Brief:
The Psycho is no longer in production. It was a great kit from Public Enemy. It's the same size as the Public Enemy Patriot, so I'm sure the flight characteristics of each are similar.

Construction:
The instructions are spare to say the least. It would be best if you had either built high power rockets before or had a coach who had. The airframe is paper tube with Public Enemy's signature yellow glassine covering it. The motor mount is paper too. The fins are 1/8" plywood and include tabs to go all the way through to the motor mount. The centering rings are made from press-board type material that is quite strong and accepts epoxy readily. The nose cone is plastic in the line of LOC/Precision nose cones. A pair of heavy duty eye-bolts connect the recovery system which consists of 3/4" strap nylon with a riveted D ring and then a long length of round bungee. I don't like, or use bungee for recovery, but the strap nylon is nice. Two 1/2" copper launch lugs are also included and they're already angle cut to reduce drag. The parachute is a 36" LOC/Precision type flat chute and is fine for sea level launch sites, but too small for us highlanders.

I made the following modifications. I added 2 layers of 4 oz fiberglass to the airframe. I added a strip of .007" unidirectional carbon fiber laminate to the fins before filleting. After the fillets were hard, I put a layer of 4 oz glass from fin tip to fin tip. I used 12' of 9/16" mil-spec tubular nylon as shock cord. The parachute was replaced with a military surplus 42" chute. I also added a forward bulkhead to seal off the coupler to make an altimeter bay to house my Olsen FCP-M1/G. All my additions and altimeter added 15 oz to this model (so mine is 54 oz).

Finishing:
Finishing a fiberglass rocket is relatively easy, but time consuming. After sanding I shot 2 coats of Plasticoat Truck primer that I got from Pep Boys. I sanded between coats with 150 grit, then 400 grit paper. Next I added three coats of flat white Krylon, sanding between each coat, lightly, with 400 grit sand paper. Finally I added 3 coats of Red Devil paint (Orange Creamsicle and Gloss Black). Came out nice, hard and glossy. There are not painting suggestions and only a single "PSYCHO" vinyl decal included. Use your imagination.

Construction Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight:
This has had extremely straight boosts every flight. I flew it once naked, and twice in it's primer gray. Each time it was a great flight. The H123 doesn't get it too high. The I161 is middle high with lots of smoke. An I211 is a real shot and quite high. I saw Roy Wied's Psycho fly and it flew like it was on rails too, so I think this is part of the rocket's normal characteristics.

Recovery:
For my overly heavy model, an H123-10 is just a bit too long of a delay. In heavy wind, an I161-10 is just a tad too short. In calm weather and I211-10 is also a tad short. However, it's a sturdy bird that can handle a little abuse. At 1200' in Kansas, the stock chute was just right. At 4500' in Utah, the stock chute is too small and I upgraded.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
It's one of my favorite rockets. It's a good looker, rather unusual and it's a shame that Roy took it out of his line-up. If enough people agitated, he might bring it back.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5