Brief:
Another fine single stage scale model of an Ansari X-Prize competitor from Estes.

Construction:
The kit parts included a BT-55 body tube, a BT-60 body tube, a BT-20 motor mount tube, a wire motor-retainer hook, a mylar ring to retain the motor hook, a block of clay nose weight, a launch lug, a preassembled 12" parachute, a heavy 1/4" x 30" rubber shock cord, a small sheet of laser-cut balsa for the forward fins, a sheet of pressure-sensitive decals, and three sets of plastic parts--one set is the entire rear quarter of the airframe with the main fins, the second is the nosecone and transition, and the third is two centering rings, a display base, and twelve (yes, twelve) rocket engine nozzles in three sizes from reasonable to "bring me the tweezers and my 3.5x reading glasses to handle and see these darn things". There was one of the yellow spacer tubes Estes uses for positioning motor block rings listed on the parts list, but it wasn't in my kit (more on this later in the review).

This kit was well engineered. The instructions were the usual well written Estes style: clear and logical. Apparently the kit's motor mount has been revised slightly since my instruction sheet was printed. The motor tube was just long enough to hold a standard 18mm motor using the standard hook and front thrust ring approach. The spacing tool was redundant so it was left out, but the instruction sheet should be revised to reflect the way the mount is now.

I needed four spring clothespins to get the fin canister glued together without gaps, but I've seen and fixed many worse fit problems in my 20+ years building plastic kits.

This one is as solid as my Estes Rubicon or at least very close to it.

PROs: Easy construction, solid and scale-like fin canister.

CONs: Rewrite instruction sheet to accurately reflect new motor mount.

Finishing:
It's not a horrid paint scheme. In fact, I painted only detailing colors onto the parts that weren't supposed to be white. I was worried about a checkerboard roll-pattern decal that was going to go on the BT-55-to-60 tube transition but it fit beautifully.

PROs: Nice, simple, elegant color scheme made colorful with decals.

CONs: I would still prefer waterslide decals--you can't tell me that the stickers are that much cheaper...

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I figured that I'd best use B4-2s and C6-3s in this one and save my B6-4s and C6-5s for my Thunderstar. My first flight was on the B4-2. It produced a nice straight boost to about 360 feet. I used an 18" chute instead of Estes' provided 12" unit and was glad I did--a three-ounce rocket needs a bigger chute than a 12", unless it's flying a LOT higher than this one can!

Second and third flights were on C6-3s and put the Eagle up to close to 500 feet as advertised. An acceptable demonstration rocket for the schoolyard, if the field is big enough.

Recovery:
I used plenty of Estes toilet paper with this one. Estes is listening to us finally about shock cord length, but this one should have been equipped with an 18" parachute.

A baffle ejection setup or maybe a piston ejection setup to reduce wadding requirements on some of Estes' bigger tube sizes would be a good thing.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Main PROs: Headline making subject, easy and quick to build and decorate, nice use of plastic parts.

CONs: Instruction sheet slightly outdated, parachute needs to be the next size up from what they sent with the kit.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5