This flying model rocket kit is sold in a half-box which Estes often uses for its larger rocket kits.
- 4 laser-cut balsa fins - motor tube with engine block, hook and 2 centering rings - elastic shock cord - 24" parachute (assembled) - large sheet of water slide decals - instructions According to the box, launches with E engines, require an E launch controller and launch pad. Construction The Big Daddy is a level 2 model kit and amazingly easy to build. The body tube comes complete with fin slots which makes attaching the fins a breeze. First, the motor mount is assembled in the usual fashion. Glue the engine block into the motor tube, make the slit for the engine hook and glue the centering rings in place. The shock cord is attached to one of the centering rings. I replaced the shock cord with Kevlar cord and didn't use the engine hook, a motor retainer was used instead. Once the engine block assembly dries, dry fit the fins in between the centering rings. If all is well, you can glue the engine mount into the body tube and glue the fins in place next. And that's all it takes to build the Big Daddy. If you like long builds, you won't like this kit much. If you like flying a lot more than building and enjoy quick and easy builds, this is the model rocket for you. To make up for adding a motor retainer and to add to stability just a touch, 12 grams of nose weight was added. Finishing The spirals in the body tube are quite deep, so I started by filling those with some watered-down wood filler. As I had the wood filler out, the fins were filled too. Automotive primer (Rust-Oleum) was applied to the model rocket and nose cone. Once dry, it was sanded smooth. For some reason, the spirals were still showing, although I couldn't feel them. I figured this was due to the wood filler absorbing more or less primer than the rest of the body tube. The nose cone was painted royal blue (Rust-Oleum protective enamel). Once that dried, the tip was painted black. The airframe was painted sunrise red. While hard to see, the spirals could still be seen in a few spots after the paint dried. Let this be a warning, be sure to fill the spirals really well. If you see anything that looks like a spiral after priming, fill some more and prime again. The kit comes with a large decal sheet. I decided not to use most of the decals. There's only enough to make one side of two fins, which would make the whole thing look incomplete in my opinion. Measurements The Big Daddy is a whopping 3" (76mm) wide and is short and stubby with a 19" (48.3 cm) length. Flight Data Estes suggests the following rocket engines for this stubby rocket : C11-3, D12-3, D12-5, E9-4, and E9-6. For D engines, an adapter is required, which is included with the kit. Big Daddy performed very nicely on an Estes E9-4. Nice and slow flight. Having seen that, it was time to try some RMS reloads. First was the Aerotech E11-3J. Another nice and slow flight, not as much black smoke as I had hoped, an F12-3J will be better. Next was an Aerotech E18-4W reload. Excellent flight, nice flame and noise, flew straight up. Great engine for this model rocket. For the next launch, I had the bright idea of letting my son Max pick the motor. He selected an F24-4, as it was the biggest one on hand. This turned out to be an excellent motor choice for this model rocket. It shot up with lots of noise and kept going and going. It got to where it was nearly out of sight. Very cool flight. It came down on a 16" LOC parachute and landed quite a distance from the launch pad. After looking for about 20 minutes, I asked Max to join me in the search and he spotted it in two minutes flat. If you plan on using an F24 with this rocket, be sure to use a location beeper. I didn't and regretted it, it would have made it much easier to find the rocket in the tall grass. Next flight was on a much bigger field. An Aerotech F12-5 reload was used for a great flight. Went up nice and straight, deployment shortly after apogee. The rocket landed very close to the pads. Video : Aerotech F12-5 RMS
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