Estes Big Daddy

Thank you

best low power kit ever !

Big Daddy is, as Estes says, a head-turner. It looks great and flies better. Durability is amazing.Building it takes some time-- do take your time. The joints have to be strong in order to withstand E engine power. Don't use Elmer's school glue, use proper wood glue.Finishing can be simple or difficult. Achieving the look as Estes shows is challenging, but a red body and a black nose look great as well, and that's much easier to do. My only complaint about this rocket is the decals. They are not hard to put on. Rather, Estes was lazy with the fin decals. There are enough fin decals for one side of 2 fins. I find that pathetic.Flying this rocket is great. I recommend starting with a D12-3 engine and then graduating to an E9-6. It flies high, and is easy to recover. It is probably the most reliable rocket I have. Once, the parachute lines were too tangled top open (I didn't bother untangling them) and it free-fell some 600 feet onto concrete. Nothing happened but a mild fin crack, which I can't even notice after some superglue. One thing for when you launch: use a LOT of recovery wadding. Because of the size of the engine tube and nose cone, the parachute is pushed right up against the engine tube. It will melt if you don't have enough!

Son painted gold and looks real sharp! What a fun rocket to launch. We bought the bigger diameter rod for launching. Went perfect. Needs a lot of wadding (12 sheets or so). An easy build. My 8 year old built with my supervision. I had him add extra white glue at each step. Would recommend! We used the D engines for 1st launch. Landed within 10 feet of lift off. He decided D engines were enough... E's would definitely send it 900 feet.Update: 2nd launch, must have packed the chute too tight (dad's fault). Came down like a mortar (even had a whistle like the war movies!) Definitely aim this clear of people into an open space. Surprisingly, thanks to some snow, the rocket sustained minimal damage! My boys quickly had this fixed and ready for another launch.

As low power rockets go, this is an especially fun one. A stock build lets you practice through-the-wall fin construction with a cheap model (and that's a nice skill to have as you go to higher power models) and the stock 24mm motor mount lets you run D and baby-E estes motors, which push this stubby model to decent but not insane heights. If you want, however, you can also use this kit as a base unit to kitbash larger clones of OOP kits, such as the Leviathan or the large Patriot model, with aftermarket parts found on the internet! I've built three of these and they're great fun afternoon park fliers no matter how you build them.