:
I painted mine the standard olive drab on the package. The water slide decals deserve a coat of clear to protect them when you are done. It looks great since it is an OOP kit and you don't see them all the time, just their big brothers now.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I used C6-7's on mine when I was a kid and they always went great. I use D12-5's now that the D12-7's are gone. If it is a real calm day, I put E30's in mine. I use a streamer for those, as they tend to be out of sight flights. This kit goes straight up, no problems at all, always flies great.

Recovery:
The provided 12 inch chute works great, but you may opt for a streamer for windier days since it is so light, and goes over 1000 feet on C motors. I actually designed mine without a engine hook so I could 2 stage it, but have not done that yet.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Excellent OOP kit that flies great.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

GUEST's OPINION:
07/03 - "I really like building this OOP from an old set of plans. I used a custom made nose cone (balsa) that worked out great. I also modified the recovery with kevlar. You can still build these...the parts are out there. Estes needs to re-kit this, if not for a limited time anyway. I guess you could say that about a lot of the oldies." (J.R.)

SPECIFIC ROCKET TIP:
"" (x.x.)

Date	Name	Motor	Ejection/ Altitude	Wind	Notes
09-04-2005	George Beever	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Up	0-5 mph winds	- Good Flight
10-20-2001	Bob Bernatchez	AT RMS E18-4	Just Past (1-2sec)	0-5 mph winds	- The 2 chutes got tangled, resulting in a hard landing. Will have to rebuild at least 1 fin.
02-22-2004	Bob Bernatchez	AT RMS E28-4	Just Past (1-2sec)	0-5 mph winds	- Great Flight.
03-20-2004	Bob Bernatchez	AT RMS F24-4	Just Past (1-2sec)	10+ mph winds	- Chute fouled at ejection. Broke a fin off at impact.
02-25-2006	Bob Bernatchez	AT RMS E18-4	Apogee - NC Down	10+ mph winds	- Got a good tip from a club member & IPMS guy on fow to reattach the fin on this model. Fix worked great, although I could have done a better job blending it in.
04-29-2006	Bob Bernatchez	AT RMS E18-4	Apogee - NC Down	5-10 mph winds	- Good flight and recovery.
11-19-2006	Bob Bernatchez	AT RMS E18-4	Apogee - NC Up	0-5 mph winds	- Great flight. However, one of the fins broke upon landing.
03-18-2007	Bob Bernatchez	AT RMS E18-4	Apogee - NC Down	5-10 mph winds	- Good flight, but cracked 2 fins on landing.
06-24-2001	Jeff Brundt	AT RMS E18-4	Apogee - Perfect	0-5 mph winds	- perfect flight; straight boost. nose cone chute had a delayed employment and their was significant hangtime on descent. recovered good
09-02-2001	Jeff Brundt	AT RMS E18-4	Just Past (1-2sec)	5-10 mph winds	- Awesome flight! (as quoted by a bystander) This rocket really rips on those white lightning motors. An excellent flight. Recovery was a nail biter as the NC and booster settled in the shrubbery near the field. All OK
04-14-2002	Jeff Brundt	AT RMS E18-4	Very Late	5-10 mph winds	- A great boost, however it was a victim of the dreaded 'bonus' delay. The main boosted zippered but recovered fine. The NC landed in a tree and was stranded for several days. I have it back now. Repairs will have to wait.
08-09-2000	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - Perfect	0-5 mph winds	- Great flight on a D12-3.
09-19-2000	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Up	0-5 mph winds	- Wind takes it and the nosecone lands in a tree. Borrowed long pole from land owner and retrieved.
10-18-2000	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- Good flight on D12-3.
10-19-2000	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	5-10 mph winds	- Another good flight, kids like to go and chase it.
06-14-2001	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- Lands near pad.
07-18-2001	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- Good flight.
08-05-2001	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	5-10 mph winds	- Good flight.
10-28-2001	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- Both sections land on black top. THe tip of the nose cone hit first but no damage. The bottom section hit tail first but again no damage, praise the Lord.
10-28-2001	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- This is a nice small field D engine rocket since it doesn't go very high yet the rocket is very stable on a D12.
02-24-2002	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Just Past (1-2sec)	Calm	- I had the rocket sitting on the blast deflector. Bad move. When engine fired, melted a little bit of the bottom of the rocket (plastic) and scorched bottom of 1 fin. Flew OK and landed fine, however.
06-09-2002	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - Perfect	0-5 mph winds	- Beautiful flight on a D12-3. Nosecone chute got caught in bottom of nosecone, nosecone flutter to the ground with no damage. Praise God.
06-09-2002	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - Perfect	0-5 mph winds	- This time both chutes came out and landed ok.
06-29-2002	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	Calm	- Nice boost but shock cord broke off bottom section but I caught the rocket before it hit the ground hard. Recovered nosecone and bottom chute OK.
09-29-2002	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- Another nice flight ona D12-3, both sections land close.
09-29-2002	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- Second flight of the day mirrors first one, very nice.
07-04-2006	Joe Cacciatore	Est SU A8-3	Apogee - NC Down	5-10 mph winds	- First flight of this rocket on July 4, almost out of sight on an A8-3.
08-17-2002	Tim Doll	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - Perfect	5-10 mph winds	- Neat rocket - impressive slow liftoff. Replaced the stock parachutes with nylon 24 (main) and 18 (nose cone) which was nearly perfect - the two pieces landed about five feet apart.
08-31-2002	Tim Doll	Est SU D12-3	Apogee - NC Down	0-5 mph winds	- Beautiful flight, I should have quit then but flew it later with the F12-3 J - big mistake.
05-24-2003	Tim Doll	Est SU D12-3	Just Past (1-2sec)	5-10 mph winds	- This one is the lawndart, rebuilt with a BT-80 replacing the body and tailcone (the nose and fins survived relatively unscathed). Now it's a semi-semi-scale... Still flys nice.
08-31-2002	Tim Doll	AT RMS F12-3	None - Unknown	0-5 mph winds	- Something went wrong at ignition - sat on the pad in a cloud of black smoke then launched with a roar to about 400 ft. Became a lawn dart as 'bonus' delay ejected shortly after impact. Could have been worse, I WAS going to use that motor in my Saturn V. Status: Lawn Dart
09-01-2002	Bill Eichelberger	Est SU A8-3	Apogee - Perfect	Calm	- Nose cone rebounded into upper shroud and did some damage.
07-20-2003	John Rowan-Stern	Est SU B6-4	Apogee - Perfect	0-5 mph winds	- Great flight, slight roll but neat. Good deploy and landed near pad. Some nose cone missing (balsa)Will fly again.
09-06-2003	John Rowan-Stern	Est SU C6-7	Apogee - NC Down	5-10 mph winds	- Nice flight. No damage, 12 inch chute works fine! 250' from pad.