Estes AMRAAM AIM-120

Estes - AIM-120 AMRAAM {Kit} (2153)

Contributed by Jon Revelle

Construction Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Flight Rating: starstarstarstarstar_border
Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar
Diameter: 1.33 inches
Length: 27.50 inches
Manufacturer: Estes
Skill Level: 2
Style: Scale

Brief:
A great scale model of the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Medium Range Air-Air Missile (AMRAAM) AIM-120. Nothing very special. It has been Out Of Production for a couple of years.

(OOP) Estes AMRAAMConstruction:
The AMRAAM came boxed and undamaged. It included:

  • 1 Nose Cone NC55
  • 2 BT55X11 Slotted Body Tubes
  • Tube Coupler
  • 2 Clay Weights
  • Engine mount parts (18mm)
  • Recovery parts (18" Parachute)
  • 8 Precut fins on balsa sheets
  • Balsa Conduit Strip (extra decoration)
  • Launch Lugs
  • Sheet of 34 decals

This was a BETA Series (Skill Level 1) rocket from Estes.

The only tricky part I had was aligning the 2 body tubes together so I didn't have crooked fins, otherwise construction was nice and easy. I finished the kit in about 1.5 hours.

PROs: Ease of build, good quality of parts. Very sharp looks after decals.

CONs: Alignment was tricky, so many decals,

Finishing:
PROs: Easy to paint. Mine came out absolutely beautiful. My best job with spray paint. Looks very good when finished

CONs: There are lots of decals. I misplaced some of them.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
First and only flight so far was on an Estes B6-4 on New Year's Day. I actually got this flight on video.

Preflight prep is typical Estes. It uses around 4-6 squares of wadding and a basic engine hook for motor retention.

The flight was very straight with very little weathercocking, however, it drifted a little.

Recovery:
PROs: 18" chute brought it down in one piece. No damage.

CONs: None.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
This is an excellent rocket kit. I recommend it to just about anyone.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Other Reviews
  • Estes AMRAAM AIM-120 By Mike Goss

    Intro One of Estes Industries Beta Series model rocket kits that is a semi-scale version of the United States Medium range Air-to-air Missile. This missile replaced the aging Sparrow radar guided missile, and it is also used in a surface-to-air mode by some NATO nations. I had seen this kit and I wondered if it flew any better than the Sidewinder that Estes produced. When Wal-Mart ...

  • Estes AMRAAM AIM-120 By Jay Finigan

    The AMRAAM from Estes is one of the many rockets that take after various weaponry used around the world by fighter jets, and ground based anti-aircraft launchers. The popularity of these types of rockets make it one to be a sure seller in the future.    It comes in a box, not in one of those cheap bags which can easily be damaged during shipping, and contains 18 parts. It is a ...

Flights

comment Post a Comment