RocketReviews.com - Estes - Cosmic Cobra (1262) [2002-2008]

Editor's Note: This review does not consider the helicopter portion of the rocket.

Brief:
This is one of the new ones from Estes. This kit seemed to to yelling "STREAMER" to me. The plastic forward swept fins are strong, and just seem perfect for streamer recovery. So, I took the helicopter parts and put them away for a later day. This reduced the weight, so now my Cosmic Cobra is only 2.4 oz completed.

Construction:
This kit comes with the BT-56 sized body tube (gloss yellow) and black plastic nose cone, two piece plastic fin section, launch lug that is shaped for the body, 1/8" x 2 foot shock cord, 12" plastic Estes parachute, three rotor blades, a blade ring, (4) rubber bands and and a large purple wild looking decal.

This took about 10 minutes. The two piece plastic fin unit made it super simple to tie a knot in the end of a two foot piece of 1/8" Kevlar® cord, and using CA as I did on the whole rocket, I glued the cord in between the two halves of the fin unit. Attached a small snap swivel to the end of that, then added the 24" x 1/8 shock cord, and selected a silver mylar 2" x 56" streamer. The launch lug is unlike any I have ever seen before. It form fits onto the shape of the body tube.

Finishing:
Since you don't see many black "stock" nose cones, at first glance this rocket looks like it was painted. The gloss yellow body looks great with the black nose and fins. I left it that simple and did not use the wild looking purple decals. I think it looks cool just like it is. I have never felt good about the Estes method of attaching the shock cord with a paper mount inside the body tube. Those eventually come loose and in many cases they cause the parachute to get stuck. So to improve this kit, it should come with a 1-2 foot 1/8" Kevlar® cord which is super simple to attach to the motor mount/fin unit with this kit. I was surprised the shock cord that came with it was 2 feet long as I expected one only 1 foot long. Still, I feel it should be at least 4 feet long. The gloss yellow body tube feels very strong.

Flight:
I plan on flying it every time I go out for a launch day and I will experiment with different types of streamers. I will bet I can get at least 50 flights out of it with no damage, in fact it would be interesting to try an Aerotech D21 in it. I am sure it would hold up. My first flight was with a Quest C6-5. Took a few seconds to light and then shot straight up and out of sight. I thought I had lost it until I saw the red puff and silver streamer. I had put a few dashes of red line chalk in on top of the wadding and that really helped to see where it was. It came down about 500 feet from here and seemed to drift quite a bit for a streamer.

The second and third (final flight) were at a larger field and I switched out the streamer for a parachute for the second flight with a C6-5. The last (3rd) flight when I lost it had the streamer back in it, and I believe I either put too much line chalk in it, or the D21-7 was too much power as it cocked sideways quite a bit and went out of sight in just seconds. I saw a huge cloud of red line chalk and that was it. So much for getting 50 flights out of it!

Summary:
The only streamer kit I ever flew before was an Astron Sprint back in the early 80's. Back then I had imagined a rocket with forward swept and strong plastic fins, as my Sprint always seemed to pop a fin on landing. I had bought this Cosmic Cobra because I was curious about how the helicopter nose cone worked, but upon looking at the parts, I quickly realized that this is a perfect kit for the streamer testing I wanted to try. I may add the 'copter blades to the nose cone just to try it, but that adds almost 30% more weight to the rocket. Since I used snap swivels, the recover system can be changed out in just seconds.

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...

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

Flight Log

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