Brief: The R & D 2.6 Sandhawk is a Mid to High Power kit with a 30in. Parachute for recovery and a 38mm motor mount.

Construction: When I picked up my kit from Kevin Funk (he runs Discount Rocketry) I took a look and all the parts were intact and in good condition. The instructions were well illustrated with lots of pictures and a page listing the parts.

I like the construction of all of the R & D kits. They use what they call FIRM (Fins with Internal Root Mount) mounting. There were 4 FIRM strips. The firm strips are strips of wood with a slot cut in them for the fins that you glue to the motor mount. The only problem I encountered was that the fins tabs were a little too long so I had to sand them down but if you build the kit and don't have a power sander or don't want to take the time just don't use the Firm mounting.

Finishing: The finishing on this rocket is not what I would call easy. If you decide to go with the picture on the front for painting it will take a lot of time to make it look good because there were no decals or instructions about where to put the stripes or colors. But if you do go with an original paint scheme you will have a very good looking rocket.

Construction Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Flight: The recommended motors for the Sandhawk are F50-4, G54-6, G80-7, H128-10, H73-10, and H123-10. I don't recommend flying it on any F's at all due to the size. The flights on a G64-4 are very nice since this rocket doesn't disappear off the pad but lifts off majestically to about 1,000ft.

Recovery: Parachute. The shock cord mount was a wire loop that went through the top centering ring and ended near the top of the body tube. The shock cord was 10ft. bungee. I replaced this with 15ft. of 500lb. test nylon cord (I had a shock cord failure before with a different rocket [not R&D] and didn't want it to happen again). There is also a 3ft. nylon leader for the parachute that is attached with a quick link. The 30" parachute is just the right size for this rocket it comes down majestically but not too slow. You have to use wadding and I had no evidence of burns at all.

[Note: the writer of this review feels that the R&D shock cord system would be fine but changed the length and material as a precaution.]

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:I think the Pro's if this rocket is the size, looks and the FIRM mounting. The only Con of this rocket would be that the fin tabs need sanding.

Overall Rating: 4 ½ out of 5