Brief:
The A.R.V Condor is a single staged rocket that is about 19 inches long. . At apogee, two drones detach for a gliding return to Earth. Booster returns on a streamer! Recommended motors are B4-2 (First Flight), B6-2, and C6-3.

Construction:
The construction on this rocket wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be. After reading all the reviews I thought it would be impossible to make especially because this was only my second rocket. If you follow the directions and read ahead before doing anything you will be pretty good in the process. Be careful when it says to lift up a glider wing with a small body tube. They mean the white tube for the glider, not the small tube that is for the booster. Also be very careful when aligning the fins.

I wasn't so serious so my rocket doesn't fly straight. The one thing that I think everyone should realize and do is that since there is a part 1 and a part 2, when something from part 1 is drying, you can go ahead and get something done in part 2. You will finish the rocket much faster that way. I didn't like the idea of the nose cone being glued on to the body. Just remember to use lots of plastic cement because most cements aren't strong enough to stand the ejection of these motors. Another thing is that the vac formed parts are said to be glued by plastic cement. Do not do that. I did that and it wasn't strong enough and my flight almost messed up. Use lots of white glue instead. It bonds better. For construction I would rate it as 4.

Finishing:
The finishing is nice and strait-forward. I painted the body and gliders tubes white, and the main nose cone and glider wings silver. I thought completely white gliders looked too plain. The decals too are easy to apply. Even though they are water slide, they aren't as hard as they seem. You just have to dip them in water for a couple of seconds and lay them down and wait. I would prefer the normal Estes decals because they have a stronger bond. Finishing is a 5

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
The flight of this rocket is pretty cool. PUT IN MORE THAN THREE SHEETS OF WADDING.

On my first flight I used an A8-3. Since my fins weren't aligned properly, it flew up and started turning downward. Since I had put in three sheets of wadding (which wasn't enough,) as the instructions had said, the ejection came up and melted my streamer, my shock cord got burnt in half, the plastic cement I used to glue the nose cone ignited, the nose cone flew off, and luckily the vac formed parts managed to just hang on. The good thing is that my gliders did a good job. They made-up for the bad flight. Since my shock cord was broken and I only had half and hour of repairing time and overnight left to dry until the lift-off in front of the crowd, I just made another mount and used the remaining shock cord. My second flight was better than my first. I used a B6-4 since I didn't have a B6-2. The boost was not straight again, the motor ejected, but once again the streamer didn't come out. This time the gliders were very sweet. I later found out that the shock cord mount wasn't strong enough and it broke before the streamers could come out. For Flight I would rate this a 4 1/2.

Recovery:
The recovery system for this rocket needs improvement. I think that the shock cord they supplied wasn't good. It was not very elastic. I should have replaced it with an elastic shock cord. It's not just my rocket that didn't get its streamers deployed because of the shock cord. There were two people building A.R.V Condors, my friend and I. And none of our streamers deployed. I am repairing my rocket and putting in an elastic shock cord so the streamers can hopefully deploy. Because of the un-elastic shock cord, I rate recovery as a 3.

Flight Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary:
Overall, I like the rocket very much. It's the most original rocket I have ever seen. It is great fun to build, and fly. It's also a perfect grand finale in front of a crowd. In conclusion I rate this kit 4. If it had a better shock cord it would have been a 4/1/2 or even 5.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5