Estes 0651 Der Red Max Rocket-Building Kit, Intermediate Flying-Rocket-Model Kit for Ages 10+

This rocket is great and looks awesome once completed. I got this to build with my kids but the actual assembly was a little more than my 11yr old could handle. If you're impatient, not great at crafts, or have previous experience with model rockets you might want to look into a easier build rocket. This rocket isn't hard to build it just takes awhile. I went cheap with the paint so my rocket looks nothing like the colors in the ad for it. I attempted to make it hot pink and black. I primered the whole thing black first and when the pink went on it bled into the black making a blood red color. The rocket still looks cool a dark red with pink accents. The thing launches fantastic and comes down pretty softly. I launched it with b4-4 engines and they are too small in my opinion. The rocket doesn't go high enough to give the rocket time to open the parachute properly. I'd recommend a B6-2 or B6-4 engine.

ALMOST exactly the same as I remember from the 80's. It's been upgraded slightly: Parachute now has a skull motif and it arrives ready to go, with the guy lines already connected to the chute (no more applying the little sticky dots yourself..). This is the classic small rocket that can pack a big engine (C6-5), with a cool set of decals and an easy to paint color scheme (fins are same color as body), the nosecone comes black or can be painted glossy black. Applying the decals is probably the most difficult aspect of the job, there are a lot of them! We painted it red/black and applied about 4 layers of gloss enamel after the decals were dry. It's solid as a rock.. see below. With a stout rocket such as the Red Max, you won't have lots of room in the tube for recovery wadding, parachute, shock cord and nose cone, so you'll have to pack carefully, and don't skimp on that wadding. First flight B engine, perfect. My son skimped a bit on the recovery wadding on it's 2nd flight with a C6-5, perfect launch, at apex...poof...no parachute. So the charge melted the parachute and the nose cone popped off, but no chute deployed. Falling/tumbling down from ~600 feet onto grass, with no parachute: zero damage sustained to rocket (other than the parachute..). A must have for any collection.

The rocket kit comes compete with everything but your normal hobby building tools like: knife, glue, sandpaper, scissors, and paint, and of course the eventually motors and launch equipment (pad, rod, and launch control). I found Estes Kits to be very complete and with detailed directions. It was very easy to assemble but then I have built many of these Estes and Mid powered rockets. Just please pay attention to the instructions. There are a few places that are easy to do wrong: 1) put the fins on the rocket the wrong way. This doesn't harm the flight much but the wood grain direction on the fins when oriented parallel to the body tube makes it very easy to snap the fins accidentally, and 2) not placing the shock cord mount far enough into the tube that the nosecone does not fit. and overall 3) not waiting until the glue has ample time to set up before shoving things into the rocket body i.e. 1hr should suffice for a thin layer. I painted mine like the photo and it came out great. This one was for me. I made the smaller Mini Max for my 3 y.o. son who selected it because he loves rockets and loves 'pirates' (Disneyland ride) and which he calls anything that looks like the poison skull and crossbones symbol. I added about two or three layers of glue fillets to the fin/body interface that made the fins super strong. We plan to fly both for the first time this weekend! I really like that it comes with a nice black and decorated 'pirate' parachute. I am excited to launch these rockets with my son! Maybe I'll get the large version Estes makes if these go well.

Just for the heck of it, I got this excellent rocket for my college-age daughter. She likes arts and crafts and I figured that she would enjoy building it. It's an easy rocket to build, but the decals are a challenge. They're big and they like to stick down hard before you have them in place, and they tear easy. They will require all your childhood decal powers to apply. Just keep them wet and you'll be OK. PRO-TIP : Go to the auto parts store and get a spray can of Rustoleum "high build" auto body primer paint. Hose your rocket body down with it and it'll fill in all those imperfections and the body tube seams and the pores in the balsa fins. Also, cut a big vent hole in the center of your chute and that way the rocket won't drift over into the next county while it's coming down. You don't need a big chute to keep a rocket in one piece, they are sturdy.

Reason I bought this was for nostalgic value I had the same rocket when I was 14 or 15 years old I was telling my other half about a model rocket because I was thinking about buying one for my grandson and I decided to see if they still made this one lo and behold they did and they make a miniature version too as far as quality goes everything is the same as it was 45 years ago except the main rocket tube seems to be a little thinner than it used to be I remember it being a little more stiff on all my Rockets back then once once I put it together take it for a test flight with my grandsons I will do an updated review then it goes up on my shelf in the office I think I blew up the one I had when I was 14 what can I say will update.

One of my all-time favorite models. I bought my first Der Red Max back in the early to mid-70s and flew it, off and on, for ten years. I bought another one in the late 80s and I still have it today, veteran of at least a hundred flights. After a period of rocket inactivity, I couldn't find it, so I ordered a new one, and found it in a misplaced box the very next day! So, this new one may get modified into a two-stage model. Der Red Max was fun then, it's fun now. Nice, clean design, a reasonably easy build even for beginners, nice color scheme (though it can look good in alternate colors) and a big, fun, decal sheet (maybe not terribly politically correct, but it still makes me laugh). Goes high enough to impress, but stays low enough you have a good chance of getting it back. Maybe it would be better if modernized with through-the-wall fins, but then it would lose some of its nostalgia value and be harder to modify. One of the all-time great model rocket kits.

Nice kit, I got a good buy on this one!

Have been building rockets for about 50 years now. I have an original Der Red Max from about 40 yrs ago that has been repainted way to many times. Saw this one go in a discounted price so grabbed it up. Perfect for the beginner builder. Rocketry is a fantastic hobby and time well spent with any kid, young or old! Building model cars is good but actually fly. I never get tired of launching rockets.

Facile d'assemblage

I have the baby 8.8" Mini Der Max the medium 29.5" Der Red Max and the huge Estes pro Series II 4" x40" tall Mega Der Red Max I call them the triple threat.

This is a 20 dollar rocket. A beginner rocket. It's worth 50 if it come with launch pad and controller.