Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter (2124) [1996-1998]

Brief:
Foam glider w/ booster.

Kit includes:

• 1 NC55
• 2 BT-55 tubes
• 4 1/16 balsa fins
• 18mm motor mount
• 18 inch parachute
• Foam glider kit
• Self adhesive decals

Construction:
Bought a couple of these kits a while ago from Discount Rocketry. Booster construction is pretty standard. The fins have tabs to impart a roll for stability on boost. The glider is all foam and has 5 parts: wings/horizontal stabilizers, upper fuselage, lower fuselage and 2 vertical stabs. I used 5 minute epoxy to bond all the parts together. Due to the lack of any cutting or sanding, this is probably the easiest boost glider I've ever built.

Finishing:
I painted my glider over all light gray and added a canopy in black. The decals had to be cut out and applied, and went on well. The booster was painted gray and gold, and the decals applied. The one that was supposed to have wrapped around the body, didn't quite make it all the way around.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
Trimming the glider is important to any flight, and this one needs it more than any other. I make sure to do a few hand tosses before each flight to avoid death spirals. I've flown this model several times on motors ranging from B5-4 to C6-5 and found that the C6-3 is the best. The last recorded flight I have is a 44 second glide.

Recovery:
Very exciting to watch as the rocket boosts high and then releases the glider. Even with the weight of the paint, I get consistently long glides from this kit.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
Pros: Sleek scale like appearance with excellent glides for a foam plane. Cons: Estes discontinued it! If you can find one, snap it up! You won't be disappointed.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2001-05-12	Kevin Johnson's Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter	C6-3	-	Squirrelly boost, glider snagged in chute at ejection. Fell free and glided about 1/4 mile. Who...
2004-05-31	T Yaeger's Estes F-22 Air Superiority Fighter	C5-3	-	3 ignitors to light motor but flight nice with good circling, glide.
2010-06-06	Dwayne Shmel's F-22 Air Superiority Fighter	C5-3	-	AWESOME maiden flight. Glider has steep glide slope but did not nose dive or stall. I was...
2010-06-19	Dwayne Shmel's F-22 Air Superiority Fighter	C5-3	-	2nd flight better than the first.
2010-06-26	Dwayne Shmel's F-22 Air Superiority Fighter	C5-3	-	Another perfect glide.

- Post a Comment -

You must be logged into RocketReviews.com to post a comment.

What You Can Do

• Add a Link Related to this Review
• Submit a Kit Review

- Link to this Page -

You can link to this page using the following HTML or BB Code.

Text Link in HTML (for web sites)

<a href="http://www.rocketreviews.com/estes-f-22-air-superiority-fighter-kevin-johnson.html">Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter (2124) [1996-1998] - Review by Kevin Johnson</a>

Text Link in BB Code (for forum posts)

[url=http://www.rocketreviews.com/estes-f-22-air-superiority-fighter-kevin-johnson.html]Estes - F-22 Air Superiority Fighter (2124) [1996-1998] - Review by Kevin Johnson[/url]

Select the appropriate above text with your mouse then "right-click" and select "Copy." Then, paste the text into your web site's code or a discussion forum post.