Brief:
Semroc describes the ThunderChief as the third largest member of the Thunder kit series that they are producing. This series is essentially the same rocket scaled approximately 1.25 times each step up in body tube size. The series is based from the Centuri Engineering Thunder rockets that included the ThunderHawk, ThunderBird, and ThunderRoc. With Semroc's introduction of this rocket and the other planned Thunder series rockets, there will be a total of seven Thunder rockets to add to your rocket collection.

Construction:
As is always the case with Semroc kits in my experience, the parts are high in quality and neatly packaged in several plastic bags. Included are detailed building instruction that provides a colored image of the rocket on the cover.

For this kit you get:

• 1 balsa nose cone
• 3 body tubes
• 2 tube couplers
• 1 motor tube
• 1 set of laser cut fins
• 1 bag of parts (launch lugs, motor mounting and recovery components, etc...)
• 1 12" plastic parachute kit
• 1 waterslide decals
• 1 detailed instructions, which can be found at the Semroc website

I ordered the rocket directly from Semroc when I first noticed it had become available on a Monday morning. I received an email that the rocket plus the other items that I had ordered shipped only 90 minutes later. I received the well secured package on Wednesday afternoon and was happy to see that I had landed production kit #9. This goes to show you that Semroc's service and shipping are absolutely fantastic.

For the construction of this rocket, I followed the instruction as they were laid out. As with most Semroc instructions, you prep the fins then assemble the engine mount. After that you connect the body tubes, mark the rocket for the fins, insert the engine mount, then attach the fins and launch lugs. The final steps have you prepare the nose cone for the parachute which you need to assemble and attach to the shock cord.

A couple of things to note during the construction was that the engine mount only has a single centering ring which makes it much easier to glue into the body tube. The anchoring of the shock cord is done with Kevlar® string tied to one of the tube couplers. I thought that this would make it too tight to couple the body tubes together but that was not the case at all. This is the first 3FNC rocket where I attached a launch lug along the side of a fin. My only gripe was with the fin marking guide. As with other Semroc kits, you stand the body tube over the instructions to mark the fin placements. I am not a big fan of this method since my body tube usually moves during this process. To make matters worse, the fin guide that was in my instructions was for a larger body tube. A quick email and reply from Carl at Semroc confirmed the misprint. I had the proper fin guide in another rocket's instructions so I used that.

Finishing:
The finish for this rocket uses a two color scheme so it is not very complicated to paint. I used some watered down Elmer's Carpenters Wood Filler to fill the tube spiral, nose cone, and fins. After sanding, I primed the rocket with Kilz Original spray primer and one coat of white primer. I masked off the lower half of the rocket and applied a couple coats of gloss white. Once dry, I masked of the top half and painted the lower section with Rustoleum Painter's Touch Gloss Marigold. This is the same color I have used on my other Thunder-series rockets. To finish the rocket, you apply the decals. I applied a coat of Future Floor Wax to protect the rocket.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
The recommended engines for this rocket are an A8-3, B6-4, and C6-5. When I arrived at the launch field with the ThunderChief and reached into my field box for a B motor, I discovered that I only had a B6-4. I decided to load that into the rocket instead of an A or C engine. The rocket went straight up off the launch pad. As far as I could tell the rocket was still moving upward when the parachute ejected. This would explain why two of the tape disk that holds the shroud lines to the parachute came off.

Recovery:
The rocket uses a 12" plastic parachute which should be about perfect when you use the recommended motors. Since two of my shroud lines failed during flight, the rocket came down quickly but was not damaged when hit the lush green grass of the field. This is the first time I have had a tape disk get pulled from a Semroc parachute. If it would have been tied through a punched hole, I suspect that the parachute would have ripped or even worse that the body tube would have been zippered. Luckily, this did not happen.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
I am a huge fan of the Thunder series rockets. The series may only consist of a simple 3FNC rocket that is scaled to different sizes, but I love the long sleek look of the design. The ThunderChief is another great addition to the series. I highly recommend this rocket to any fan of the Thunder series. The service and kit components that you receive from Semroc is well worth the cost of the ThunderChief.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5