Estes Enduring Freedom Patriot M104

Estes - Patriot {Kit} (2056) [2003-]

Contributed by Jon Revelle

Construction Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Flight Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Manufacturer: Estes

Rockt PicBrief:
A beautiful remake of the M-104 Patriot missile from Estes. This pup was re-released because of our recent victory over seas.

Construction:
This kit is un-assembled and comes with:

  • 2 white body tubes
  • 1 short yellow tube
  • 1 nose cone
  • 4 balsa fins
  • 1 motor mount tube
  • 1 mylar ring
  • 2 engine tube holder rings
  • 1 shockcord, parachute and shockcord mount
  • 2 decal sheets

PROS: Easy to build because of it being a skill level 1 rocket. Fins and tubes are easy to assemble. Decal application is great.

 

CONS: Painting is a challenge. When I finally got to painting the bottom fin area, I went too high and got red on the freshly finished white primer. Even after the paint the tube line from the tubes being connected still showed.

 

Finishing:
PROS: Painting is quick. Looks good after the decals

 

CONS: Hard to paint. Red splattered onto the white tubes.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
PROS: Beautiful flight today (Aug 18, 2003)! Flies very straight. Parachute could be a little bigger.

 

Cons: Not found any!

Recovery:
PROS: Parachute does good. No damage after flight

 

CONS: Parachute could be slightly bigger. Came down pretty fast.

 

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
The rocket is good. Not too challenging and fun to fly. Rocket's chute could be bigger, but 12 inch brings it down in one piece. Looks VERY GOOD!!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Other Reviews
  • Estes Enduring Freedom Patriot M104 By Dave Stout

    This is a single-staged, standoff-scale model of a Patriot test round. Other reviewers have done excellent breakdowns on the kit contents, so I will not repeat them here. However, one change is that my Patriot came with the new, cheap rubber band shock cord. This was immediately canned! The Patriot is a decent model in stock form. The majority of the components are good quality stuff and ...

  • Estes Enduring Freedom Patriot M104 By Carl Tulanko

    Brief:  The Estes MK-104 Patriot Missile rocket kit is one of four new Estes "Military" kits and a very popular kit at the flying field. I purchased the Patriot along with the other three kits and the version I built was the "Launchable" kit in the hard-shell pack from Meijers. It is a very colorful model, appears pretty sturdy, and flies on 18mm motors. Included with the kit is an ...

  • Estes Enduring Freedom Patriot M104 By Joseph Michel

    Estes Enduring Freedom M-104 Patriot Missile. Modified recovery system and motor mount. Modifications: I modified the stock kit to accept a 24MM motor tube. This was accomplished using a rotary tool and 50-grit sanding drum to open up the stock centering ring to accept the 24MM tube. Once the centering rings were fitted to the motor tube, I also modified the motor hook. I never much cared for ...

Flights

comment Post a Comment