Brief:
This Black Brant II is a 2.6" X 58" tall rocket made using Red Arrow's phenolic tubing and their custom made nose cone and tail cone. It comes with a 38mm MMT although it can fly on a wide range of 29mm and 38mm motors depending how far you wish to walk. With some modifications it could be set up for dual deployment.

Construction:
The parts came very well packaged and include:

• pre-slotted phlexible phenolic airframe
• nose cone with a screw eye
• tail cone
• 3/8" birch fins
• 3/8" tubular Nylon strap
• 2 brass launch lugs
• 36" rip-stop nylon parachute
• 38mm phlexible phenolic motor tube
• 2 centering rings
• eyebolt and nut
• threaded rod and wing nut
• 1" X 6' heavy duty shock cord
• 0.47" antennae
• 1 quick link

The instructions are straightforward and are designed for rocketeers with building experience as there are no pictures. Some sanding of the centering rings was necessary to achieve optimal fit onto the MMT and into the airframe. Sanding of the fins was minimal, however, lots of sanding was required after cutting the slots into the boat tail for proper fit.

The only modifications to this kit was replacing the heavy duty elastic cord with tubular nylon and using rail buttons.

Finishing:
Finishing was easy: a base coat of white then I masked off the airframe for painting the upper airframe, the fin/boat tail sections, and nose cone black. I used peel and stick Monokote for the roll pattern and used letter stencils and a paint pen for the name. The other details were painted on using Testors paint pens.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
I used a Pro38 H153-8 for it's first flight. Recovery was fine, the landing wasn't--it hit the only rock in the field and broke a fin.

Second flight was on an AT H128W-S for another good flight and good recovery.

I used the motor retention included with the kit: the threaded rod and wing-nut. Works just fine.

Recovery:
All flights have resulted in good recoveries. I would, however, recommend a smaller chute for breezier days.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
This is a good, fairly easy to build kit for those with some building experience. This would make a good L1 and/or L2 kit. It could easily be modified for dual deployment for using larger motors.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5