Brief
Single stage, streamer recovery, and a small payload section.

Construction
This rocket was purchased at a discount chain store for a very reasonable price. All the parts were in the package. The fins are molded plastic and come as a unit, so no gluing or aligning of fins is necessary. The instructions are adequate. No deviations are necessary. Since plastic model cement is the adhesive called for, construction was very fast, and accomplished in an hour or so.

Finishing
The only finishing required is the decal application. The body parts are the correct color to match the picture. Since the model is so light, you could probably paint to do away with the "out of the box" look, and not suffer ill effects on performance. I didn't do that since this was my son's model, and he wanted to build it "right now".

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight
It was flown several times on an A4-2T, and it screams off the launch pad. I estimate the altitude about 400 feet, which is pretty high for such a small rocket. The rocket does heel over on launch. It suffers from "engine hook in the tail pipe" syndrome as do all Estes rockets with the new design engine hook and the 13mm engines. I recommend you cut off the extra part of the engine hook to restore the hook to the old design. Cut off enough so that the engine hook is out of the engine exhaust stream but leave enough for engine retention.

Recovery
The shock cord is tied to the upper engine mount instead of the normal Estes paper shock cord mount. This makes the shock cord even shorter than Estes' normally too short shock cord. There is not a lot of room, but make your own paper shock cord mount, and put a longer shock cord on the model. The streamer recovery is adequate, and necessary considering how high this thing goes. The nose cone is not attached because it is a payload configuration, so either permanently glue it or tape it shut during flight. We lost the nose cone after the 2nd flight.

Flight Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary
PRO: Ease of assembly for a novice who has a little experience with plastic model cement and Estes kits. This is a good model to teach kids how to follow instructions and build a kit.

CON: The engine hook which is endemic to all new Estes kits with 13mm mounts, and the too short shock cord. The nose cone is slightly too loose, and was lost on the second launch.

Don't trust payload nose cones to stay attached to the body tube no matter how snug they fit. Modify 13mm engine mount hooks to get the hook out of the exhaust stream.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5