After adding 3 BT-55 external pods the Augmented Optima is ready for her first test flight using 1 D12-5 core motor and 3- D12-0's in the outboard pods.
Woo-WEE Now that's the ticket! What a pretty flight and recovery...Flew it twice that day and she's seen more than 20 additional 4D flights since. Still flying strong after 21years.
I think if I had it to really do over I'd add a second D12 to the core making it a full 5 D12 cluster, but overall I really enjoy flying this model with the external pods and 4 motors.
I recently bought a box of misc model rocket stuff, not knowing much about what all was in it till got it home, other than that it included a couple Estes launchers and several finished rockets and several unbuilt kits. I was surprised to find this huge kit that was not started. I had dabbled in a few Estes kits as a kid and then again with my young boys (one has grown up to be a "rocket scientist" at The Center For Space Nuclear Research (CSNR) in Idaho Falls,ID), but since those days had lost track of everything. I wanted to get started in the hobby again and thought this would be a good way to start. I had no idea what this big rocket kit was till I searched "Optima" online and found the Rocketry Forum and read the posts about this Rocket. Sounds like it is something Special and would like to build it as such. I'm interested in the addition of the external engine pods and what I need to do to add them and get that "extra launch thrill" I'm reading about!