Need recommendation for bulk pack.

I am possibly going to lead a beginners' build session for a homeschooling group, followed by a field trip to a club launch. I want to purchase a bulk pack for class assembly. I am hoping to find something that can be built in an hour, requires one kind of glue (preferably Elmers), and no paint.

I would love any recommendations. Thanks.

Estes Gnome and Generic are E2X, which means tubes are already "painted" and don't have to glue fins on and get them straight. Alpha, Viking, and Wizard are Level 1, which means gluing balsa fins (getting them straight) and they are not painted. The Level 1 rockets can be built and flown naked, then let the kids paint/decorate at home. You will probably want at least a few hrs for glue to dry. Build first thing in morning, fly later in afternoon, or do build one day and fly the next. Elmers White is great, just don't get the easy clean "School Glue", as it is weaker.

https://www.estesrockets.com/rockets/educator

The Gnome is a little smaller than the Generic and recovered using a streamer instead of a parachute, but the Gnome has the advantage of using the smaller "mini engines" which are a little less expensive than standard size motors.

We helped first graders build Gnomes a while back. They completed the kits in less than an hour. We gave them stickers to use to personalize the rockets since there's no painting involved.

-- Roger

At our local club, we often have cub scouts launching for the first time. The rocket of choice is often the Estes E2X Generic rocket, it has a plastic fin can and is white. This makes it easy for the kids to decorate with markers etc... The other real popular bulk kit is the Estes 001792 - Firestreak SST. This one is a snap together and requires no glue.


Jerome

Art Applewhite has a page offering free downloads of the 13mm versions of his saucers.
They are easy paper builds, lots of room for decorating, uncomplicated, have lots of room for coloring with crayons, markers, stickers. They handle windy days well and are good for any size field.

https://www.artapplewhite.com/free.html

JeromeK99 said:

At our local club, we often have cub scouts launching for the first time. The rocket of choice is often the Estes E2X Generic rocket, it has a plastic fin can and is white. This makes it easy for the kids to decorate with markers etc... The other real popular bulk kit is the Estes 001792 - Firestreak SST. This one is a snap together and requires no glue.


Jerome

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Did a rocket-themed party for my son last year (for the kids...), and bought two packs of Estes Generic from AC Supply, along with 2 24- packs of A8-3 motors. I coached 20 7 year olds through the build, but we over-estimated the difficulty of decorating. The kits come with stickers (supposed to be two or three different types, but we got only 1, and the stickers aren't die-cut, you need to cut them out), but we also brought paint (washable, so it didn't actually stick to anything, complete mess and waste). If I had to do it again, I would do stickers and MAYBE multi-colored Sharpies. We had to wait longer for the paint to dry than the glue, so it rushed our launching a bit. I also opened each kit the night before and marked and slit the motor tubes. Would go a step further next time and assemble the engine mount, leaving the kids to glue the mount to the fincan, and the fincan to the tube. It was also a mess with the paper shock-cord mounts- would make those a head of time too. Despite the lessons learned, this was tons of fun and made great souvenirs for the kiddos, and maybe even got a few people started on the hobby. Good luck! It was a lot of work, but totally worth it.

The Gnome needs airplane glue to assemble. Firestreak is a good choice did that w/ the 4-H.
The Estes Alpha III is a good also. You can use Elmers white or wood glue. I did to Cub Scout build and fly with the Alpha III's. I did get the rockets and motors(bulk packs) on sale though @ scoutstuff.org
Miked

You may find this thread helpful
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...ith-a-group-of-5-year-olds&highlight=daughter

Alpha III Is a favorite of mine for quick builds.

https://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/est/est1751.htm?source=froogle&gclid=CL7Vz-Cxsb4CFRAaOgodvS0AvQ

Custom rockets Razor is a good kit. I helped Dave at Red Arrow help a bunch of Cub scouts build a bunch of them.
Mr Bob
Starlight dude
Countyline hobbies
Grovertown, IN
574-540-1123

BABAR said:

You may find this thread helpful
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...ith-a-group-of-5-year-olds&highlight=daughter

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Check out Post #11 from the thread mentioned above. The Whatchamacallit is a great model with balsa fins but no alignment problems. Contact Jim Flis to see what he can do for you for bulk rates; he works with schools and other groups all the time.

The build will take much less than an hour. Bring along some markers so the kids can decorate their rockets in the time they have left over.

I would recommend the FlisKits Whatchamacallit or dooDad as perfect choices. You can find out more about these kits, as well as bulk pack pricing from our Educational web site. From our main page https://FlisKits.com/ you click on EDUCATOR then BULK PACKS

Contact me if you have any questions!

Jim


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I've done both Wizards and Alpha III's with my cub scouts - the Alpha III's were a really quick build - one 90 minute meeting with other stuff while glue dried. The Wizards I ended up spreading over 4 meetings - a couple steps each meeting.

Mike Di Venti said:

The Gnome needs airplane glue to assemble.

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We tested using white glue on the Gnome fin units before having the kids build the rockets and it worked fine. They built and flew about 20 or 25 rockets and none failed as a result of using white glue. I think we pre-glued the nose cones with airplane cement.

-- Roger

Why use a gnome when you can use a Quest Starhawk?

jflis said:

I would recommend the FlisKits Whatchamacallit or dooDad as perfect choices. You can find out more about these kits, as well as bulk pack pricing from our Educational web site. From our main page https://FlisKits.com/ you click on EDUCATOR then BULK PACKS

Contact me if you have any questions!

Jim


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Jim,

One major advantage I see you having over Estes would be the ability to package a specific number of kits. In other words, if I get thirteen students, I would have to buy one Estes bulk pack of 12, then buy one extra kit. But if I get 19 students, do I buy two bulk packs, or one bulk pack and seven. Either way there is wasted money.

If my wife gets on the field trip committee and if they accept this proposal for next school year, I will definitely be in touch. Thanks.

shreadvector said:

Why use a gnome when you can use a Quest Starhawk?

Click to expand...

The Gnome costs less, is more readily available, and uses less-expensive motors ...

But, the Starhawk is a little bigger, easier to assemble, easier to decorate, and, (I think) better looking.

-- Roger

shreadvector said:

Why use a gnome when you can use a Quest Starhawk?

Click to expand...

We've used Starhawks for Cub launches for several years. The plain white tube allows for customization with paint, markers, or stickers. Can be built in 15 minutes.

We at Narhams model rocket club have been using Alpha-III kits with public group build & flies for a very long time. We have groups of kid from 4 and Up building this kit in less then an Hour with 3 or 4 club members helps to direct along the way. These assemble with Elmer's white or yellow glue. Estes is usually great about helping with the cost but the Alpha is sort of an expensive kit.

If your kids are older the say 5 or 6 I'd strongly suggest trying a bulk pack of Pratt Hobbies "Super-6" kits. They do require attaching 3 balsa fins with Elmer's white or yellow glue which can also help in teaching the "Double Glue Joint" technique along the way. The Super-6 is a pretty good size model, making it easy for small hands to work with. It is a Streamer Recovery model so it's Ideal for Small fields even flying on C6 motors. Check him out at www.pratthobbies.com if you don't see the Super-6 in the menu e-mail Doug and he'll I'm sure help you out. I believe the last time we ordered a batch the were under 3 bucks each?
Hope this helps.

Micromeister said:

We at Narhams model rocket club have been using Alpha-III kits with public group build & flies for a very long time. We have groups of kid from 4 and Up building this kit in less then an Hour with 3 or 4 club members helps to direct along the way. These assemble with Elmer's white or yellow glue.

Click to expand...

As an aside, I think it's really cool how the Alpha II is designed so that gluing paper and cardboard parts together holds the plastic fin can in place. For those that haven't seen it, a centering ring is glued to the bottom of the motor tube which slides through the fin can. Then a second ring is glued to the other end of the motor tube, locking it onto the fin section. The top centering ring is then glued into the body tube. So, there's no iffy plastic-glued-to-paper connections as with some models that have plastic fins. It's a pretty neat design.

-- Roger

Better than the Alpha III is the Make It & Take It which has a slightly longer body tube (more room for wadding and folding the chute) and red, white and blue. You do need the teacher to cement the base into the longer nose cone and that can be done with tube type plastic cement in advance or with a drop of super glue (again, by the teacher) as the bags are opened.

Everything else is assembled with carpenters wood glue. They do not recommend "white glue" in the instructions now, they say to use carpenters wood glue (which we know as yellow wood glue). Regular Titebond (not II or III) is great, but Gorilla Wood Glue also works very nicely.

We just led a Make & Take of 300 of these at the RCX hobby show last weekend and we do a similar number at the AMA Expo every January.

You do not even need to draw a line for the launch lug - you simply stand the tube up on the table, apply glue to the lug and then stand it right next to the budy tube and the perfectly round tube and lug will align perfectly since they are standing on a flat table.

https://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/est/est1799.htm

beat that price.......

I would also vote for the Make It Take It. While you may end up with extra rockets, I have yet to find anything close to the price. This spring I lead my daughter's Brownie troop and my son's Bear den through building and launching these rockets. Both times things went very well with a minimum of fuss.

I would guess that either I didn't read the instructions closely or had older rockets in that I didn't see anything saying to not use white glue. The one thing I did notice with the standard white glue is that it dries very slowly. I have found using Elmer's quick drying white glue works great. It still gives you plenty of work time, but you don't have to hold as long before moving on.

Because I had plenty of rockets, I built one by myself once. Then I built one as I led each of the groups in a step by step process. I have put word out to den leaders I know that I will lead their den at a cost of $10 for the rocket and three launches. That fee will cover the rocket from either Phill's Hobby Shop (https://www.philshobbyshop.com/catalog/viewsku?sku=EST1799) or HobbyLinc (https://www.hobbylinc.com/estes_mak..._model_rocket_bulk_pack_easy_to_assemble_1799). The best place I have found for bulk motors is AC Supply (https://www.acsupplyco.com/estes/bulk.htm) where the cost comes to just over $2.00 a motor.

Yes, you may have to buy more than you need. At those prices though, I felt I could afford to absorb some extra and have been happy to give some friend's kids a rocket and help them launch.

Hmm. Put a Gnome together with one of my kids a few weeks ago. Having built an Alpha III with another one of the kids some years ago, I'd be inclined to go Alpha III or the Make It Take It. I think the larger diameter tube would be easier for the kids to handle, prep for launch, etc.

There's also a "generic" E2X bulk pack. I like the looks of the rocket, but don't have any experience with it.

Here - https://www.hobbylinc.com/estes_generic_e2x_rocket_kits_12_model_rocket_bulk_pack_1764

Bat-mite said:

Jim,

One major advantage I see you having over Estes would be the ability to package a specific number of kits. In other words, if I get thirteen students, I would have to buy one Estes bulk pack of 12, then buy one extra kit. But if I get 19 students, do I buy two bulk packs, or one bulk pack and seven. Either way there is wasted money.

If my wife gets on the field trip committee and if they accept this proposal for next school year, I will definitely be in touch. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Another advantage to ordering from FlisKits is that we will bulk pack ANY kit on our site. I work with many programs that have extensive rocketry programs and it is not uncommon to bulk pack skill level 2,3 &4 kits...


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Art Applewhite has the Spartan for $4.00 each in the 18 mm size