Brief:
This is a fun little stubby rocket that used to be manufactured by Estes. 2005 was its last year of production.

Construction:
The Fat Boy is a fairly simple to build rocket that comes in a bag with:

• BT-80 Body Tube
• PNC80 (Round type) Nose Cone
• Sheet of Balsa Wood with pre-cut fins
• 18mm Size Motor Mount materials
• Decals
• Shock Cord (short, as usual)
• 18" Parachute
• Launch Lug

The rocket is fairly simple to assemble if you have assembled at least one other rocket. It features through-The-wall fins which makes fin alignment easy. The instructions are easy to follow and this rocket can be ready to fly in about 6 hours.

Finishing:
The stock paint job for a Fat Boy is a maroon body tube with aqua-like colored fins. I decided to paint mine with a blue body tube and black fins. The rocket comes with 4 decals which are easy to apply.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
The rocket will use pretty much any 18mm size motor with a short delay. I do not recommend A motors though. The large body tube requires a lot of wadding (8 sheets or so) and uses an 18" parachute that needs to be packed. It is somewhat a tight squeeze but it works.

I have flown mine several times on B6-4s and C6-3s with nice results. The Fat Boy flies nicely and straight for its size and kids love to watch it fly.

Recovery:
The rocket uses a standard 18" parachute which brings the rocket down at a decent speed. The 8 or so sheets of wadding are enough to protect the parachute and there was little to no melting or burning.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
This rocket is (or was) a nice rocket for beginners and mine was one of my first rockets. It will provide very nice flights that anyone can enjoy, especially if you modify the motor mount to use 24mm motors.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5