Astra Model Rocket Kit

My son got this kit for Christmas so we kind of built it together. The kit went together great. Very easy to build and had clear instructions. I've been building rockets for years and have always enjoyed Quest products. Put a C motor in this on our maiden flight and it went out of sight! The rocket ended up drifting about a 1/4 mile away from the launch pad but luckily landed in the clear and I was able to recover it. The second time I launched it was on a B motor and it still had some impressive altitude and ended up stuck about 40 feet up in a sycamore tree. Luckily I know a guy that does tree work and he was able to rope up into the the tree and cut off the small limb the parachute/rocket was hung up in. When it hit the ground it did break loose one fin but that was easily repaired and has since flown again. Great kit!

Easy to build. Flies well on A size motors. Just gets faster and higher as you go to B and C size motors. We rarely do much in C size motors. I will say we have 25+ flights on this airframe. The original chute, shock cord, nose cone, fins... all still functional. The chute is getting a little brittle and doesn't like to open on cold days (3 years old). Great looking chute, but not the best plastic. I prefer some of the garbage bag chutes I have made over the one in the kit. the fin slots make it easy to assemble. The only issue I had was that the top centering ring - instructions tell you to install over the motor mount wire. I thought about cutting a bit of relief in the ring and wish I had. The motors are a tight fit and hard to pull out (top of wire is pushing on the case where the centering ring is. Also - for whatever reason, I have needed to repair a broken fin on this model just about every time I go out. Not sure why that is. just is. Good starter kit for kids, as its easier to put the fins on. Love the kevlar shock cord attachment. We bought a 2nd one, as the first is getting so beat up... I would recommend it as a 1st kit for sure.