Brief:
 The Estes MK-104 Patriot Missile rocket kit is one of four new Estes "Military" kits and a very popular kit at the flying field. I purchased the Patriot along with the other three kits and the version I built was the "Launchable" kit in the hard-shell pack from Meijers. It is a very colorful model, appears pretty sturdy, and flies on 18mm motors. Included with the kit is an "Operation Enduring Freedom" sticker to salute our military abroad.

Construction:
In the package you will find four die-cut fins, three BT-60 body tube sections--one of which is already colored, plastic nosecone, recovery items, and instructions. I was impressed with the quality of components and the instructions were very well written. The kit itself is a basic 4FNC, but just plain looks good once built.

I decided to construct it stock with only change made to the recovery section. I used dual Kevlar threads for shock cord and they were directly fastened to the motor mount. The top end was tied to a much longer thirty inch long piece of elastic shock cord and the joint was sealed with a piece of heat shrink tubing. The shock cord itself was attached to the nosecone once the model was finished.

The body tube comes in three sections, allowing you the flexibility to make a payload section or just use standard nosecone ejection. I went with the latter and did fill the joints once glued. Next came the fins; I dry rubbed filler over the surface of each fin and used Alphaetic Resin for gluing to the body tube. Fillets were added and the whole model was sanded.

Finishing:
After sanding the model came the primer. Krylon gray primer was used, followed by Krylon white primer for the upper body tube section. The model was painted completely in white, except the top section which was masked. After a couple days, I masked off the body tube and painted the lower fin section in red Krylon and the yellow section in Duplicolor Pale Yellow--it was the only brand that had a color to match the scale version. After a couple more days of drying, the top 1" of the body tube was painted Red and the nosecone was finished in white. Next, I applied the self stick decals, then clear coated the model with the new Krylon Super Gloss Triple Thick--it worked well.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
Launch day came and I had all four of the new Estes models ready to go. I prepped the Patriot with a B6-4 and packed the stock parachute. It was place on the pad and ready to go. At liftoff, it really came off the pad nice, straight up and a very cool flight.

Recovery:
The nosecone ejected after apogee and the model landed safely in the low grass field. It was a good flight with a slightly late recover, but no damage. Next, I tried a C6-5. This was also late on ejection, so a C6-3 was my third attempt. The other new Estes kits fly great on the C6-3 and this one is no exception--the motor combo was perfect with a great flight followed by apogee ejection. The model has flown many times since and is one of my favorites.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
To summarize, the Estes MK-104 Patriot Missile is one great flier. The build is very simple and the results are excellent, producing a good flying model. I have since purchased another and plan on building it as a three motor cluster, as I had seen someone else do it this way. I recommend this kit to everyone and being rated as a Skill Level 1 kit, anyone can build and own this piece of military history, the MK104 Patriot Missile from Estes.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5