This year's choice was the Quest America, a simple four fin rocket that has been around for a few years (It was in the 2010 catalog). It was an easy build, going together quickly, and the two color paint job (blue fins, white body and nose cone) was not hard to do with Tamiya tape. One of my main gripes with Quest kits is that they feature "peel n cuss" stickers, which are a great source of annoyance - they look terrible and are difficult to handle. I much prefer water slide decals, so I replaced the white star fin stickers with Estes Comet decals that I ordered from Excelsior. I tried to replace the main body sticker with a waterslide decal I made on a color laser printer, but the decal was so long it kept tearing. This forced me to use the Quest sticker, which required some trimming (and cursing) to fit properly. I must confess the rocket doesn't look too bad; the white body tube seems to mitigate some of the shiny associated with peel n stick.
Here's the beauty shot:
Quest America (Click to enlarge). |
Estes Liberty (2011 - Click to enlarge). | Citation Patriot (2012 - Click to enlarge). |
Estes Yankee (2013 - Click to enlarge). | Centuri Screaming Eagle (2014 - Click to enlarge). |
2015 patriotic rocket done - back to other builds.
That Patriot is a beautiful rocket. I see pictures of them online now and again, but I don't know where to get one. Who makes them? Are they still in production?
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