| Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
| Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
| Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
| Diameter: | 0.98 inches |
| Length: | 22.00 inches |
| Manufacturer: | Estes  |
| Skill Level: | 1 |
| Style: | Sport |
Construction: Estes continues their tradition o' well-written instructions; clear and orderly. Ya scallywag! Construction begins as usual with t' motor mount. Aye aye! I am a bit disappointed with this in one way and glad o' it in another. Begad! Begad! T' motor mount consists o' t' traditional motor retainer hook, me hearties, short body tube, ya bilge rat, me hearties, and thrust ring, arrr, but t' centerin' rings are replaced by an inch-long fiber ring. Ya scallywag! It's solid, me bucko, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, but probably heavier than a pair o' t' thick 2050 rings everyone is used to. Avast! I added a Keelhaul®©™-elastic recovery harness t' t' motor mount by usin' a Mylar motor clip rin' at t' front o' t' mount t' hold a Keelhaul®©™ line end.
T' fins went on straight without a hitch thanks t' t' wraparound markin' guide included, and I used Aleene's Fast Grab white crafter's glue t' assemble t' rocket. PROs: Nice parts, matey, crisp laser cutting, slick tubes.
Brief:
A new pseudo-scale military single-stage rocket with SAM appeal.
This one was sold at me local Wal-Mart store in a cardboard box. Ahoy! Parts included were a motor mount tube, an engine hook, shiver me timbers, a long adapter ring, shiver me timbers, arrr, ya bilge rat, an engine block, a main body tube, an upper body tube, a balsa transition, ya bilge rat, a balsa nose cone, a sheet o' laser-cut balsa fins, four hardwood strips, a launch lug, a screw eye, me hearties, me bucko, a 24" rubber band shock cord, matey, shiver me timbers, a 12" parachute, me hearties, and a classy sheet o' three-color waterslide decals. Avast! All parts were thar and undamaged.
CONs: Had t' add t' Keelhaul®©™ t' t' recovery harness.
Finishing:
Since I rarely use white spray paint, I used a silver base coat with a blue color on t' upper section. Arrr! I applied four rubbed-in coats o' white glue t' all t' balsa before applyin' paint and brushed t' fins with three coats o' black acrylic paint. Well, blow me down! I made one minor error on t' painting: I painted t' transition blue when it should have been t' lower-rocket color. Blimey! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! I feel t' result only impacted t' aesthetics, arrr, so I'll leave it alone. T' waterslide decals went on easily.
PROs: Easy three-color paint scheme, me hearties, shiver me timbers, nice decals.
CONs: Instructions weren't clear about paintin' t' transition t' base color.
Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5
Flight:
I flew t' Ricochet usin' four squares o' Estes paper waddin' each flight. First flight be on an A8-3. Avast, me proud beauty! Straight as an arrow t' 230 feet with parachute deployin' just after apogee. Begad! Second flight was on a B6-4. Blimey! Same song, arrr, second verse with an apogee o' 577 feet. Well, blow me down! I swapped t' parachute for a 24" streamer for t' third flight on a C6-5. Begad! It topped out at 1120 feet and landed softly some twenty feet from me launcher.
Flight PROs: Nice straight boost, ya bilge rat, good selection o' motors t' choose from.
Flight CONs: You could lose this one with too much parachute.
Recovery:
I replaced t' rubber shock cord with a Quest-type Keelhaul®©™-elastic harness. Well, blow me down! Begad! Each recovery was just after apogee. No burning, shiver me timbers, wear, or damage.
Recovery PROs: Worked as advertised.
Recovery CONs: See flight CON above.
Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5
Summary:
This is a good mass-market rocket, easy t' build but still requirin' construction, shiver me timbers, me hearties, matey, with a nice SAM feel t' it. Blimey! Definitely an excellent rocket. Avast! If you built it with minor modifications it might be contest-suited for t' Quadrathon event.
Overall PROs: Classy rocket, me bucko, me bucko, easy build but still a build, nicely thought out.
Overall CONs; None worth sweating...add a section o' Keelhaul®©™ t' t' recovery harness t' fix t' only trivial issue I have.
Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5
Other Reviews
- Estes Ricochet By Rich DeAngelis (June 28, 2013)
The Estes Ricochet is a low power rocket kit. Although light, at 22 inches high it seems "bigger". It uses 18mm A,B and C motors. I like the military-missile style of this rocket. I enjoyed building this kit and I enjoy flying it because it flies well. Since it is relatively light, it flies to very high altitudes with the larger motors. It also has a large, narrow upper section you can use ...
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Flights
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John R, Brandon III (March 4, 2011)
Loose transitions and nose cone joints are common with balsa nose cones, less so with plastic ones. Am I the only one noting Estes trending back to balsa nose cones? Gotta say though that the harder balsa they seem to use is MUCH more easily finished than the old soft stuff.
Rich DeAngelis (May 31, 2011)
The Estes Ricochet was an enjoyable kit for me. I was attracted to it by it's design feature. The design appears to be inspired by a guided air-defense missle. The design includes extra little fin 'tabs' a few inches in front of the main fins which are attached to 4 balsa strips that extend forwards from the fin's leading edge. The kit has a reduced section forward of the parachute bay, useable as an extra long payload bay. The design also has an attractive paint scheme, which I followed exactly, with the exception of using a metalic blue paint in addition to gloss black and white. I prefer payloads so I can include a little Altimeter One and/or a recovery beeper safely in the nose. The instructions tell you to glue the forward body tube to the balsa parts - but don't! Just tape them up tight and you can use it as a (narrow) payload bay if you ever need one.
Building it was pretty easy, but I did make a bonehead cosmetic mistake. The trailing edges of the fins taper back before extending 90 degrees, like this |_/ \_|, but when I sanded the fins, I accidently sanded a little too much off of one fin on the inside taper, causing a slight difference in the root edges. When gluing them to the body, I lined them up using the trailing edge of the fin to the edge of the body, and as a result the four fins are not evenly placed fore-aft wise (only about 1/4 inch). As a result of that, the rocket will not stand upright by itself. Also, when gluing on the balsa strips and the smaller fin 'tabs', I aligned them using the mis-aligned leading edges of the fins, so the slight mis-alignment looks much more obvious. At least everything is straight and aerodynamically sound, it's just a cosmetic mistake.
Finishing it was more of a chore, having to balsa fillercoat, then prime, then paint white, then mask and paint black, sanding between all the coats. The upper tube section could be seperated and didn't need masking for blue paint, as well as the nosecone which was painted black. I applied 3 coats of clear coat after applying the water-transfer decals that were included, I also painted thin, 1/8" chrome bands around the balsa transition section and nose cone. It does look sharp - if you don't notice the fin allignment problem!
The (plastic) parachute included was plain white in color. It included a note from Estes stating something about laws not allowing them to use colored ink for the moment and suggested I could use markers or something, but I decided to leave it white since it looks pretty unique. The plastic sheet seemed a bit thicker and more durable than the usual parachute material.
The Ricochet flies pretty good. It's relatively light weight allows for A, B or C motors. I test flew it with a A8-3 and reached a height of a few hundred feet, the trajectory up was straight and uneventful. The small white parachute did a good recovery job without drifting too much.
Next month, I'll fly it with a B and C motor to see how much height I can get out of this pretty little projectile.
I would recommend replacing the standard Estes shock cord mount with a kevlar cord glued to the motor mount, otherwise it's good to go.
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C.M. (July 20, 2009)