Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Manufacturer: | Estes |
Brief:
This is a single stage low power kit. It has a very unique appearance. Some people like t' look while others think
it's one o' t' ugliest rockets ever made.
Construction:
Parts List:
Finishing:
Finishin' be fairly straight forward. Begad! I used sandin' sealer on t' balsa areas and primed t' entire rocket with
Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Gray Wet or Dry Sandable® primer.
T' body paintin' was fairly easy bein' silver and white. T' nosecone takes some additional care since it calls for white, ya bilge rat, gold, silver and black t' be applied t' t' various sides o' this multi surfaced nose cone. Blimey! Blimey! It's hard to really call it a nose cone since it looks like none that I have seen before. Avast! In t' end I used Testors enamel for the gold and black sections and it came out very nicely.
I did have some problems with one o' t' solar panel decals. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! I applied all o' t' decals without too much difficulty but went back t' try and fix t' position o' one o' t' solar panel decals and it promptly started t' fall apart. I be able t' fix things for t' most part but if you look close you can see that a few bits and pieces are missing.
Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5
Flight:
I've flown this rocket four times on Estes C6-3 engines. I didn't want t' go with t' B6-4 since I have heard that it
can be a nail bitin' flight if this rocket doesn't grab enough altitude.
Each flight was made in perfect t' near perfect conditions i.e. Avast, me proud beauty! no wind. It flew well on three o' t' four flights. Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! One one flight t' chute tangled and it came down quickly. It be close enough t' t' pad that I snatched it before it hit t' ground so no damange ensued. I'm bad at estimatin' altitude but I would guess that each flight the rocket be in t' 200-300 foot range.
Recovery:
T' flights were great and t' rocket is a big hit with spectators due t' it's unique appearance.
Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5
Summary:
This is a great OOP Estes kit. Aye aye! Blimey! I really wish that Estes would brin' this one back. I know some think it's ugly but I
think it's a beautiful old classic and I would really like t' build another.
Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5
Other:
One tip I would empart t' anyone wantin' t' build this old kit. Rember that t' waterslide decals are old and
probably nay as durable as they once were. Treat them with care and don't manipulate them any more than you have to.
They can and do start t' come apart after too much handling.
Brief: I chose this rocket because I was sick of all the "normal" looking rockets. In New Zealand, only Quest and SOME Estes kits are available, and a look through what was available in NZ made me realize that, on the most part, they all looked the same. Then I came across this little beast! A very unusual "rocket" indeed. Looks just like its full-sized counterpart, ...
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