Brief:

Recovers in two pieces by two separate 18" parachutes

Construction:

This rocket kit comes packed in a sturdy box from Estes so there is minimal chances of receiving crushed body tubes in a bag. All parts are typical Estes quality with nothing bad to say about the kit. Body tubes are pre-slotted for all fins.   The rear fins are two part plastic fins that result in a seam to fill if the builder desires a smooth fin. Once assembled the fins provide a very sharp leading and trailing edge and a very scale like appearance.   The rear fins attach to the motor mount through the main body tube for a very strong mount. Estes recommends plastic glue for this attachment - after a number of launches, this joint popped loose and I used CA to fix it. This has held up very well and I would recommend reinforcing this joint. The front fins attach similarly to the body tube with alignment tabs and plastic glue - see previous suggestion to strengthen this joint.  
The instructions are very easy to follow and are well thought out in assembly order - typical of many Estes kits. In summary, this is a very impressive

Finishing:

Once primed and sanded to your own level of perfection, the paint scheme is very simple. The entire rocket is painted white with the exception of the nose cone which is blue. The self adhesive decals really dress up this rocket and make it a valued addition to any fleet.

Construction Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Flight:

Estes recommends D12-5 engines only for this rocket. The engines are retained by Estes' typical retaining clip and is adequate for this rocket.

The recommended preparation technique in the instructions calls for packing the upper portions parachute in the lower body tube first and then packing the lower parachute. There is not much room in the lower tube for the chutes and if they are not packed carefully you may run out of room. You must use wadding for this rocket to protect the two chutes.

Being a somewhat heavy rocket, the launch is quite impressive with a slow liftoff and acceleration. Successful recovery is based on your preparation and packing of the recovery system. In seven launches, I have had two marginal recoveries. The first occurred when the chutes tangled and only one opened bringing both sections of the rocket down together. The rocket landed at a higher rate of speed than normal, but suffered no damage. I then changed my packing technique to add wadding, shock cord, lower chute, upper chute, upper shock cord in that order. This uses the lower chute as a piston to force everything above it out of the rocket. The second failure was caused by a weak ejection charge from the engine. This separated the body tubes, but did not eject either parachute. The rocket recovered via the tumble method and suffered some damage upon impact with the ground that was repaired in under an hour.

Flights are very straight and stable with a slight tendency to weathercock into the wind.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:

This is a fairly large rocket with impressive lift-offs and recoveries. It is relatively easy to build and finished with self adhesive decals looks very realistic.

The main con for this rocket is its recovery method. It is prone to tangling and the chute compartment is fairly small. A possible fix to this would be to connect the two tubes and use one larger chute to bring down both sections.

For an adventurous modeler, this rocket would make a very nice two stage model using gap staging techniques.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5