Estes Rocket Red Crayon

Estes - Rocket Red Crayon {Kit} (001102)

Contributed by Aaron J. Grier

Construction Rating: starstarstarstar_borderstar_border
Flight Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Published: 2015-06-11
Diameter: 1.64 inches
Length: 19.80 inches
Manufacturer: Estes
Skill Level: 1
Style: Odd-Roc, Sport

Brief

A "ready-to-fly" four-fin rocket that looks like a red crayon with fins at the bottom.

Components

  • Single cardboard body tube, pre-colored, stickers already applied
  • Plastic combination fin unit and engine retainer
  • Plastic nosecone

Construction

This couldn't be easier.  Assembly consists of literally tying the parachute to the nosecone, tying the shock cord to the nosecone, and putting on the fin unit.  No special tools required, no gotchas.

Since there is no gluing and no painting, this can go straight from purchase to the launch site.  Heck, it's so easy you could even assemble it at the launch site.

Finishing

Since the kit is pre-assembled, there's no finish work to do.  The color-matching of the nosecone and body is good, and all pieces fit together snugly.  However, the stickers on my model had a little bit of puckering, and there was some (hot) glue oozing out from under the launch lug.

Construction Score: 3

Flight

I used B4-2 for my first series of flights.  (B6-2 is manufacturer-recommended first flight.)

Flight prep was a snap, with plenty of room for packing the parachute, and a twist of the fin/engine retainer.

Rocket appears to fly well with no wobble or instability.

Recovery

The parachute is adequately sized, but for low-altitude flights a larger one would allow for longer flight times.  :)

Flight Rating: 5

Summary

Trivial to put together, easy flight prep, and a good flyer.  No cons yet.

Overall Rating: 4

Flights

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