Reviews >>

4-Star Reviews (145 of 1031)Estes Product ReviewsKit ReviewsReviews by Bill EichelbergerReviews of Estes - Cosmic Cobra (1262) [2002-2008]

Estes - Cosmic Cobra (1262) [2002-2008]

Manufacturer:

Estes

Construction Rating:
Flight Rating:
Overall Rating:

Contributed by Bill Eichelberger

Brief:
The Cosmic Cobra is a combination parachute/helicopter recovery rocket. The nose cone ejects and returns via a rubber band actuated, 3 blade rotor system while the rest of the rocket returns by the more conventional parachute method. While the Cosmic Cobra model itself is new, the idea isn’t, having been done previously by the Estes Heliocopter and HeliCat.

Construction:
In true E2X fashion, the Cosmic Cobra kit isn’t overly laden with parts. The fin unit is plastic with forward swept fins. The motor mount is actually molded into the fin unit and has a plastic end cap to keep the motor in place during flight. The nose cone and rotor fins are glued together and must have the enclosed rubber bands attached to be “loaded.” A 12 inch parachute completes the package.

Also in true E2X fashion, the Cosmic Cobra can be built in a matter of minutes. The rotor attachment is glued to the nose cone base and the rotors themselves just snap on. The trickiest part of the build is getting the rubber bands aligned so that they allow the rotors to deploy and even this isn’t that tough. Like the other rockets in the E2X flight line, it’s possible to buy this kit in the morning and still fly it before lunch. What makes this one out of the ordinary is the recovery. Kids especially will love it, but I don’t hear many grown ups complaining either.

Finishing:
Pre-colored. Black, yellow and purple have never been among my favored color schemes, but what do you want for next to nothing. One sticker-type decal completes the “look.” It’s not great, but it won’t bring up lunch.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
I’ve only flown this rocket once, but it isn’t hard to get a feel for the performance based on that flight. The rotor performed as advertised and brought the nose cone down for a textbook recovery. The body section wasn’t quite so lucky. The body tube itself is fairly large, but the rotors must be folded straight down inside so that the nose cone will fit. This means that the parachute will have to be down deep and apparently mine wasn’t. The ejection charge did little more than move the whole mess, wadding, shock cord and parachute, up in the body tube. It didn’t deploy and the whole shootin’ match came down in a flat spin, landing hard in a gravel parking lot. The good news; no damage. This rocket can take a hit.

Recovery:
This is where I’d take a half point away. Everything packs very tightly in the body tube and it may take several flights before the secrets for the dual deployment reveal themselves. It could also be as simple as operator error. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

Pros: Entertainment value. It appeals to kids and adults alike. Rotor performance. Ease of assembly. Durability.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2002-07-14	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C5-3	-	Great flight. Chute didn't deploy because of packing problem associated with copter blades, but no...
2002-08-28	Robert Vaughan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-6	-	Lawn dart! Delay was way too long, ejected on the ground and popped the rocket out of the dirt. 1...
2002-08-28	Robert Vaughan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Second lawn dart. Scorched copter blades, tube crunched in middle, ripped at the top, and broke 2...
2002-09-01	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-6	-	Much better recovery. Nose cone helicoptered in in the up position.
2002-11-27	Greg Deeter's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Straight up, nice flight. Used 12 Estes plastic chute.Landed about 200 feet away, perfect...
2002-11-27	Greg Deeter's Estes Cosmic Cobra	D21-7	-	D21-7 Blue Thunder. Perhaps too much line chalk made it unstable.Took off super fast and...
2003-04-27	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C5-3	-	The only rocket to survive undamaged when my carrier fell out of the back of the van. Everything...
2003-05-03	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-2	-	Slow boost with slight downwind arc. Streamer got tangled with copter for a few seconds, but then...
2003-05-18	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-2	-	Nice slow boost, arcing into wind. Copter nose separated cleanly without tangling in 54x2 mylar...
2003-05-25	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Long slow boost straight into sun. The mylar 2x54 streamer worked great again, and the body landed...
2003-05-31	David Sindel's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-2	-	Great first model rocket flight, but melted the chute.
2003-05-31	David Sindel's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Another great flight, another melted chute
2003-06-01	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Best flight ever. Everything worked as advertised.
2003-06-15	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Nice high boost with slight weather-cocking. On 54x2 streamer, the body glided tail-first upwind...
2003-07-06	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Nice straight boost. Clean separation. With 2x54in streamer, the booster has significant...
2003-07-06	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Kid's launch. The nose cone again recovered in the up position. Looks cool that way, but I don't...
2003-07-27	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-2	-	Slow arcing boost into the wind. Perfect ejection. Copter drifted downwind with 12 second hang...
2003-09-27	Chan Stevens's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-
2004-04-05	Forrest Henry's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Lawn dart! Everything is just too tight in there (and we packed it as loose as we could)! Rocket...
2004-04-10	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Arced into wind. Wiggled a lot during boost. Good copter deployment. Mylar streamer got a bit...
2004-04-19	Eric Maher's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Worked perfectly. The helicopter recovery of the nosecone was very cool.
2004-06-06	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Nice boost straight up. Should have angled rod into wind more. Booster drifted across two soccer...
2004-06-20	Kyle Hancock's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Both chute and coptor deployed OK.
2004-07-24	Brian Mercer's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-4	-	Nice flight, until it turned into a pile driver in the parking lot. I may replace the nose cone...
2004-08-08	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-4	-	Slow arching boost and coast. Clean separation. Copter landed safe on grass after nice spinning...
2004-10-31	Mark Muir's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Helicopter nose cone ejected but parachute did not. Rear section core sampled but no damage at all.
2004-11-11	Mark Muir's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Nose cone helicoptered back but engine side of tube didn't get a parachute ejection so it lawn...
2005-01-21	Andrew Grippo's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-2	-	Wind held down altitude but nose cone was able to begin spinning just before it landed.
2005-01-21	Andrew Grippo's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Good flight and delay. High altitude allowed nose cone enough time to helicopter perfectly to...
2005-04-17	Chase Hrncir's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Broke the Curse of the Cobra. Nobody else in the Challenger club has had any luck with these, but...
2005-05-08	Chase Hrncir's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	First launch ever at Sportflyers Estates, Brookshire, TX. Great flight. A little windy so it...
2005-05-18	John Chapman's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	After two COMPLETE failures, we modified by gluing BT-5 tube into the nose cone, with screw eye,...
2005-08-21	Bob Cox's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-4	-	Slow takeoff with wiggle during boost. Angled into wind and ejected very late, about 60 feet up. ...
2005-08-27	John Chapman's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Modified cobra with no chute and attached cone/rotor - deployed without problem. Crepe paper...
2005-09-10	Bob Harrington's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	First flight of rocket built with my daughter. Helicopter recovery of the nose cone is quite a...
2005-10-10	Bob Harrington's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Nice flight on a cold, damp, rain shortened day.
2005-10-15	Bill Eichelberger's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Always entertaining. Flight was great. Recovery a little less so due to parachute failure, but...
2005-11-03	Andrew Grippo's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Rocket rod whipped off pad and then nose cone stuck at deployment. Lawn dart with top section of...
2005-11-05	Bob Harrington's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Nice high flight. Body and helicopter nose cone landed very close together
2006-01-27	Mark Edwards's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Inaugural flight of the CC. Helicopter nose cone deployed successfully. Parachute failed to eject,...
2006-02-12	Joe Policy's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Fairly straight flight, very nice. Kids have fun chasing the helicopter/nose cone.
2006-03-09	Dave Bishop's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Despite the high wind, excellent launch and great flight of helicopter section.
2006-03-19	Tom+Maggie Brogan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Built last nite Launched this am. very windy. Nice straight boost, WC slightly, looked great....
2006-04-20	David Culp's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Student forgot to screw motor retainer on. Ejected motor at apogee. Lawn darted into asphalt,...
2006-04-30	Tom+Maggie Brogan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	2nd flight for this rocket. Arced back over our heads over the trees and headed for the highway!...
2006-05-18	David Culp's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Love this rocket, perfect flight in almost no wind. Straigh up boost, good seperation and easy...
2006-05-27	Chan Stevens's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-
2006-06-04	Bob Harrington's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-
2006-06-25	Jillian+Benjamin Fried's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Nose helicopter apparatus did not deploy and parachute melted (oops forgot wadding - wouldn't have...
2006-08-12	Bob Harrington's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-
2006-09-12	Lucas Kalathas's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Well, awesome takeoff, but the nosecone never ejected. Rocket came down fast and hard, ending up...
2006-10-10	Mal McClenaghan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Parachute didn't deploy. ? packed too tight, space is at a premium in this airframe. Lawn dart....
2006-10-10	Mal McClenaghan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	A8-3	-	Oops! Loaded wrong motor. Nowhere near enough thrust for this rocket. Recovered without damage.
2006-11-18	Bob Harrington's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-4	-	Chute tangled. Motor is a little weak for this rocket.
2007-01-11	Mark Edwards's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Failed to eject the NC. Lawn Dart, but repairable. Need to cutoff a couple inches of upper part...
2007-02-18	Kyle Hancock's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-
2007-04-09	Mal McClenaghan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Textbook flight. Great recovery. Our first flight with the parachute tucked in between the rotor...
2007-07-01	Taylor Gonnerman's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Perfect flight. The helicopter recovery of the nose cone is a real crowd pleaser, especially if...
2007-08-12	Mark Van+Luvender's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-2	-	Excellent flight - good parachute, great helicopter rotation on the nose cone.
2007-09-16	Bob Harrington's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Parachute tangled and didn't open but suffered no damage.
2008-06-08	Mal McClenaghan's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	First flight after repair. Textbook flight and recovery.
2008-06-14	JST's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Ascended to about 950 feet. Ejection charge failed to kick nosecone or chute out. Flight quickly...
2008-07-13	David Montgomery's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	600 feet	Excellent flight with good autorotation of nosecone/rotors and recovery via parachute of main body...
2008-11-02	David Sindel's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	168 feet	I flew the Cobra with a MaxTrax altitude capsule and 2 standard tracking streamers. I would guess...
2008-11-02	David Sindel's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	This time, the MaxTrax capsule failed because it fell horizontal. This flight was much higher than...
2008-11-08	David Montgomery's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	600 feet	Perfect from liftoff to recovery; both sections returned as designedwith no damage.
2008-11-11	David Sindel's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-
2009-01-01	Jim Bassham's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	First flight - worked as advertised. It is hard to pack chute and blades into body tube. Longer...
2009-01-01	Jim Bassham's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Everything worked, but blades popped off the nose cone on landing. Glue bond was never that great.
2009-01-11	Jim Bassham's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Nose cone flew fine, but completely fried the chute on the rocket. Came down VERY hard, but...
2009-01-15	David Sindel's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	A perfect flight. I flew the booster without a parachute; it glides down nicely and safely with...
2009-02-21	John Venable's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-7	-	No Helicopter blades jut a small stock chute. Nice flight to maybe 600'. Gonna rebuild her to fly...
2009-05-21	Jim Bassham's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	4th flight of the Cosmic Cobra. Replaced 'chute, tried packing it between the rotor blades. Nose...
2009-06-30	Alan Kaiser's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	I didn't see this one too well because it shot up directly over and behind me. Nice flight though....
2009-07-11	John Bergsmith's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Flight number 2 on the delay. I like the 3 second delay better. However, still a cool flight.
2009-07-11	John Bergsmith's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Once you learn the trick to packing the chute, it's a reliable performer. Heli deployed and was...
2009-11-27	Alan Kaiser's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Great flight and recovery. The copter cone came down exactly as expected.
2010-03-30	John Bishop's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Better flight, loaded 'chute under rotors. Nice ejection and helicopter effect. When I found the...
2010-03-30	John Bishop's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B6-4	-	Maiden flt. Seemed underpowered on B6-4. Packed chute between blades. Ejection didn't fully pop...
2010-04-03	John Bishop's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-5	-	Flew without parachute. Good recovery of body section, but took my eye off the helicopter. Lost...
2010-07-31	James Weaver's Estes Cosmic Cobra	B4-4	-	Seemed to struggle off of the pad. Delay was way too long for motor/rocket combo. Perfect...
2011-09-10	Alan Kaiser's Estes Cosmic Cobra	A8-3	-	Nose cone jammed at ejection and the rocket came in and dug into the ground. Body tube was split...
2011-12-17	David Sindel's Estes Cosmic Cobra	C6-3	-	Took off at an angle.
2012-01-07	Ed Rodrigo's Cosmic Cobra (1262)	C6-5	-	Due to low wind conditions and additional weight due to length modification, decided to use a C6-5...
2012-01-07	Ed Rodrigo's Cosmic Cobra (1262)	C6-5	-	Works well with C6-5. Strong weathercocking.
2012-01-07	Ed Rodrigo's Cosmic Cobra (1262)	C6-5	-	Very strong weathercocking and delayed ejection charge led to chute deployment about 25 feet off...

Comments:

G.A.D. (September 3, 2002)

We have had a hard time figuring out how to get a good clean deployment from this rocket. On the first flight the nosecone separated but the ?copter blades barely had time to fold out. The parachute was partially melted and failed to deploy fully. The second flight was a good one. On the third flight the combination of chute and ?copter blades was too much to eject and it lawn-darted. [Note to EMRR, I'll send a Pic] I'm considering how rebuild this for more consistent ejection. I may lengthen the body tube and use a piston of some sort.

J.R. (December 11, 2003)

I think this is an excellent rocket. It's fun to fly and watch this rocket's recovery. Especially on a C6-5. The parachute melting annoyed me a lot though.

unknown (December 18, 2003)

This is a great rocket. But it's basically a E2X version of the Hyper X.

F.H. (April 6, 2004)

The picture above looks EXACTLY like mine after just one flight. Everything just packs way too tight. If Estes replaces this kit I will build it with a streamer to reduce the amount of stuff to pack into the body tube.

B.A. (March 8, 2006)

Once you get the knack of how to lead the blades and a chute, this is a great rocket. All of the kids love it, and I've had the nosecone take over 2 minutes to come down at times.

M.S. (October 23, 2006)

After a couple of failures using the rotors, we have scrapped the helicopter retrieval completely and added a streamer to all 3 Cosmic Cobras that my kids own. Much easier to load and higher percentage of recovery. We have flown one of the Cobras at least 15 times. They all look like they will last a long time. With less weight, a C motor makes a really nice flight!

J.G. (June 15, 2008)

This rocket is what I refer to as a "Titanic". Very first flight was also its last flight. I read the flight logs and reviews prior to flying this, and for some reason, thought mine was going to work. It didn't. There is just too much stuff to cram into a BT-56 tube here. Others that witnessed the ballistic arc that our rocket did (when ejection charge failed to even get the nosecone out) said "that must have been a Cosmic Cobra". Tells you something. The suggestions we got were that this rocket needs to be "stretched". We concur. A longer body tube will allow for chute to be packed underneath the folded helicopter blades. Stay tuned in the mods section.

G.P. (June 25, 2008)

I'm not sure why some people are having trouble with this rocket - I've had good recovery every time. The trick is to fold and roll the parachute in a long wedge so that it fits inside the rotors. This was my mom's favorite of all my rockets - she loved watching the rotor/nose cone deploy and autogyro down.

C.G. (July 2, 2008)

As G.P. said, you need to fold the parachute rather flat and place it between the rotors. My daughter has one and has never had a bad deployment. However, the nose cone doesn't spin all that well in the default build; it starts to spin, then flips over, then starts to spin again, and so on. I resolved this by putting a few grams (probably around 15) of weight in the tip of the nosecone, enticing it to remain pointed downward for a more satisfying spin.

John R, Brandon III (March 8, 2011)

  I have yet to launch my Cosmic Cobra as I refitted it...I rigged it with a piece of monofilament line running to the nose cone point and a snap swivel at the far end, attached to the shock cord. Ideally it should allow the rotating nosecone to serve as recovery system for the entire rocket!

- Post a Comment -

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

eBay Offers:

NEW! Estes Cosmic Cobra Rocket Kit E2X Easy-to-Assemble 1262 NIB
  >>> Product Details >>>

$10.49 End Date: Thursday Jun-7-2012 13:13:16 PDT Buy It Now for only: $10.49 Buy It Now | Add to watch list

ESTES 1262 COSMIC COBRA, DUAL RECOVERY, OOP, NEW
  >>> Product Details >>>

$7.50 (0 Bids) End Date: Sunday May-27-2012 16:44:09 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

Estes Flying Model Rocket COSMIC COBRA Skill Level EX2
  >>> Product Details >>>

$9.29 End Date: Tuesday May-29-2012 12:55:54 PDT Buy It Now for only: $9.29 Buy It Now | Add to watch list

Cosmic Cobra Estes Rocket 19 Inches / R
  >>> Product Details >>>

$7.99 End Date: Thursday May-31-2012 19:45:34 PDT Buy It Now for only: $7.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list

Cosmic Cobra E2X Kit ESTES #EST1262
  >>> Product Details >>>

$10.99 End Date: Saturday May-26-2012 20:13:18 PDT Buy It Now for only: $10.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list

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-industries-cosmic-cobra--by-jared-elliott.html">Estes - Cosmic Cobra (1262) [2002-2008] - Review by Bill Eichelberger</a>

Text Link in BB Code (for forum posts)

[url=http://www.rocketreviews.com/estes-industries-cosmic-cobra--by-jared-elliott.html]Estes - Cosmic Cobra (1262) [2002-2008] - Review by Bill Eichelberger[/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.