When this rocket was bought, I was under the impression it would have no more than a few parts and would be quick to assemble. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are a good number of parts. This does not make building the glider difficult in the slightest. The quality of the parts makes it fun to build. You end up with a great looking product, which is always rewarding. The Ecee is quite reasonable priced, considering the quality parts, at around $13 at the time of this review. Younger modelers should have no problem assembling this model rocket kit, with parental supervision.

Parts List

This Edmonds kit contains parts of the highest quality. They fit together perfectly which makes building the glider a real pleasure.

- several sheets of laser-cut balsa parts
- body tube with vent hole
- balsa plug
- hinge strip
- launch lug
- instructions with plenty of illustrations

Have a sharp hobby knife handy to remove the rocket pieces from the balsa sheets. You'll also need some sandpaper and wood glue.

Construction

The elevator is joined to the canard with a hinge material strip. The hing is bright red which can only help with visibility. A lever is attached to the bottom. The lever can't be seen in the picture as it is on the bottom side of the canard assembly. Once assembled, this section is set aside for later use.

Next, four balsa pieces are joined to form the wing and bottom part of the fuselage. The vertical fins are glued to the wings next along with a bulkhead (hard to see in the picture). The sides of the fuselage are glued into place. Be sure the body tube still fits as you glue those sections in place. In the picture on the right, only the back section has the sides up.

Before gluing the body tube in place, the balsa plug is inserted in it. When the ejection charge fires, the balsa plug is pushed against the button on the elevator which activates the elevator to start the glide.

When all sides are in place, the top of the fuselage is glued on. You may want to use masking tape first to see if noseweight is required. If so, install it prior to gluing the top fuselage pieces in place.

Attach the launch lug as directed. Several nose cone pieces are stacked together and glued to form a nose cone. Attach it to the glider to complete the building process.

Measurements

The Ecee has a wingspan of about 13 1/2". The fuselage is around 15" long.

Flight Data

Edmonds recommends using the Ecee with 1/2A3-2T and A3-4T model rocket motors.

It performed very well on the 1/2A3-2T for its first flight. Nice boost followed by a gentle glide and soft landing.

Over the next month or two, it was flown four times on A3-4T motor. Each flight was great fun. The Ecee went up, arced over and started its glide in nice, wide spirals. This is a great little glider. The video below is of the larger "Thunder" version.

Video(s) : Ecee Thunder D12