Kit Review: Apogee "Streamliner"
by Jack Hagerty, NAR#55105, LUNAR #002
INTRODUCTION
In reviewing any Apogee kit, I feel a bit like an automotive reviewer writing about the last Alfa Romeo sedans for sale in this country: Both companies were founded on the concept of selling high performance competition vehicles to the general public, both companies are still in business but both have stopped selling their vehicles in the US.At NARAM 36 in Houston, Apogee founder Ed LaCroix made the rather startling announcement that he was going to be leaving the kit business once his supply of material ran out. The reason was that the supplier of the phenolic tubing used to make his famous "black shaft" body tubes had raised their prices dramatically. He realized that his prices were already considerably higher than equivalent sport models and he felt that the market could not support the large increase in price he would have to make to compensate for the more expensive tubing. Still, just as with Alfa, there are still plenty of kits "in the pipleine" and many models can still be found in dealer showrooms, er, rocket specialty stores.
DESCRIPTION
The "Streamliner" is a high performance B/C egglofter which is essentially a productionized version of Dan Wolf's "Variation on a 2 Minute Egg" which is itself, as the name implies, a modification of George Gassaway's original "Two Minute Egg" both of which were detailed in the March/April '95 edition of 'Sport Rocketry'. In all of these designs, the egg is encased in a minimal capsule (a plastic Easter Egg on the originals and a molded "Nova Cone" in the kit) which sits on a long, tapering paper shroud connecting the egg capsule to the 18mm motor tube. At first it doesn't seem possible that this thin, single sheet can take the flight loads of such a relatively heavy payload but it does quite well in this remarkable design.The shroud does double duty both in making an aerodynamically clean transition between the large cone and the minimum diameter motor tube (keeping the flow attached thus the drag low) while also taking the flight loads with a structure much lighter than a conventional body tube. As a side benefit, it gives an enormous parachute compartment for that big Comp 'Chute!
BUILDING
The first reaction most experienced builders have when opening the kit (Figure 1) is "Where's the rocket?" When laying out the kit pieces all you have, outside of the recognizable motor tube and egg cone, is a bunch of flat pieces! Ah, but that's where the magic begins.
![[Kit Contents]](./JH_Fig1x.jpeg)
Figure 1. Contents of the Streamliner kit.
Building any Apogee kit is like attending a seminar on advanced rocket building technique. Ed's instructions are the absolute best in the business, in my opinion. They are of the same hand-holding nature as the best Estes or Quest instructions with simple, clear graphics and straightforward, declarative verbiage; but the things they're instructing you to do are worlds ahead of the simple kits from those other two companies! These kits are definitely NOT for beginners; requiring considerable care and finesse to be done correctly. Measurements are made down to the 1/32 of an inch and they require that you work slowly and deliberately. As an example of the "exactly the right tool for the job" approach consider that this kit has only 10 basic pieces (the egg cone, two spacer rings, shroud, parachute, motor tube, thrust ring and three fins) yet requires white glue, epoxy, CA, double stick tape, black vinyl tape and adhesive mylar to build! There are no less than 30 steps to put the rocket and egg capsule together then the 24" Comp 'Chute takes another hour to assemble all by itself; but when you're done you have a rocket that weighs less than 25 grams (excluding motor and egg, of course) that is capable of remarkable things.
FLYING
When Contest Director Kurt Peters announced the events for LUNAR's first sanctioned contest of last year, one of them was D Eggloft Altitude. He said that this relatively large motor size would give some of our younger members a chance to fly their Estes Scramblers on "D" motors and get some decent altitudes."Ha," all of us 'serious' competitors snorted. "Estes kits are designed for ease of assembly and to be sturdy and reliable when at the mercy of ham fisted beginners. You'd have as much chance of winning a contest with one as a minivan would have at the Indy 500."
Discounting that inconsequential competition, though, there was still the nagging problem of what motor to fly the Streamliner on. The only 18mm "D" readily available is the Aerotech D21, and anyone who's flown one of these little jewels can tell you they're a real kick in the pants for small models. I had my doubts that the thin shroud could take a wallop like that with an egg on top, so I contacted Ed LaCroix directly.
"No problem," he replied. "The airframe will take it no sweat, but the standard 15 mil fins will part company due to flutter. Replace them with the 20 mil fins and attach them with epoxy instead of CA and you'll do fine." I ordered a set of 20 mil "Waferglass" fins and even took the extra step of cutting slots and mounting them Through-The-Wall. Figure 2 shows the finished model with the greenish-yellow fins rather than the standard black ones seen in Figure 1. The black stripe down the side and around the base of the shroud is striping tape I added to smooth the raw edge where the shroud joins together to further aid the aerodynamics.
![[Finished Kit]](./JH_Fig2x.jpeg)
Figure 2. Finished kit with "Waferglass" fins.
When the day of the contest arrived, there were six entries: Two Estes Scramblers (Ha!) while I had the Streamliner. Larry Baskett had his own variation on the "Two Minute Egg" (Figure 3). He kept the tower launch of George's original design but he ran the motor tube all the way up the shroud to the bottom of the egg cone. This made the shroud just an aerodynamic aid rather than a load bearing member and increased airframe weight considerably. Chet Gyer flew an Apogee Nova Cone on top of an 18mm body with only a short shroud (similar to John DeMar's "Slick Chick" also detailed in the 'Sport Rocketry' article cited above). Finally, Jon Dunbar came with his own version of the "Two Minute Egg" flying from a piston launcher.
![[Two Minute Egg]](./JH_Fig3x.jpeg)
Figure 3. Larry Baskett with his "Two Minute Egg".
Both Larry and Jon had their fins strip at about 50 feet, just as Ed predicted. Chet had used plenty of epoxy on the fins so had no trouble flying to a tracked 1,450 feet, but a kicked motor resulted in the kind of prang/splat that spectator's love! The Streamliner held together like steel and boosted straight as an arrow to a tracked 1,688 feet, by far the highest entry. I saw the 'chute bloom, then watched with that sinking feeling as it drifted to the south towards the Wente vineyards, never to be seen again! So if any of you are enjoying a nice Wente Chardonnay some day and it seems to have a strong AP bouquet with notes of kevlar, fiberglass and epoxy followed by a fruity, aluminized mylar finish, you'll have found it!
Oh yeah, The winner was the Estes Scrambler put together at the last minute by 8 year old Travis Massey which was tracked to 1,100 feet on an Estes D12. Second place went to Lynn Kissel's Scrambler at 1,040 feet. There was no third place...
SECOND CHANCE
I was the CD for the second LUNAR contest of the year and wanted the chance to redeem myself so I included C Eggloft Altitude in the event. I bought a second Streamliner kit from Kevin Noland at Countdown Hobbies and this time I built it completely stock (Figure 4, note black fins).
![[Stock Streamliner]](./JH_Fig4x.jpeg)
Figure 4. Completed "stock" Streamliner.
Once again I squared off against Larry Baskett and his rebuilt "Two Minute Egg" and by the time we got around to flying Eggloft the wind had come up considerably. Larry's entry had a nice boost with mild weathercock, but his ejection went off a bit early and cut his total altitude to a tracked 652 feet.
Noting how far Larry's model was drifting in the wind (and remembering my previous experience), I aimed a bit up wind and traded off some altitude (still tracked to 775 feet) for a shorter walk, although I had to accept considerable horizontal velocity at ejection. Post flight inspection again points out how much luck plays in this contest. The chute opening must have been quite violent as one of the shrouds had ripped free. However thanks to Ed's excellent attachment technique, the line actually stayed attached and about 10 square inches of the canopy ripped free, dangling below the model. More frightening was the fact that the snap swivel (the lock-over wire type) had ripped open and only by complete coincidence had it snagged on the long kevlar shock line keeping the 'chute attached to the model!
Still, a first place is a first place and I thank Ed for making a kit that can be so competitive for a first time contestant!
EPILOGUE
Apogee is still in the business of making their high quality competition motors and, to the best of my knowledge, other components. There are still kits available but the ones using "Blackshaft" tubing (which the Streamliner does not) are rapidly disappearing. I caught a rumor last year that Ed was going to license another company to start kit production again under the Apogee name, but haven't heard anything since. The best thing to do is check with Kevin Noland at Countdown Hobbies (by phone at (203) 790-9010 or on the internet as 74640.3112@compuserve.com) for availability of stock, or you can contact Ed LaCroix as 71441.1111@compuserve.com to get his current plans.