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Estes - SR-71 Blackbird (7003) [1996-1998]

Manufacturer:Estes
Construction Rating:
Flight Rating:
Overall Rating:

Contributed by Lowell Hamilton

 

[Rocket Pciture]The Estes SR-71 Blackbird kit is a model of the famous spy/recon plane retired from service a few years ago. This rocket is skill level 3, and difficult to build, as slight misalignments make the rocket spin or turn. 

The rocket came in good condition with all parts in good shape and the balsa fins cut well.The instructions were well-made for the complexity of the kit and templates for aligning the fins were included. 

The construction of the rocket was in several stages -first the outside wings came in 2 odd-shaped pieces and had to be glued together and lots of care must be taken to get these pefectly straight or gluing them to the engine pods becomes very difficult.Then the part of the wing that attaches the engine pods to the fuselage is glued on using the included jigs to make sure they are horizontal. 

Then, 2 pieces of thin cardboard need to be curved over the fuselage tube and onto the inner wings to make the shape, and this is extremely difficult to make the shape look decent.The cardboard comes with small tabs that are to be wrapped over the ends of the balsa inner-wings, but I cut those off as it proved to be too difficult to keep them in place. 

After the shaping cardboard is on, the engine pods are glued on.These are simple to attach, but I suggest CA-ing them on and reinforcing them with epoxy as one good landing will most likely rip one off.Then the top, bottom, and side fins are attached to the engine pods using the included templates to get the angle right.  Much care must be taken to get these straight as any misalignment tends to make the rocket turn a little, and if the outside wings are slightly misaligned the rocket spins (although misaligning them on purpose makes for great excitement!)... and construction is finished. Rating: 4 points (time consuming)

[Rocket Pciture]First flight I used a B6-5 and flight was smooth with about 180 degrees of roll although not very high.A C6-5 proved to be much better and the flight was beautiful. Get ready to run though, because flight can be interesting and the rocket can bank and turn if there is wind, and end up a couple fields down.For even more fun launce it at a sharp angle with a small A engine and watch it fly, showing the characteristics of the bird it is modeled after=) Rating: 5 points

Recovery is with a 12" plastic chute, and it's a mission to get it cramed into the body tube with the wadding and get the nosecone on.The actual main-body tube is about an inch inside the cardboard skin of the rocket, so the nosecone just barely reaches the body tube.  The parachute fits tight and it's VERY hard to get the shroud lines in and the nosecone on without tangling things up or putting the nosecone on pinching a line and making the nosecone too tight.For my flights it takes about 5 minutes to prepare the recovery, but it's worth it because a bad landing pops off fins and can knock off the engine pods and break some balsa.If the inner wing breaks from a hard hit, the rocket is gone - not even a gallon of CA will fix it. Rating: 3 points

This rocket really soars and looks impressive on the gound and in flight, but lots of care must be taken if you want to get it back.For those that want their rockets looking awesome before liftoff, there is a lot of wood on this rocket that needs to be sanded/primered to smooth out, or the numerous tiny decals won't stick well.Overall this rocket gets 4 points from me, there are a few things that could be better, like the outside wings being in one piece so it looks better, but it's inexpensive so if you mess up, get another one=) 

Rating
(Contributed - by Erik Turner) 

Brief:This model rocket has a single stage, which always takes it a little higher than I thought it would.

Construction:The packaging was a box and all the pieces were there. Just by looking at them, you could tell what was going to happen, except for a few. One tricky step is where you install what I think the instructions call "Blackbird Skin" over the main BT, and over until the edge of balsa fins. This step was also different because I had not done anything like it at the time.

Finishing:This model looks great when it's done, but the instructions don't really tell you where to put the decals well enough. Most you can just figure out, and some I just placed somewhere. As with many models, it looks so much better if after you put the decals on you coat it with a clear coat.

Construction Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight:It has been a while since I have flown the Blackbird, but I think that I used C6-3 or C5-3. The parachute is a little big for the body tube, and I cut out the center to make a little more room. I was afraid it wouldn't eject because it was very tight. I used one to two sheets of wadding, and that worked okay. The motor is held in place by a conventional Estes engine mount with engine hook. Despite my attempts to balance the model, it still arched over in flight. I was able to tune this up, but I still can't get it to fly completely straight.

Recovery:The model has what most other estes models have in terms of shock cords and recovery system. I didn't have a problem with the shock cord zippering, but I've only flown it a couple times. The parachute is the standard Estes issue, a cheap plastic parachute. The recovery was a little fast on the account that I cut out the middle, but no damage was done.

Flight Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary:The model has great looks, but is a little tricky in construction in a few places (that's what it's all about) and not the best in flight, but still is a good model.This is a good model to do before heading to Estes skill 4.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

    Flight Log

    DateRocket NameMotor(s)AltitudeNotes
    1969-12-31Mike Goss's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- preferred motor with no wind.
    1969-12-31Mike Goss's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- the SR-71 does a slow roll on liftoff, a real crowd pleaser
    1969-12-31Mike Goss's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Recovered intact
    1969-12-31Scott Grissman's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Perfect flight as usual. Rocket flew to about 300 feet and then flew like a aircraft until...
    1999-07-03Scott McCluskey's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Great kit to watch fly!
    1999-09-10Mark Patoka's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Nice looking flight for the crowd. Weather-cocked slightly and rolled slowly before ejection.
    1999-11-28Mark Patoka's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Always reliable, not a high flight, landed within 40 ft of pad.
    2000-02-20Mark Patoka's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- After apogee, the rocket appeared to level out like the real plane, then ejected. Looked pretty...
    2000-04-03Eric Miller's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-7- Gust of wind took this on on take off, went into a pine tree. A nice gentleman was watching and...
    2000-04-03Eric Miller's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Nice Flight, everything worked perfectly.
    2000-04-15Casey Smith's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Well, I think rod whip is getting this rocket. It goes good to about 10 feet and then turn and...
    2000-05-12Casey Smith's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Good boost to around 50 feet, then turned horizontal. Looks more like a glider. ?Rod whip or poor...
    2000-05-12Casey Smith's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC5-3- Changed pads and it did it again, this time horizontal with a corkcrew. Looks neat but I need to...
    2000-05-16Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- went horizontal at 100 feet good chute no damage
    2000-05-16Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Great flight
    2000-07-25Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- shock cord failed
    2000-10-14Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- AGF
    2000-11-03Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- AGF
    2000-11-05Casey Smith's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5600 feet Nice boost, straight flight, went about 600 feet. Good deploy.
    2001-03-30Casey Smith's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Boy, this kit loves to go horizontal near apogee. This is an old kit about 8 years old. Still...
    2001-04-04Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- perfect flight
    2001-05-06Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Drifted into a tree slight damage. easily repaired
    2001-06-16Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Shrowd tore on departure causing rocket to vain hard. recovery was good
    2001-07-08Mark Patoka's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Nice flight. Chute deployed but didn't open.
    2001-10-20Mark Patoka's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Angled rod slightly to compensate for wind. Rocket flew straight into ground, cartwheeled and then...
    2001-12-01Michael Mangieri's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Veered off-course a bit and headed against the wind. Thoughd we would lose her, but she landed 15'...
    2002-04-23Larry Zeilmann's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- AGF little muddy
    2002-04-27Michael Mangieri's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Nice flight - ejection a bit rough. Shock cord failed! Nose and parachute landed separate from the...
    2002-10-12Michael Mangieri's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- OK Flight; a bit underpowered. Ejection was a little late. Tangled chute didn't open until rocket...
    2003-03-09Will Borkowski's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC5-6- Nice flight up considering wind conditions, ejection right at apogee, however parachute was...
    2003-03-09Will Borkowski's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB4-4- Nice flight up would have liked higher power engine but worried about winds. Ejection was right...
    2004-06-20Mark Patoka's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Nice slow takeoff. Elastic shock cord was old and brittle from previous flights. It separated upon...
    2004-09-05Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Good first flight, needs more power. What a bear trying to get that big chute into that small...
    2004-12-02Jason Lenentine's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdD12-5- Weathercocked some for a really scale like flight. Landed pretty far downrange.
    2004-12-02Jason Lenentine's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdD12-5- Great motor for this rocket. Flew high and straight. Good recovery.
    2005-01-01Donald Besaw's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Nice first flight, backslid down prior to ejection. No damage.
    2005-01-10Donald Besaw's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Very nice straight up to about 400-500 feet. Nice recovery close by. No damage.
    2005-01-10Donald Besaw's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Another nice flight, the 5 second delay gave some extra glide time. Nice recovery. No damage.
    2005-01-23Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Straight up, nice power, chute stuck till the last moment. Came out about 50' from ground....
    2005-06-18John Caramagna's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- First flight. Overbuilt-added filler at the rear where the paper shroud was open; also at the...
    2005-06-28Donald Besaw's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Very nice flight, virtually arrow straight boost to about 500 feet. Moderate walk for recovery. A...
    2005-07-09Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Third flight. Melted chute again. Acted more like a streamer. Rocket body came in flat. No damage....
    2005-08-06Jason Lenentine's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdD12-5- Perfect straight boost. Upon landing discovered KABOOM ejection charge blew apart chute tube and...
    2005-08-06Jason Lenentine's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC11-3- Nominal flight. Longer delay would make for more realistic flight.
    2005-09-10Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- First flight. Spent some time finishing this one! Looks great on pad and in the air!Great first...
    2005-09-10Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Fourth flight. Melted chute again. This is getting old! Very tough to pack and then it melts! Used...
    2005-11-05George Beever's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Very nice boost, chute tangled in tail, no damage.
    2005-11-05Edward Chess's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Good flight, good delay.
    2005-12-17Jerry Nishihira's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- 2nd flight, used a C6 and got more altitude. Perfectly straight & stable flight. Good chute &...
    2005-12-17Jerry Nishihira's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Maiden voyage of this bird after sitting on its display stand for almost a year. Flew on the...
    2006-03-17Jeff Hollenbeck's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Beautiful rocket, bad launch. Came off the rod slowly, did 1.5 backflips, nosed into the ground...
    2006-04-01Lance Souther's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Super high flight, nich and straight, at least 600 feet. Chute deployed nicely and landed about...
    2006-05-04Matt Gillard's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- straight fast boost, drifted about 200m in a spill holed 12 inch parachute.
    2006-05-25Matt Gillard's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB4-2- straight flight, but marginal power -B4 is not great for this bird.
    2006-06-18Richie Brunjes's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- 'chute tangled and opened real late , landed real close
    2006-06-18Richie Brunjes's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- excellent flight
    2006-06-18Richie Brunjes's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- not very high but a good flight
    2006-06-27Richie Brunjes's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Nice flight
    2006-07-03Matt Gillard's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-2- Another good flight.
    2006-09-02Jan Heut's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-6- Nice Maiden: went straight up, 3 sec after engine burn the plane leveled to horizontal, and after...
    2006-09-21Donald Laskey's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4-
    2006-10-08Edward Chess's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Fin damage on landing can be repaired.
    2006-11-10Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Slight angle at launch. Forgot what delay to use. This one was way too long.Chute came out about...
    2006-11-10Geoffrey Kerbel's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Slight angle at launch, very late ejection. Chute pop ok and no damage to rocket. Comes down...
    2006-12-02T Muir's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Took a long time to deploy the parachute, flat spin return helped give it even more time.
    2007-05-29Zane Brant's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC5-5- plenty of power, but curved mid flight. chute worked perfectly. no damage.
    2007-07-21Dwayne Shmel's SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- MRC motor. Nice flight straight up. As always, chute tangled. No damage.
    2008-04-13Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB4-2- Great flight with this rocket.
    2008-04-13Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Another great flight, Really flies great on a C6-5 motor.
    2008-04-19 Moe Bertrand's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Nice first flight of my Ready-to-Fly SR-71 Blackbird. Good motor for this rocket...nice boost...
    2008-04-19Moe Bertrand's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Nice second flight of RTF SR-71....no photo this time...pretty much a carbon copy of first flight.
    2008-04-19Moe Bertrand's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Nice flight but had shock cord separation. Recovered pieces...no damage.
    2008-05-10Andy Jesanis's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Took off at an angle, but otherwise a beautiful flight. Unfortunately it drifted onto the roof of...
    2008-08-24Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB4-2- Good flight
    2008-08-24Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Another good flight.
    2008-09-20Edward Chess's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Textbook perfect flight.
    2008-09-27 Carl Campbell's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Much higher flight and straight up in calm winds. The thing actually looked like it was flying....
    2008-09-27Carl Campbell's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- First flight of this bird, calm wids so don't know how stable it really is. Nice straight up fly...
    2008-11-20 Hank Helmen's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Second test launch for Blackbird. Nice and straight this time. Quest motor worked well, despite...
    2008-11-20 Hank Helmen's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Rocket turned left again and arched over. Very loud ejection charge pop. Wind carried recovery...
    2008-11-20 Hank Helmen's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- First test flight for SR-71 Blackbird. Good liftoff. Rocket arched over downwind and then...
    2009-04-05 Moe Bertrand's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Another great flight of the RTF SR-71...I like this rocket.
    2009-04-05 Moe Bertrand's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Another nice C-motor flight of my RTF SR-71...this time I got some damage to a rudder. It's...
    2009-05-09Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- Nice flight.
    2009-06-22Mark Grisco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-3- slow takeoff looks so cool!! nearly straight up... perfect
    2009-06-30Alan Kaiser's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Arced over in flight but looked nice. Ejection was well past apogee and coming down fast. Ejection...
    2009-07-19Mark Grisco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- it slid down the launch rod just b4 liftoff so it kinda hung up a little. still a really nice...
    2010-03-07Stephen Morrow's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB6-4- Not a very powerful flight at all. Rocket hardly went up high enough to allow parachute to open...
    2010-03-19 Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC5-3- Good flight, it's been awhile since I've launch this rocket.
    2010-03-19 Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC5-3- Good flight.
    2010-04-10Andy Wong's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Weather cocked and flew like a plane.
    2010-10-17Brian Hoover's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdB4-4- Recommended first flight motor, delay way too long, flight too low. really needs C power, will...
    2010-11-06Brian Hoover's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- better than with B, c6-2 would have been better today. Significant weather-cocking today.
    2010-12-29Brian Hoover's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC6-5- Beautiful flight, engine is perfect for this model. consistently my favorite one to watch
    2011-03-06Jason Orosco's Estes SR-71 BlackbirdC5-3- Nice flight retiring this rocket.

    Comments:

    D.S. (January 1, 2001)

    I agree with everyone else about the construction of this kit. I found it much more satisfying to upgrade the engine to accommodate a 24mm motor. With just a tad more weight in the tip of the nose, and replacing the parachute with a streamer, it flies like a dream under D-12 power. I had much more fun flying it like this!

    C.S (April 1, 2001)

    This is a great kit, I am sorry it went by the wayside. I had numerous SR 71's. I added a 24 mm mount to one of mine and some corresponding nose weight and it goes great, out of site flights. Good reviews.

    R.F. (July 1, 2001)

    I had this rocket for 7 years and had a lot of launches with it. Tricky to build, but the results were very satisfying with a cool looking rocket. It did like to windcock, but was a fun rocket to launch and watch. It seemed to work best for me with C6-5 engines. One day, though, the 'chute didn't eject and the rocket was a lawn dart. the nose impacted, crushing the front body tube, which spelled the end of my favorite rocket.

    M.K. (July 1, 2001)

    I love this rocket. It flies straight up in to the air glides of a few seconds then comes back to the ground. The only hard part is making and attaching the wings.

    L.Z. (July 1, 2001)

    This is one of my favorite rockets to watch fly. I enjoyed building it and flying it, The kit has only one snafu which will reveal it's self over time due to wear and tear. After repeated launches mine started to grab a bit of air where the shroud meets the nose cone. This usually happens on the initial acceleration and will result in slight, (usually less then 1") tear in the shroud. Visual effects can be interesting as the tear can cause the rocket to proceed horizontal shortly after leaving the rod. I have had this happen twice out of a dozen flights. In both cases the rocket still had good chute deployment and recovery. I am still working on a fix.

    G.M.K. (November 24, 2005)

    Good review and many helpful tips. This is a very difficult bird to build but very rewarding when completed! Many people see it and ask if I modified a plastic model to fly. Have had four flights so far with mixed chute deployment. Have noticed that when it doesn't deploy fully the rocket body seems to go horizontal and does a flat spin on the way down. A good streamer may be the best recovery device for this one! I think I am going to try that next flight.

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