This flying model rocket is used to send eggs up into the sky and bring them back to the ground, with the help of a parachute, in one piece. The Eggscaliber comes with two parachutes. These are to be used for launches with an egg. One parachute to bring down the cargo section with egg and one to bring down the remainder of the rocket. The two chutes and shock cord seemed nearly impossible to squeeze into the body tube. Due to this, only one parachute was used to bring down both rocket sections for this review. Even with just one parachute, things are a bit tight when packing the parachute and shock cord into the airframe tube. As part of building the model kit, you'll construct a motor adapter. This will enable you to launch the rocket on both 18mm and 24mm rocket motors. As it can also be launched with our without an egg, or other cargo, this Estes model rocket offers quite a few options.

Parts List

The kit comes in the usual Estes bag, clear with blue print and printed face card.

- 2 nose cone sections with 2 egg cushion parts
- body tube
- 2 shock cords
- 2 E engine hooks and 1 standard engine hook
- 3 laser cut balsa fins
- launch lug
- yellow spacer tube
- 3 centering rings and one adapter ring
- engine mount tube
- hook retainer and spacer
- 12" and 18" assembled parachutes
- decal sheet
- instructions

To build this egglofter, you'll need the usual hobby supplies required to build a model rocket. To launch the EggsCaliber, you'll need the usual launch supplies and a 3/16" launch rod.

Construction

This is a skill level 2 rocket and is easy enough to build. Nothing tricky or confusing. The only parts that are really different is the motor mount and the motor adapter.

The motor mount uses two engine hooks and the hook retainer ring is glued to the outside of the airframe. The motor adapter is assembled so the rocket can be flown on both 18mm and 24mm motors.

Finishing

After a coat of Rust-Oleum automotive primer, the entire rocket (except for the cargo section) was painted gloss black. This matches the paint scheme shown on the face card.

The stickers are easy to apply. The decal sheet also includes many smaller stickers which can be used to decorate the egg. Mouths, noses, ears, they're all there to give the eggstrounaut the look of your choice.

This rocket was first launched the day before Easter. It sounded like a fun idea to color the Easter eggs and then use one for the egglofter. For some reason, the decals would not adhere well to the colored eggs at all.

Measurements

The EggsCaliber measures 20" (50.8cm) long with a diameter of 1.35" (34mm).

Flight Data

Recommended engines for this Estes egglofter are : B4-2, B6-2, C6-3, C6-5, C11-5, D12-5, E9-4 without and egg. With the eggstronaut, you can use an B6-2, C6-3, C11-3, D-12-3 or E9-4.

After the egg was placed in the payload section, the rocket felt quite heavy. It was launched with an E9-4 motor and went up much, much higher than expected. It almost certainly made it to or past the advertised 610 feet. Nice, straight flight. Parachute ejected around apogee and the rocket, and egg, were recovered without damage of any kind.

Eggcellent (sorry) flight and it will be interesting to see what it does on other motors, as there are so many motor choices for this flying model rocket.