2.26" BBX

BBX 2.2" / 29mm - my 9 yo daughter just completed her Mid-Power cert flying this with an economax F67W with 6sec ejection delay and the flight was smooth and successful! The canards help make this rocket look great - but if there is damage to them you may not pass your cert - so she made sure to epoxy them on very well, and they survived just fine. I'm her dad and I build a LOC IRIS 2 at the same time (see separate review of that). She's built a lot of Low-Power kits - most recently an Estes Mean Machine entirely by herself. This 2.2" BBX kit is a great looking rocket and is very impressive to bring to the field. She painted it green and red with ELF decals because it's Christmas. The three centering rings in this kit is a great idea, so I added an extra ring to my IRIS 2 as well. She built the fin can outside the body tube then cut the body tube at the bottom of the fin slots to insert the pre-built fin can. We found very little documentation or videos about the BBX and relied a lot on IRIS 2 stuff we found. I found it a bit uphill since the differences from low-power are not clearly summed up in one place, eg: that mid power/high power don't use engine blocks but the engine retainer is dual purpose, stopping the engine falling down out of the tube and pushing up into the body. I strongly recommend beginners using this kit also buy an engine retainer (loc or other brand), swivels (eg: Nickel-Plated 6/0 Swivel, 600# test) and optionally a spare joiner tube (in case you make a mistake with knots and need to cut the body then repair it), nylon rivets and an electronic payload bay 2.14" (54mm). The kit comes with launch lugs which is handy. You must run RockSim yourself to check engine suitability for this model, eg: the F20W motor recommended for the IRIS 2 is unsuccessful in RockSim with BBX because the velocity at launch guide departure is below 20 m/h due to the added weight. Since it'll be another 9 years before she can fly cert 1, this build will only be used for F/G motors.

I've been flying this for a few years, it's about time I wrote a review. It may be way over stable but it flies laser straight even in moderate winds. Preps easy, flies great. I got 4400ft on a 29mm I200.

Always a safe bet with LOC