Brief:
This almost-ready to fly kit is a good introduction to the concept of the swing-wing glider. I stumbled across one in a clearance bin at my neighborhood craft/hobby store and at $5 couldn't pass it up. With a lightweight and colorful Styrofoam body, this looks like a nice little flyer (but mine wasn't...).

Construction:
Opening the box turned out to be harder than making the glider. Once I got everything opened and unpacked, I found the glider body, the stabilizer, some clay for weight, and a rubber band (would love to have seen a few spares included with this).

The box described this as a skill level 4 kit, which in my opinion is grossly overstated. This was a very easy build and well within the abilities of the typical cub scout. I'd rate it more of a skill level 1, although glider trimming might push it to a 2.

The only "assembly" required is sliding the stabilizer into the tail end of the fuselage and filleting with white glue. Mine was a pretty tight fit and I wound up cracking the Styrofoam, which was easily repaired with a bit more white glue.

The swing-wing mechanism was a little tricky to figure out, mainly due to the fact that it was a bit too stiff and needed to be worked a little. During boost, the wings are held in the swept-back configuration by a metal pin that slides into a notch in the wings. When the ejection charge fires, this arm is pushed forward releasing the wings (a rubber band supplies the oomph).

Finishing:
Other than trimming the glider, there's nothing to finishing this.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
First flight was on a C6-3. Even going through the closest slip hole, the rubber band felt pretty tight, and there was a slight bend to the rocket on the pad, as can be seen in the photo. It took off on a not-quite-vertical path. I'm not sure if this was due to a short rod (only had a 36" rod today, and the lug starts over 15 inches up) or the design.

The boost only got this about 75-100 feet up due to the roughly 45 degree trajectory. During the 3 second delay, the not-quite-a-glider-yet managed to tumble about halfway back down. When the ejection charge finally blew, it did so with a vengeance, breaking the brittle Styrofoam fuselage in two. The wings flopped out slightly, just in time to hit the ground.

Overall, this was a very disappointing flight. If I'd gone with a longer rubber band and less tension, it would probably have been fine. This one though, is ready for an early retirement, as even with additional gluing and reinforcing, I don't think the body is going to weather another flight.

Recovery:
The Styrofoam was obviously pretty flimsy (stabilizer broke on installation), so the single rubber band is probably not the right size or tension for my kit.

Flight Rating: 2 out of 5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5