Brief:
The best and worst part of this kit is that it is minimalist. When you get the box, there are not a lot of parts. I have it together now and it is probably my favorite rocket in my fleet. This thing is a tank and it looks great. It is the only rocket I have that might survive coming in ballistic. That is why I used it on my L2 test.

Construction:
The parts list

• 1 Nose Cone
• 1 Body Tube
• 1 Fin can
• 1 54mm MMT (There is a 38mm or 54mm option at the time of purchase.)
• 2 Centering Rings
• 1 Bulkhead
• 1 Coupler
• 2 US Army Decals

That's all that comes with the kit. I like this because it lets me do things my way. All the parts are fiberglass and VERY strong.

Parts I added:

• 2 Eye loops
• 1 25' section 9/16 tubular nylon
• 1 Kevlar® shock cord protector (Giant Leap)
• 1 45" Rip stop nylon parachute
• 1 1/4" aircraft plywood centering ring.
• 7oz of nose weight.
• 1 54mm Slimline motor retainer
• 1 54 to 38mm Slimline adaptor
• 2 ACME Conformal 1/2" launch lugs

I used 5 and 30 minute epoxy for the build. Also I used some Elmer's Ultimate Glue in the fin can and nose weight.

I only have one con with building this rocket. All the parts fit tight--too tight. The inner diameter of the fin can varied. You can see ripples in the fiberglass on the inside. I had to do some serious sanding to get almost every part to fit, which I guess is better than too loose but it did require a ton of sanding. Once sanded down, everything went together nicely and fit snugly. There is also some additional sanding you should do: sand the points you will be gluing to add some bite so the epoxy holds better.

This is a quick building rocket after the sanding is done. I didn't like the fact that there were only 2 centering rings as I always like 3. I know the fiberglass rings are super strong, but they are very thin so my brain started imagining them bending. I added a plywood centering ring I had laying around, which is probably overkill but what the heck. I put the bottom centering ring in first and the middle one in the fin can also unglued to keep it centered. Once I had the lower one epoxied from the bottom, I removed the middle ring and poured some epoxy in on the bottom one from inside the fin can. Next, I moved up and glued in the middle plywood ring 3 inches from the top of the fin can. After that was in place, I made a good batch and lined the walls of the fin can with epoxy. Quickly I slid the coupler in till it sat on top of the plywood ring in the fin can. Took a few paper towels to clean up the slop. This dried and I poured in some ultimate glue inside the coupler on the points where the Coupler met the plywood ring on the inside. This glue expands nicely and is rock solid. It made a pretty much solid bond which brought the ring coupler fin can and MMT together. Nothing will knock that MMT loose next to a nuclear bomb. I drilled and placed an eye loop in the third ring gluing the threads to hold it. Then, I glued that last ring in about 1/4" from the end of the MMT. Lastly, I put some epoxy on the inside of the body tube an inch or two from the end and on the outside of the coupler then slid the BT down on the ring and coupler with a nice squishy sound.

Before I put the bulkhead in the nose cone, I wanted to test the stability. Chute, shock cord, and a J350 went in and I checked for the CP. I emailed the Performance Rocketry to ask about the CP but I never got a response after several weeks. I punched the dimensions and materials into Rocsim 8.0 and got the CP, which from the looks of this rocket, it feels about right. I marked that on the tube and from the balance test could tell we needed a little weight in the nose. I started dropping one ounce fishing weights in the end till it balanced out. This is where that Ultimate Glue really works. With the weights in there, I dropped in a good amount of Ultimate Glue and let it dry. That stuff expanded right up and over the weights till they disappeared. I love that stuff. Then I glued the bulkhead in and added an eye loop.

That is about it for construction. I didn't add an electronics bay. Loki and Aerotech Js come with delays, and that is what I planned on flying in this bad boy. It can easily handle a K, but I have larger rockets for them. There are a few ways I thought to do it. The nose cone is hollow and could accommodate an electronics bay. For dual deployment, you could also get another coupler, some bulkheads, and try cutting the tube.

Finishing:
The texture of the tube is a bit rough but holds paint well. I put a coat of primer on then a nice dark green. The decals went on nicely. I'm an Army vet, so I love the look of this one.

Construction Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight:
My first flight on this rocket was my L2 cert. Being my certification flight, I rechecked everything about 50 times before I went to the LCO table. I played it safe and loaded a J350 into the MMT with the Slimline adapter. This baby roared off the pad and flew nice and straight. It arched over a bit and the medium delay popped the chute very close to apogee, maybe just a little past. The chute was a bit caught up but eventually deployed close to ground. The rocket hit the ground still moving pretty fast. Since this was my L2 cert flight, I was a bit worried, but when I got to the rocket, there was nothing but a small scratch in the paint. I took it to the prefect and got my certification paperwork signed. It wasn't perfect but I'll take it.

Click here to see a video of the flight.

Recovery:
Since this rocket does not include a recovery system. I'll pretty much leave this blank. I will say that the nose cone fit into body tube is good with just the right amount of friction.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
PROs:

• The fin can makes construction very simple
• Nearly indestructible

CONs:

• Customer Service is very spotty.
• Inside diameter of the fin can is not smooth.

If you like doing it your way and you want a very strong good looking rocket, then this is it. It went together pretty quick and it painted pretty well. I have flown it a few times and it flies straight as an arrow and really rips off the pad on a J.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5