Estes 001478 Flash Rocket Launch Set

Bought as a gift for my 5 year old daughter. With a little assistance from me she was able to do most of the assembly herself and she gave it a "custom" paint job just for fun. Be sure to buy engines and a 9v battery as those are not included. Buy more than one pack of engines and make sure the first is a low power engine like an A8-3 to use until you get a sense of how high you want it to go for your location. My daughter loves launching this and then chasing it down to catch it when it lands. A great toy as it teaches some hands on building skills, how to follow directions and gets kids excited about science, engineering and design while at the same time being fun, exciting and cool. Cool? Yes cool! Launching this at our local park always generates a crowd of onlookers and kids of all stripes asking where they can buy one. My daughter and her friends now always ask if we can build a rocket big enough for them to go into space. I dearly hope that one day they get their wish and perhaps playing with this is what inspires the person who makes it possible. The only issues for novice rocketeers to be aware of is that 1. rockets are cheap but engines are not. engines will make the launch cost be between 2 and 5 dollars EACH time depending on where you get them and what you pay for shipping. It is possible to buy in bulk at hobby shops and save a bit of cash 2. the 9v battery in your launch controller needs to be fresh to ignite the engines. bring a spare to your launch site to avoid disappointment and 3. be sure to follow the included safety guidelines. These are black powder powered and if you are not careful fire or burns are possible. In other words adult supervision is required.

We got 6 of these for a rocket launch birthday party for a bunch of 10-year-olds. I put them all together ahead of time, it took about 2 hours to put all 6 together. They do not come with engines or igniters - you must get those separately. The kids would launch them, then go tearing off down the field to try to catch them before they landed. Lots of fun, and everybody got a useful party favor (the rocket and launch set) instead of a piece of junk party favor. Assembling the first rocket was a little tricky, but after the first one, it went smoothly. One of the six shipped with an incorrect part - one of the fins was wrong. Frustrating, but I was able to trim the fin, turn it upside down, and make it work.

Solid

First off... be sure to buy some engines and recovery wadding like it says in the product description. 4 Igniters and igniter plugs come with each pack of 3 engines. 2. Note the fins snap in at an angle. 3. The burn is over quick. Much of the altitude is gained in coasting. So consider that in your choice of engines. The last number is the number of seconds between primary burn and parachute ejection. See "Suitable Engines" in the Amazon listing. Bought this for my 11 year old girl for Christmas and I'm glad I did. I knew time was going to be tight Christmas Day, so I liked the snap-together idea. She can build other models later. Given so few recent reviews on this rare bird, I had also bought an Alpha III as a backup... so we would have a complete kit should anything be missing in the Flash box. But everything worked great. Some have suggested 4 AA batteries are inferior to an ignition controller with a 9V. We had no problems and there was very little ignition lag. Just be sure the igniter is all the way in and plugged tight. The bag of wadding somehow got lost in the Christmas frenzy, so we googled alternatives. Found some party streamer and tested it with a lighter. It would burn, but not continue to burn with the flame removed. Only thing was, we had to guess how much to use. Personally I haven't fired rockets in almost 40 years. So I can't speak to the Estes recovery wadding, but using streamer, I suggest using the "less is more approach." Maybe four - 6" lengths or so? (6" before wadding up, of course) First flight was textbook. The store was out of A motors so we used a B. Fortunately winds were very light. She may have gone 500'? This was Christmas day. We had neighbors and passersby cheering us on. Second flight, the chute failed to fully eject. Obviously too much wadding. This time the cheers were replaced with "Oooohs and ahhhhs." Only the flailing nose cone "slowed" it down to any degree. Fortunately it landed on grass. This is a good case for a snap-together, first rocket. A couple fins came off in the crash, so we just snapped 'em back on. Then removed some of the wadding and went for a 3rd flight as it was just beginning to get dark. This time... with a C motor. We were in your standard middle school football field surrounded by a track. Winds were still very light, so we decided to go for it. A buddy of mine stood about 85 yards away. He's a private pilot and could see the entire flight. Based on the 1000' minimum altitude he's allowed to fly over urban areas, he told his son, "Yep. That's about how high I fly over town." The chute opened. We watched it fall back to Earth for what seemed like forever. A slight breeze from the north had come in and the rocket was headed for the street. Fortunately it made it across the street and gently touched down on a friend's lawn. Once again... the crowd cheered and fun was had by all!

Was super easy to learn to use.

The rocket required quite a bit of time and patience to assemble. I had to modify the pieces before it would fit together. Very poor quality control for a company that's been around since I was a kid 50+ years ago.

Excellent rocket kit to get kids interested! My boy is 7 and the regular kits with wood and measuring was a little tough for him. He could pretty much complete this kit by himself. No glue, no cutting wings out. Need to buy engines and wadding, everything else is in there. They sell these locally for near the same price if you wanted to see it in person. I would save a few bucks and buy it @ Amazon. We used a B engine for first flight, it is a little heavy for the B engines though, barely had time to pop the chute, next flights will be with A engine or more; has handy sticker on side that reminds you what engines you can use with it. Launch pad works great, we launch all our other rockets from it..

This is my first model rocket purchase and after much searching I got two of these rockets and the engine pack. My kids (10 years old) and I were able to assemble them (you need good glue). They fly well and are easy to operate. My kids really enjoyed them and quickly used up all the engines in our pack. Time to get more!

Great kit! This kit was the first model rocket I ever had, I got it when I was 8 years old and put it together with very little difficulty, it comes with everything you need to build the rocket pretty much, you need engines, igniters, plugs, and recovery wadding, aswell as a 9v battery. There are just two changes to this package since my last one when I was a young boy, and they are just the launch pad and the launch controller, not a big deal obviously, this rocket flys as high as you'd ever want it to, I lost my first one on its first flight due to my own stupidity launching it in a small field with a very powerful engine, all in all its a great rocket and I would recommend it for any beginners to model rocketry, or any younger rocketeers!

This rocket was easy to assemble and it sure does go! I made the mistake of using it with the most powerful engine for its first flight. Sadly it was also its last flight because it was gone into the next area code before I could spot it again. Great fun, just use it in a big area especially if you use the big engines.