Brief: Large but not chunky payloader. Lots of room.

Construction: Quality; have only seen this one boxed. I prefer the boxed ones - any damage on the inside is likely to be visible on the outside. All parts present. None broken.

Clear and cardboard tubes, lots of plastic parts including transition, motor mount and fins.

Instructions: Easy to follow, usual decent illustrations in good order. No templates needed.

Ease of build: Do make sure to pay attention to the lug alignment when gluing the coupler. Just making a tip on the shock cord does not ensure easy insertion into the coupler. After fighting with mine, I ended up using a floss threader which worked great. Alignment is good for fins and tubes. Fit is good and straight. Transition is very loose and the nose cone is extremely tight. Pretty sturdy but can see the fins snapping easily if it lands right.

No special tools needed.

Finishing: PROS: There is no finishing which is occasionally nice.

CONS: A constant gripe about Estes' decals, there is only one for every other fin.

Construction Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Flight: Easy prep as with most D motors and large tubes. Wadding needed and the kit uses a twist-loc retention system.

On a D12-5, the flight was slow, low and okay. Don't know if the slight veering was due to the wind or the payload.

One might want to leave the nose cone fairly tight, as my son's hot wheels popped it off on the first flight.

Recovery: Parachute. As with most Estes models, it needs a longer shock cord. No damage. A little too much drifting for my taste. Cut a small hole in the 24" parachute but don't go down to an 18" 'chute.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary: PROS: Nice to have another big one around and a payloader at that. Good flyer.

CONS: As some have said, the Sidewinder is "under leveled", this on is way "over leveled". Why it's not an E2X I have no idea. Overall assembly was no more difficult than the Stingray or Skywinder.

Overall Rating: 3 ½ out of 5