Estes Solo #7288 Build, Background

When I first saw the new Estes Solo, I thought of the Flying Stovepipe. This design was by Larry Deran, Estes plan #56 going back to 1968.
To see the plan: CLICK HERE

The fins were airfoiled on one side to spin the rocket during boost and spin the ring glider at ejection.
The central booster was a lot like the old tumble recovery Astron Scout. I've never seen one of these launched.



I did a blog post about the Flying Stovepipe and the HurriK9 dog toy. The dog toy reminded me of the Stovepipe.





The Solo kit is a single ring glider version of the new Estes Double Ringer shown at the right. The Solo is a Hobby Lobby exclusive kit.

Here's the new packaging from the Hobby Lobby stores.

There were two Solo kits at my local HL store. Before heading to the cash registers -
TIP: Always check the body tubes to be sure they are round and not creased.
Look at the right side of the package - the ring glider card stock is turned up against the side of the package. In one kit the card stock was creased. I picked the kit that looked to have less damage (a slight bend) in the glider skin.