Rocketry

[The three small rockets are Whatchamacallits. The larger rocket is the Thing-a-ma-Jig.]

The Whatchamacallit is a cool, small, skill level 1 rocket buildable by just about anyone. Three eight year old girls built these at our first rocket building party. It went very well. The only real catch was that some of the centering rings didn’t fit. I was able to correct that by removing a layer on the inside and/or outside. That did detract a little since I didn’t check them before the party, but we still had a lot of fun and the rockets came out great.

I really like the fin design. They lock together in such a way that aligning them on the rocket is very simple and does not require any sort of jig. We just used a little tape to hold them together while the glue was drying.

These rockets have 18mm (BT-20) body tubes and 13mm (BT-5) motor mounts. They take the standard Estes mini engines such as the A3-4. They use streamers for recovery.

The girls launched their rockets at the CMASS launch in Amesbury. They enjoyed drag racing and the rockets flew well. I was really thinking that the shock cords were too short, but it turns out that they were fine. The combination of kevlar string and elastic must be just right. They were recovered safely with no damage on every launch.

I think this is a very nice, well designed, clever kit and great for the beginner. If you are going to give it to a young child I suggest you assemble the pieces once or twice by yourself first to make sure you understand how they go together and to make sure they fit.

[The larger rocket is the Thing-a-ma-Jig. The three small rockets are Whatchamacallits.]

The Thing-a-ma-Jig is a nice, moderately sized, skill level 1 rocket from FlisKits. With my help my three (now four) year old son was able to build it. I really like the fin design. They lock together in such a way that aligning them on the rocket is very simple and does not require any sort of jig. We just used a little tape to hold them together while the glue was drying.

To make the kit a little easier for my son I replaced the parachute with a party streamer.

This rocket has a 24mm (BT-50) body tube and an 18mm (BT-20) motor mount. It flies on standard 18mm engines such as the B6-4 and C6-5. As I mentioned above, it includes a parachute as the recovery device.

Matthew launched this rocket at the CMASS launch in Amesbury. It flew very well on the B6-4 and C6-5 and it was recovered safely with no damage every time.

I think this is a very nice, well designed, clever kit and great for the beginner. If you are going to give it to a young child I suggest you assemble the pieces once or twice by yourself first to make sure you understand how they go together and to make sure they fit. On the similar Whatchamacallit kits I’ve found several centering rings that did not fit properly. I got them to fit by removing a layer on the inside and/or the outside, but it is better to have everything just right before your child attempts to assemble it themselves.

This is a video of the Thing-a-ma-Jig flying on an Estes C6-5.

And here it is again in slow motion (I love this new video camera)…

My kids had a blast building and flying the rockets from the Estes Tandem X Rocket Launch Set.

[Clicking the image will display a slideshow of photos from the day.]

Matthew, who was three years old at the time, built the skill level “E2X” (easier than skill level 1), nearly three feet long Amazon and it was plenty easy enough for him with my help. The fin can is plastic and the fins snap in so you don’t have to worry about alignment or jigs. We replaced the parachute with a party streamer and that worked well. He did not keep it the original black but instead painted it green and covered it with stickers. He flew it six times on C6-5 motors at the first launch without any issues at all.

The C6-5 provides enough power to get the rocket up high enough, but the rocket is fairly large and heavy so it is nice and slow. There is something to be said for a rocket you can track with your eye and camera. I really enjoy a slow, majestic launch.

Miranda who was eight years old at the time built the more complex Crossfire ISX. This is a skill level 1 kit and she was able to build it with my help. We replaced the parachute with a party streamer. Unfortunately, we also used a shock cord I had laying around that turned out to be too short. It broke during the first four launches, but the rocket did not suffer any damage despite falling without any form of recovery system. It’s pretty sturdy. Once we put in a longer shock cord it worked fine. Miranda did not use the original white and red color scheme or original decals. Instead she painted it dark blue and covered it in smiley face stickers. She named it “Giggle Powered”.

Giggle Powered flew six times at that first launch on B4-4 motors. Despite using the smaller motors her small Crossfire ISX was much faster than Matthew’s larger Amazon. It was plenty fast and high enough. Although it can take C6-5 motors, you should only use them if you have access to a very large field.

The launch pad and controller are cheap but work fine. No complaints there, but I’ll probably never use them.

All in all I was quite pleased with this kit. Everything worked well.