A Quest Magnum Update

An email from Daniel Petrie - 

Hi, Chris.
I wanted to tell you a few things about my Quest Sport Loader in case you wanted to add them at the end of your series.

If I read your posts correctly, you got your Sport Loader a while ago. I bought mine just late last year, and it seems there have been a few changes to the kit.

First of all, the fins must have recently been redone. They are now laser cut instead of die cut, and there are not extras from an old kit. Also, you don't have to cut your own launch rod standoff any more - it's included in the balsa sheet.

The egg capsule is another change. It now comes in two pieces, so you don't have to cut it apart - and the pieces are clear plastic. Interestingly, the instructions still tell you to cut the egg capsule apart, so it seems that has not been updated from the older version. I can tell you I was not sad to be able to skip that part of the build!

Aside from that, I haven't noticed any differences in the kit so far in your build. You are right about the motor tubes - they're thin. I should have changed them out for some Estes tubes.

You haven't addressed the decals yet, so I don't know if yours were different, but I can tell you these were my favorite waterslide decals so far. They were nice and sturdy, but still thin enough that they didn't stand out like a self-adhesive sticker. They went on really easily, and gave no indication that I was at risk of wrinkling them or getting them stuck to themselves. I wish Quest had more rockets with waterslides, and that they were like these.

Thought you might like to know. Love this rocket!

Daniel J. Petrie

The Rocket N00b

Building and Launching Rockets - A Beginner's Perspective

Blog:rocketn00b.blogspot.com

Twitter:@rocketn00b

Youtube Channel

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Here's a link to Daniel's Magnum egg launch video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ3ty6JzZHY

Thanks Daniel,

I appreciate the information.

My kits were probably three or four years old.

I saw the newer clear payload section (nose cone and adapter) on the Quest website parts page. Mine was black plastic.

It's good to see the fins have been updated, it made no sense to have the extra fins. That led me to believe they were left over from another kit.

Those yellow engine mount tubes work very well like an insulator in the Quest metric 20mm tubing. By themselves they are too thin.

My decal were thinner than normal, I had to be careful transferring them to the model. There was some tearing and chipping on the fin stripe decals. Quest does a lot of business with bulk buys for school groups. Most kids would have a hard time with water slide decals.