Estes Saturn V Flight

July 19, 2019. As part of the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11's launch, I built a 1/100 Saturn V model rocket using the new Estes #1969 Saturn V rocket kit. It took many hours to build and every friend I had said "Jay, don't fly it. it is too beautiful." But it is a model rocket, so I had to fly it as much as my emotions kept giving me second thoughts.

Liftoff was 52 minutes past the (wrong) hour, but she flew successfully on the boost of a single Estes E30-4T composite motor. This is her only flight, but now she can spend the rest of her days as a display model after a 100% successful flight career.

Prior to the flight, I launched an Estes Viking to act as a pathfinder bird, to make sure I got good data on the winds aloft. With that flight, I adjusted the pad's position to help avoid any tree issues. Flight of the Pathfinder was on an Estes B6-2.

[michaelheitz]

Congratulations on your flight. But your video left much to be desired. It would have been nice to follow the flight of your bird and the deployment of the chutes. What the heck?

[alonespirit]

"It's still a rocket; needs to fly" I get that, totally get that.

[psalmsheepdog]

I could hear your excitement, yet concern to launch. Thanks for sharing your video and experience with us. Anyone who’s shot off a few rockets, knows the disappointment of losing one in a tree or for me . . a manure pond.

[AZAce]

I have one here in my garage I never finished building. It’s nice to see yours fly👍

[peaceandloveu]

My best friend at the time built one of those in 69, he was 10. It was beautiful. His Dad took us out to launch it. Man it looked so good for a second. Flames shooting out of the bottom it slowly started to lift. Only two of the three clustered engines fired. It reached about 15 ft. and nose dived. We were all crushed including the rocket. He took it well. It did fly.

[sfsfalcon]

Awesome, I’m getting my first model rocket tomorrow.

[stuartyoung]

I launched mine (a latest-edition Estes) on the same date (7/16/2019). I recently built a 1972-era kit - and I don't know if I would EVER have the courage to launch it! You're a braver man than me! Glad that yours came back intact!

[badgrendels]

Thank you for sharing it brings back memories....

[Steinbacker]

Four years since this one. Similar to a number of other model-builder guys - nothing posted in years. Sorry I missed out earlier. Hoping you are well out there and still building & launching. All the Best - Thank You for the videos.

[silent]

I think you need a couple of more cameras. It was more like a radio broadcast.

[rustyfan]

I love it, as a kid I’ve launched tons of these model rockets, in fact I probably kept Estes in business because except for a handful, I haven’t recovered many mostly one and done, I remember one of my first kits was a rocket called long john silver, was a tall one painted silver with black lettering, that one actually somehow lifted off about twenty feet and then blew apart, aaah the good old days, when launching model rockets meant spending a couple weeks building and painting it instead of just pressing the c button on your controller

[entanglement]

We all stay at some level kids forever, don't we? It's been many years since my model rocket days (bought a V2-ish rocket kit with three motors from an ad in the back of a 1969 Boy's Life magazine, for $2. The accessory kit (paint, etc) was 25 cents if I recollect correctly. Have often thought of showing my inner child and buying another one in my retirement LOL. Great fun it seems, can be had at any age.

[jojodiver]

Thanks for the memories! I was pretty heavy into it back in the 60's. Astron Alpha, Astron X-ray, Big Bertha, Astron Sprint..some others. My favorite and most successful one was my Orbital Transport. Flew it dozens of times. the detachable shuttle flew perfect circles. Then I built a Saturn 1B. Like you, it took many many hours. Four engine cluster. C6-5's if I remember correctly. First launch and recovery was successful. Second time a neighbors dog spotted it and destroyed it before we could get to it. I was devastated. I love dogs, but that one, not so much.

[ScaleModelKitReview]

Excellent flight on this 50 Anniversary! Congratulations.

[amys]

When I was in 5th grade I built 3 of the 4 estees level 5s. Saturn 5, Saturn 1B and Mars lander. Saturn 5 and Mars lander were my favorites. I like the boxes they came in too

[BasicModelling]

Glad to see it was returned safely.. :)

[clayz]

Nice rocket. I like the “guidance is internal”. Sorta tongue in cheek there. Kind of a nice vid. Got to see the take off. Nice big playfield or park. Green, very green. Lots of trees. Blue sky. A tad windy. Nice atmosphere.

[allgood]

Cool!.. I saw Buzz Aldrin speak for an hour here in NZ in 2010.. thanks from down under. 👍🇳🇿

[electricfil]

Great video and an absolute beauty of a rocket. For folks who don't know, there's not much to see in the air by video.

[joemomma]

JMC, nice tribute to the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary. I mail ordered and built Estes rockets back in the 60's. Couldn't wait to get my new rocket in the mail. I'd stay up all night on a Friday or Saturday night building and painting them and hoping the glue and paint would dry enough for a next day launch. Didn't know Estes was still around and making those things. Congrats on that Saturn 5 and thanks for bringing back some good old memories.