OK, I gotta admit that I wasn't very impressed from the start...but I bought the kit off the rack at Hobby Lobby anyway. Someone else had posted pics of their flight on Facebook and I thought it looked interesting as an "Advanced" rocket kit. So I sought it out.

First, at $14.99 I thought it was a little pricy. Gone are the days of the HL discount. You got to catch them on clearance if you want any sort of a price break. Mine was full price.

I was a bit surprised to discover this was only an 18 mm rocket, and a two stage at that, but I bought it.

Right from the unbagging, I was concerned. The sheet of balsa fins was thin...easily the thinnest that I have ever seen. I tried to get the laser cut fins out with an Exacto knife helping me, and I STILL snapped the flashing around the fins. Not the FINS, mind you, but just the flashing. This warned me that I was going to have to be extremely careful when sanding those fins and rounding the edges. I resolved that I was going to strengthen the balsa with a wood glue slurry of two drops water to a 2-litter bottle cap full of yellow glue. Turns out, that was smart! All six fins needed some reinforcement.

But when holding the fin to drag along the sandpaper to round all three sides of the fin... you can just feel the balsa flexing, wanting to snap like a saltine cracker... maybe even easier. But all six survived.

Second, I wasn't very impressed with the body tube. While this is nothing more than an extended craft tube, I found looking inside the spirals, that they weren't completely closed. That is, the tube has a paper sheath over the cardboard tube, but the spirals aren't closed up. They are only held shut by the paper over the groove. VERY low quality. Not what I had expected at all from Estes. Still, this produces a lighter rocket when taken together with the wafer-thin fins as well. That MUST be the goal, cause durability sure isn't it.

The kit went together quickly, with just a engine block at the base of the booster stage, and then the fins going on. The launch lug was no problem, though it's length is not the same as the fin it glues to.

When it came to spacing the yellow temporary motor tubes, they tape together with a single coat of magic mending tape just fine. However, the diagrams weren't clear about how to insert them and why you were spacing them so inside the tubes. As long as you didn't use excess glue to seal the motor block in place, you can insert the bottom one easily, and remove it before it glues into the excess glue at the bottom. But heaven help you if you've used a puddle too much.... (a word to the wise).

The single internal connector tube fit well and once coated with glue, resisted slipping inside the body tube for a snug fit. However, it went in and grabbed as expected. The second half of the operation, inserting and gluing the other end, was a bit more difficult, but worked.

The small t-bag anchor for the shock cord is standard issue, however, there is no explanation of how a grown man is supposed to hold the glued-up anchor in place INSIDE the body tube as it cures. Only my pinky finger fit inside, and not deep! Plan ahead!

Instructions for attaching the streamer were not clear WHERE along the shock cord you were to attach it, though the simple fold-over and sealing tape attachment was clear.

When it came to inserting the nosecone, I discovered the lead edge of the body tube had been crushed and was out of round. Maybe it will relax and take the circular shape again when stored with the nosecone in place. I don't know.

Painting instructions weren't clear how they expected a fade between royal blue and white of the body tube. Certainly, this thin of body tube MUST be protected with a layer of paint.

I primed everything...the fins, body tube and launch lug with gloss white for added strength. And I let it completely dry a half hour.

Then I shot the fins with royal blue, and after removing the nose cone, the top of the body tube. I let this dry the rest of the evening.

The Nose cone was shot with gloss black after wrapping the shoulder with a single layer of painter's tape to protect it from paint.

As I prepared to put the slide decals on over the white window of the body tube, I noticed the instructions showed gloss black at the nose cone AND the bottom second stage.

I waited to assure the blue coat of paint was thoroughly dry before shooting the bottom stage with the last of my black.

I set the finished rocket aside to dry and cure overnight.

Sometime in the night, a cat or someone knocked the rocket off the table, and the body tube crumpled halfway down the tube.

Never flown, and the tube has crumpled.

If this is the quality of Estes rocket kits, the company is in trouble. I will never buy another such kit from HL due to the size of body tube, poor quality of tube, and thin balsa. Granted, the lighter the rocket, the higher it will go, but this kit is barely even there.

Serious rocketeers, look elsewhere.