Ordered an Estes RTF rocket, decal put on by maker VERY wrinkled.

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SirNomad

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Hey guys, I know I'm here with the newbie questions. My son picked out an Estes Shooting Star, which he opened up over the weekend so we could fly it (prior to hopefully fixing my launch controller issues). He was pretty sad to see that the factory applied decal had very large, protruding wrinkles from being applied badly. How will this affect flight? Is there a way to remove one of these decals so I can try to reapply it and salvage it? It seems weird to bother Estes with this when I already had to have them fix a shipping error, I don't want to come off as a sketchy scammer. My son is a Tiger Cub Scout, and this was his favorite because it's "America colors". :)

-Michael in Tucson, AZ

P.S. What's this flying rockets in "snow" I hear tell about?
 
Depending on how bad the wrinkle is, you might be able to slice it with a sharp hobby knife, and get it to lay down. As far as affecting flight, it should be fine as long as there isn't a large amount of the decal "flapping" during boost. It will likely collect dirt and grass under it though.
 
Call Estes...their customer service usually tries to make things right and in this case, it wasn't your wrong. I had a similar issue on one of their kits and tried to slowly peel off the sticker, but that wasn't working since it would lift off the layer of colored paper covering the tube, so I just smoothed out the wrinkle best I can and trimmed off any bits sticking out (like David mentioned above).
 
Yeah, if it wasn't for my son, with him wanting that specific rocket so much, with THAT decal, I would just do a little bit of razor blade surgery and paint it some fancy color.
 
I have 3 Shooting Stars, all with this issue. I'm assuming it was from the cardboard tube "drying" in an lower humidity environment vs the one it was built/stickered in. I've seen this happen on rockets I've built in summer. I ended up giving away one and stripping another one of it sticker and painting it.
 
A lot of pre-stickered RTF rockets are like this. Estes' customer service is great, but they might have trouble finding one that doesn't have some bubbles in it.
 
A lot of pre-stickered RTF rockets are like this. Estes' customer service is great, but they might have trouble finding one that doesn't have some bubbles in it.

Edit: Maybe pick out a Skill Level 1 rocket and build it with him, then paint it any colors he wants? Then he'll see the joy of building.
 
Is there a trick to removing decals from the paper rocket body? This look like it is indeed a hassle.
 
The E2X rockets are very good. Super easy to build (pretty much foolproof if you take even the slightest bit of care), no finishing required but you get to apply the stickers yourself. :)

Just enough construction to get a hint of what it's all about, without the burden of all the finishing stuff which is rewarding eventually but tedious the first time through.
 
SirNomad said:
Hey guys, I know I'm here with the newbie questions. My son picked out an Estes Shooting Star, which he opened up over the weekend so we could fly it (prior to hopefully fixing my launch controller issues). He was pretty sad to see that the factory applied decal had very large, protruding wrinkles from being applied badly. How will this affect flight? Is there a way to remove one of these decals so I can try to reapply it and salvage it? It seems weird to bother Estes with this when I already had to have them fix a shipping error, I don't want to come off as a sketchy scammer. My son is a Tiger Cub Scout, and this was his favorite because it's "America colors". :)

-Michael in Tucson, AZ

P.S. What's this flying rockets in "snow" I hear tell about?
Click to expand...

I recently purchased 5 shooting star rockets along with 15 other RTF rockets for a cub scout event. I think all the shooting star's had some degree of wrinkles in the decals. most weren't too bad. these kids didn't seem to mind but they did get the rocket for free...
 
SirNomad said:
Is there a trick to removing decals from the paper rocket body? This look like it is indeed a hassle.
Click to expand...

IMHO Usually the best way to remove a sticky label/decal/price sticker is to SLOWLY pull it off (the slower the better - I've even considered putting a small weight clipped to a corner of my Eliminator XL crooked and wrinkled sticker). The reason is that the adhesive is usually slow "flowing" and will slowly release if you put slow steady pressure on it (same reason stiff decals will lift up on their own. Heat also helps soften the adhesive. *Always make sure the sticker removing isn't lifting up a layer/some paint off the item...if that happens, you have to stop and try another corner/side.*

My experience - Was a past Ebay PowerSeller who resold collectible toys and have removed countless price stickers. :)
 
Estes sent me a replacement that was much more workable. My son is pleased. He added a couple of hologram/sparkly bands made with blue sticker tape. As for the one that Estes replaced, I obviously don't want to just throw it away, it's bare cardboard under that sticker, I guess it's a good excuse to learn the best way to remove stickers from bare cardboard and try to learn to fill in seams. :)
 

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