The kit comes with 4 pages of well illustrated instructions. Each part in the stack has o-rings to seal everything up. The kit includes a couple extra O-Rings and and one extra gasket. I used a little petroleum jelly on the rings, the instructions do not mention this but I believe it helps to fit the parts together.
This kits could not be any easier to prep. You mix the citric acid with tap water (they include a mixing bottle), lock the fuel generator into the base, then lock on the reaction chamber.
At this point, you pour the citric acid/water solution into the reaction chamber. The hole at the top of the chamber is a little small, but I had no problem pouring in the solution. You are advised not to get the solution on the igniter, so pour slowly and fill to the red line.
Next, you lock on the launch tube. Finally, pick your rocket and place it on the launch tube. Note: the generator will not activate until the rocket is in place on the launch tube.
There are three color coded wires to connect to the various parts. They are of varying length, so it would be hard to mix them up even if you were color blind.
The base must be level for everything to work. There is a little ball bearing on the base unit that helps you to ensure it is level.
Once everything is in place, flip on the power switch. The red power light will come on and the yellow generating light should illuminate. It took about 5 minutes for the generator to produce enough hydrogen for launch. When there is enough, the green LED will light up.
You must pull the launch button cord out enough so that it pulls out the red safety switch shown in the photo I posted previously. Then, press the launch button. You can see the igniter heat up to red hot. Then, with a little blue burst of flame, the rocket is propelled off the tube to a fairly respectable height. I launched at night, so I am not 100% sure how high it went, I would guess about 150-200 feet. Kit says it can launch up to 250 feet.
The next generating sequence took about 3 minutes and I had another great launch - the helicopter rocket took a little longer to come back down, but it was unscathed. I will try to get some daytime launch pix tomorrow if the weather holds.
The only residue in the rocket is a little film of water, the only byproduct of the launch. Nothing to clean! Estes says you can leave the solution in the generator for several days, but they do recommend pouring the solution back into the mixing bottle and rinsing the generator with tap water and letting it air dry if you will not use it for extended periods.
What can I say, this is just a cool kit. It is a neat idea and I am sure it will impress the kids (heck, I was impressed too). This would make an interesting science fair project as well. If you are looking for something different, then buy this kit!
