Estes - Wizard {Kit} (1292) [1978-]

Estes Wizard

Estes - Wizard {Kit} (1292) [1978-]

Contributed by James Johnson

Construction Rating:
Flight Rating:
Overall Rating:

Diameter:	0.74 inches
Manufacturer:	Estes
Skill Level:	1
Style:	Sport

Brief:
This guy is a good starter's rocket, as it is easy to build, fun to fly, and yet it presents more of a challenge than the "ready-to-fly" kits.

Construction:
The instructions were easy to follow with basic sketches to depict just about every step. I felt that no special measures needed to be taken during assembly -- just follow the instructions!

Finishing:
I find the best way to finish small diameter rockets, such as the Wizard, is to cut and bend a coat hanger and insert it into the body tube. Then spray paint the exterior. A good coating of sanding sealer on the fins will hide the wood grains. Unfortunately, I only used one coat of sanding sealer -- two or three coats would have given the fins an almost plastic-like finish. The decals are simple self-adhesive and just need to be cut out. I didn't use the decals for the fins as they are triangular and the fin angle won't match the edge of these decals. When completed, the rocket is pleasing to see if time is taken on the finishing details.

Construction Rating: 4

Flight:
For the first flight, I used an A8-3 and was pleased with the results. The rocket flew straight and true and the streamer deployed just as the rocket arched over. This was a great motor choice as the rocket gained a fair altitude without going out of sight. I recommend that you should wrap a piece of masking tape around the motor to give it a firm mount. The Wizard has no motor mount and uses the body tube itself to house the motor. You want to make sure the motor is a very snug fit -- if it's too loose, the ejection charge will blast the motor out the back and not deploy the streamer. Lawn darts are no fun.

The other flights, I used B6-4's. These motors were almost too powerful as I personally lost sight of the rocket (a few others claimed to see it all the way). The Wizard arched slightly in this flight, but nothing major.

I haven't used the C6 motors on this rocket, and wouldn't recommend it unless you have an exceptionally clear day and very sharp eyes! If you do decide to launch on C's, I'd recommend placing a little dry, powdered paint in a square of wadding, so the rocket can be tracked when it reaches apogee. Also, I used two squares of wadding and found this to be quite sufficient.

Recovery:
The Wizard uses the standard Estes shock cord system -- the folded paper. Make sure that there are no edges of the shock cord paper sticking out, so your streamer doesn't get snagged. A simple plastic streamer is included in the kit and is very easy to assemble. I found the streamer recovery to be effective -- the rocket once landed in a parking lot from about 900' feet with no more damage than a scratch on one fin.

Flight Rating: 5

Summary:
This is a great kit for someone who wants to step up from the ready-to-fly or almost-ready-to-fly kits. Even though it is a very simple and easy kit, make sure you spend time building it well. Use fillets and make sure the fins are as straight as possible to get the best from this kit. The one and only problem I had with the kit, was that the nose cone fit was too tight -- I had to sand down the nose a bit before it was just right. Have fun with this kit!

Overall Rating: 4

Other Reviews

Estes Wizard By Evan (March 15, 2011)
A very easy kit to build, good price. The hobby store I go to sold them in the bulk pack and put it on the shelf so it it was even cheaper :) Components Engine Spacer Engine Block Body Tube Launch Lug Shock Cord Mount Tube Marking Guide Streamer Shock Cord Nose Cone Nose Cone Insert Blasa Fins Decals It seems like a lot, but ...
Estes Wizard By David Sindel
Brief: One of very few good Estes little minimum diameter rocket kits. Construction: The kit includes: 8.75" of BT-20 EB-20 NC-20,plastic ogive 3 balsa fins 1" x 18" streamer ~18" of shock cord Construction was easy taking about 2 hours. You could do it in half an hour with cyanoacrylate (CA). No problems here. Motor retention is ...
Estes Wizard By Bill Eichelberger
Upon becoming seriously involved as a BAR in the spring of 2001, I went looking through local hobby stores, hoping to find that some of my favorite rockets from my early years were still available. The Wizard, a high flying minimum diameter rocket, turned out to be the sole remaining holdover from my original fleet. Included in the kit: 1 - 8.65" BT-20 (BT-20B) 1 - Engine block ...
Estes Wizard By Doyle Tatum
This is truly a great beginner's rocket. I picked it up, being a BAR, to get myself back into the rocket building world. I built mine exactly by the instructions. When preparing for flight, I find it sometimes difficult to pack the streamer so that it ejects with no problem. If I were to build another, I would tie a length of Kevlar to the engine block for use as the shock cord. This way, there ...
Estes Wizard By Mike Salter
Brief: The Estes Wizard is a basic 18mm rocket but it's a very fast and high flying rocket. Construction: The kit came with 8.75" of BT-20, a launch lug, engine block, shock cord, streamer, a plastic nose cone and die-cut balsa to make fins. The Estes Wizard is extremely easy to make, especially since the motor is friction fit so you just need to glue in the engine block. ...

Flights

Comments:

B.L. (November 1, 1999)

Replace the orange plastic streamer with a 30 inch length of 1 inch wide red Teflon Pipe Thread Sealant Tape, McMaster-Carr part number 44945K14. Teflon Pipe Tape is ejection charge proof, it won't melt and get stuck together. Best of all, NO WADDING REQUIRED! Just dust the Teflon streamer with Talcum powder to aid in deployment and unfurling before packing it into the airframe.

M.W. (April 1, 2000)

The Wizard is a great little kit that is well worth the time to put a great finish on it. Only problem is a slick finish will make it fly even higher.... I recommend at least 4 coats of sanding sealer on the fins for a top notch finish without wood grain showing through. If you want to put a C6-7 engine in it, I would also consider painting it orange or some other color to contrast well with a blue sky, otherwise you will never see it again....

N.A. (February 1, 2001)

When I built this rocket I thought it would be fun to make it a central ejection rocket. No additional parts were needed. I just cut the body tube in half and built the bottom of the rocket as it is supposed to but the top section has the nose cone friction fitted and the yellow spacer tool can be used as a body tube coupler then you just attach both ends of the shock cords in each of the rocket segments. You might want to check the CP and the CG be fore you fly this MOD it could go crazy during flight because of the added weight.

C.K. (June 1, 2001)

I built this rocket in about 20 minutes, just to see how high it would go. No paint, as I figured I would paint it if I ever saw it again after the first launch. I got two launches off, and was lucky to find it from the first. Second launch, GONE! Great little rocket, I will definitely get another, it doesn't cost much more than a motor anyway. Maybe I will buy 2, and make a staged model, then I will be guaranteed I will never see it again!

B.E. (July 1, 2001)

No doubt about it, the Wizard is Estes' Engineering done right. Even on an A8-3 it delivers more than impressive performance. This is the only engine that I've used that allowed me to see the whole flight. It's literally "outtasight" on B's and especially C's. The only con here is the new look. Why they took a classic simple look like the purple and white original and changed it to this mess is beyond me. Do yourself a favor. Hunt up an old decal and do it the right way. Even if you opt for a brighter color than purple for the lower portion of the rocket (not a bad idea considering it's tendency to scream off the pad,) you'll come up with a much better looking rocket.

M.K. (July 1, 2001)

When you stick a C engine in it, you'll never see it again!

D.L.C. (July 1, 2001)

You think it goes on a C??? This last weekend I flew mine on an Aerotech D21-7! WRASP indicated an airspeed of about 720 mph and an altitude just shy of 3,000 feet. I had originally gotten the idea to do this by wondering if it would be possible to hit Mach with a D and simulating it on wRASP. Couldn't quite hit the speed of sound, but this comes close. My daughter had a Wizard which flew well on A's and B's so I bought and built one of my own. Because the D21 is a short burn, high thrust motor, the first concern of course was keeping the fins on. The simulation indicated an acceleration of 60 plus G's (the result of attempting to go from 0 to 720 mph in less than 1 second). I took some used dryer sheets and laminated the fins with this material and wood glue after they had been mounted to the body; I extended this reinforcement over the glue joint down onto the body. I then filleted over this material and filled the weave with Elmer's Wood Filler. For the streamer I replaced the stock orange plastic with a long metallic silver party streamer on the hopes of seeing it in the sky after. Finally, I checked the CG of the Wizard with an A motor and balanced it to that point with the D by putting some clay in the nose..it was probably stable anyhow but better safe than sorry. At the CMASS launch on July 7th I flew it. After a popped igniter on the first attempt, I tried again. It took off with a loud roar like a bullet...very simply it vaporized off of the pad like nothing I've seen before. The fins held on for a straight flight but I expected that we had seen the last of the Wizard. Someone yelled "I think I see it!"..and sure enough, there was a sparkly little star WAY up in the sky. Alas, I didn't recover it though...but we could see it drift down, landing over a hill, probably a good mile and a half away.

M.G.K. (October 26, 2001)

Nice kit. Everything went together well and I finished it according to the kit picture. Fin decals weren't made to fit the angle of the balsa fins. Haven't launched it yet.

G.A.D (June 25, 2002)

We use the A8-5 with this rocket. I think a 3 second delay would be too short. Ours is painted bright blue and looks pretty good, IMHO. At the club launch this weekend a group (scouts or a summer camp) showed up with a fleet of Wizards. They put on some great drag-races and really sent those rockets flying. I think they all were recovered too. This is a "can't miss" rocket.

R.D. (August 29, 2002)

This rocket performs nearly out of sight on an A8 and is gone for a very long time on a C6-7. My third launch on a B6-4 proved to nearly be the death of mine as it caught what little wind there was bad and landed in a pond, taking a wait of 30 minutes for it to float within grabbing range. Luckily, there was no damage despite its long bath and will probably fly again. It does have a slight tendency to weathercock and was why I believed it could handle a B6-4, since the C6-7 carried it upwind a distance so it came to land about 20 feet from the pad. 7 seconds is the perfect delay, just after apogee.

P.L.A. (October 21, 2003)

Other than the very tacky decal scheme, this is a great little rocket. I have had 10 sucessuful launches/recoveries of this rocket, up to a C motor. With bigger motors, it really goes up, so you might loose it, but even with A or B motors, it goes up high and holds together fine. A great 1st rocket, as step up challenge wise from those Estes E2X rockets. Price is right too....good starter rocket.

S.G. (February 27, 2008)

Great kit and think the blue/stickers looks great. REALLY surprised at the altitude on a B, wouldn't think of flying it on a C - unless I didn't want it back. Very high, very fast and very straight flight. I used Kevlar® cord from the motor mount to the shock cord as I'm not a fan of the paper mount. Rocket eating tree snagged this baby on it's first flight, but by the end of the day the Kevlar® had been worn through and the body fell to ground. Nosecone remains out of reach. Pros: Quick and easy to build. Great flyer. Cons: Streamer supplied was less than 1/2 the length recommended.

Post a Comment