Brief:
The Thrustline A-Slam was offered to me as a beta-test by Thrustline and to Put it simply, this is one great rocket. The A-Slam was delivered to me in sturdy packaging and none of the parts arrived damaged. When I saw the 2.1" body tube and the three 18mm motor tubes I knew this rocket would be a fun build.

Construction:
The kit included a precut 17" piece of high quality 2.1" body tube, a balsa nosecone that fit the body tube perfectly without any hangover on the body tube. The two centering rings were 1/8" thick with the cutouts for the 18mm motors precisely cut into them. There was an ample amount of 1/8" balsa required for 4 fins. The outline of the fins was traced onto the balsa to assist in cutting them out. Kevlar® cord was provided along with a piece of elastic to tie the 18" Mylar chute onto.

Because this was a beta-test rocket I was able to critique the 9 pages of instructions sent with the A-Slam and make recommendations to Thrustline for any changes I thought needed to be made to them. The instructions included pictures of construction that were very helpful. The fin template is probably the best I've ever used as it fit the body tube perfectly. The fins are separated by 1/4" and alignment from front to rear was made through the use of craft sticks along each side of the rear fin and secured with clothes pins creating a space between the sticks to slide the forward fin. A little CA along the fin root and you are ready for fillets. The A-Slam is not a difficult build and is a sturdy rocket once assembled. The 2.1" body tube is ample room for the 18" blue Mylar chute.

Finishing:
Standard finishing techniques were used with Elmer's F'n'F to fill all balsa surfaces and nosecone. The body tube actually had two spirals that required filling to give the A-Slam a smooth finish. Duplicolor high build primer was sprayed on in several coats with 320gr wet sandpaper used between coats to ready for gloss paint. A final sanding with 400gr then 600gr and it was ready for paint. The paint used is ACE Hardware gloss red with gloss black on the nosecone. There are no supplied decals so the rockets name "A-Slam" was added in white vinyl lettering. It still needed a little something so a 1/8" wide vinyl pinstripe was added and really set off the gloss paint. The A-Slam is a real looker and would be a great addition to anyone's fleet.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
Thrustline's first flight motor recommendation is B6's, however, none could be located so we opted for C6's. Prior conversation with the manufacturer suggested to have good walking shoes when using C6's. The finished rocket with 3-18mm C6's weighs in at 9.6oz.

The only fight so far is on the C6's and I was not able to get any launch pictures. Because of the large body tube dog barf was chosen over wadding and motor retention was accomplished by using masking tape to friction fit all motors. Launch smoke and noise was surprisingly abundant as the motors lit and handled the A-Slam with no problem. Approximate altitude probably around 850', and yes, Thrustline was correct, a substantial walk to recover. There was a bit of weather cock and we suspected there was need for additional nose weight that was later confirmed by Thrustline.

Recovery:
The Kevlar® shockcord was attached to the motor mount early in construction and then tucked through the motor mount until construction was complete. The elastic was square-knotted to the Kevlar® then attached to the supplied screw eye that had been epoxied into the base of the balsa nosecone. One thing I did notice that the CG/CP relationship was skewed due to the weight of the 3-motor cluster. Thrustline said there was part of the instructions inadvertently left out that suggested 1.5oz nose weight be added to correct the CG/CP relationship. Three holes were drilled into the base of the nosecone and lead fishing weights were inserted backed by 15 minute epoxy. The A-Slam awaits its second flight with the corrected CP/CG. We anticipate an arrow straight flight this time.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
I am convinced Thrustline has a winner in the A-Slam. Quality parts, ease of construction and good instructions are marks of a company that is interested in satisfying the customer. I cannot think of any difficulty in building and flying the A-Slam and anyone with basic building skills will have no problem with this kit.

Since the kit was a beta-test for me, I'm confident that Thrustline is correcting the many findings that I had and therefore the kit is rated under that confidence.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5