Fun Rockets Wicked Winnie

Fun Rockets - Wicked Winnie {Kit}

Contributed by Bill Eichelberger

Construction Rating: starstarstarstar_borderstar_border
Flight Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstarstar_borderstar_border
Published: 2015-06-16
Manufacturer: Fun Rockets

Brief

Back in the good ol' days when Hobby Lobby could be counted on to stock a variety of kits from companies other than the Big E, I picked the Fun Rockets Wicked Winnie up on clearance for a song.  I'd already owned a Tangent and Zoomie, so when I saw this one on the block it was just natural to pick it up for use at B6-4 Field.

Components

  • Main body tube with cheesy foam boattail
  • Payload section with cheesy foam connector
  • Cheesy foam fins (3)
  • Cheesy foam nose cone
  • 18" plastic parachute

Construction

Construction involved white glue and tape.  The white glue held the fins in place after they were slid into the cheesy foam boattail.  The tape held the obviously loose nose cone in place.  Other than that all actual construction was already done out of the box.

Finishing

Finishing involved peeling the sticker off and applying it to the rocket.  As with construction, all of the finishing has been taken care of for you out of the box, in a most garish shade of pink........

Construction Score: 3

Flight

Winnie has spent her whole life subsisting on a diet of B motors, something which really surprised me.  You'd think that I'd plug a C into a $2 rocket at least once in 12 years.  On each of the first three flights she cracked off a fin on landing, which necessitated shutting down because of the need for letting the white glue dry.  (When it broke a fin on flight #3 one of the kids who had stopped to watch asked why I just didn't fix it with the gel CA in my range box.  I told him it needed special glue, which earned me a snort and an eyeroll.)

Winnie's second wind as a part of my flying circus came when my niece picked her out one night when I was letting her and my nephew push the button for me at B6-4 Field.  (She liked the color.)  Winnie performed as flawlessly as she had in her previous B6-4 Field life, this time without breaking any fins, and a week later when my first keychain camera arrived, it was Winnie I picked to do the shakedown flights while I learned to use the camera.  I did manage to get one decent video out of the three flights, but through no fault of the rocket, which performed as expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrjVvyyIP-I

Recovery

Recovery is capably handled by a large pre-made plastic parachute.  It may be overkill in an area as ringed with trees as B6-4 Field, but thus far it has been perfect.

Flight Rating: 4

Summary

Pros: Big and stable.  Decent size payload section.

Cons: Cheesy foam.  Special glue.

Overall Rating: 3
Other Reviews
  • Fun Rockets Wicked Winnie By Mike Goss

    ( Contributed - by Mike Goss - 10/20/03) Intro A modification of a cheap bad rocket into a cheap good rocket. I couldn't resist it. There it was sitting on the shelf at Hobby Lobby, with a clearance price tag. I thought long and hard. This rocket had a bad reputation, Styrofoam. It had replaced all of the balsa wood in the original kit. The reviews were bad and the owner was ...

  • Fun Rockets Wicked Winnie By David Logan

    ( Contributed - by David Logan) Brief: This is the re-design of the Holverson Wicked Winnie payload kit, using styrofoam nose cone, boat tail, and fins. Construction: The body tubes included are thick paper tubes, one for the main airframe, and one for the payload section. The boat tail, nose cone, fins, and coupler are all made of expanded styrofoam. This kit is mostly ...

Flights

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