"Futuristic Starship Design"
"Long, sleek appearance"
"Highly stable for fantastic flights!"
"Wind cheating design for extreme altitudes!"

Those are the headlines on the FlisKits Corona. The Corona is a "longneck" rocket with and interesting, perhaps one would say, futuristic, fin/ring-fin configuration. It has a nice "sleek" appear because the fins are not wide, even after being surrounded by the ring-fin.

The Corona is classified by EMRR as a "longneck" because it has a 0.976" diameter and is 41.0" long, giving it a 42:1 length to diameter ratio. Way back when EMRR started the site and was setting up keywords, anything with a 30:1 and higher ratio was deemed a "longneck".

The rocket includes two 17" long, 0.976" diameter, light brown paper body tube for the main body and a 4 3/16" solid balsa nose cone. The kits includes much more than enough 1/16" balsa fin stock to cut out the fins from and 2.18" long, 1.25" diameter ring-fin. The motor mount consists of one 18mm motor tube, a thrust ring, two centering rings and a motor hook. The recovery system made up of a 36" long, 1/8" wide, white elastic shock cord, a 3-fold paper mount, and a plastic parachute that the builder assembles. Lastly the kit includes two 1/8" diameter launch lugs.

CONSTRUCTION:

The instructions are printed on both sides of a single page of 8½ x 11" paper (folded in thirds for a nice 6-page instruction set). However, this is complemented with a parts and tools needed list on the back to the kit's placard. Also there is a template page with a preflight checklist. The instructions include illustrations to ensure success.

FlisKits calls this a Skill Level 2 kit. We agree.

The motor mount is built first. It is fairly typical with the motor hook being held in place with masking tape. You have to cut a section out of the lower centering ring (cardboard) to allow for the motor hook.

The fins are next. After cutting out the cardstock templates and tracing them on the balsa stock, they are cut out using a sharp hobby knife. There are three upper and three lower sections for the fins. These are then airfoiled and an upper is glued to a lower to make up a single fin. This is repeated for all the fins.

Next, the body tube is marked using a cardstock fin marking guide. Lines are extended on the tube. I used the door jam method.

The motor mount is then slide into the lower body tube (the one just marked). It protrudes by 1/4". This step is important because depending on your glue (white or wood) you could get it stuck. It has to be a smooth and quick motion to get the motor tube in without issue. The instructions are clear on this.

Next, the upper body tube is added using a 1" coupler.

Then, the balsa fins are glued onto the fin lines. They are aligned with the bottom of the tube. The launch lugs are also glued in place. Once all dry, the ring-fin is glued in place.

The last steps are to attached the eye-screw to the nose cone, the elastic shock cord to the eye-screw and to 3-fold paper mount it to the inside of the upper body tube. The parachute is then assemble. My only not here, is that FlisKits didn't indicate which parachute size to assemble. The plastic parachute sheet can make up a 16", 12" and 7½" parachute. I chose the 7½" parachute since I anticipate fairly high flights.

FlisKits gives some basic finishing guidance including sealing the balsa with 2-3 coats of sanding sealer, then prime the rocket prior to painting.

I have been surprised with several days just at 50 degrees F, so I have been able to use my typical multiple coats of Plastic-Kote Primer and sanding in-between. Then amazingly, on the last day of November, it was warm enough to paint. I used Walmart Silver paint on the whole body. I let that dry for about 15 minutes, and hit is with a coat of Walmart Clear Coat which protects the silver. Then after 2 hours, I masked off everything except the nose cone and ring-fin. I painted them with Walmart Fire Red paint on the whole body (additional comments about Walmart paint).

Overall, for CONSTRUCTION I would rate this kit 4 ½ points. Build sequence and quality/fit of parts was excellent. Instructions are excellent. No decals and no pre-cut fins take away a bit. The latter is never a problem for me, but some may not like it. If it keeps the costs down, then I can wield a hobby knife for some fin cutting.

FLIGHT/RECOVERY:

FlisKits recommends the A8-3, B6-4, C6-5, and D10-5 motors.

FlisKits indicates that the rocket should weigh 1.66 ounces.

My finished rocket weighed in at 1.7 ounces.

On December 29th, my son and I went sledding and I was noticing that there was absolutely no wind. Since I was fortunate enough to get the rocket painted on the last day of November, I decided I should try to fly it as well.

So we packed up a couple of rockets and went for a few quick launches.

I used 3 sheets of Estes wadding and then loaded an A8-3. The flight has nice altitude and it was very stable. The Corona has a sleek, long profile design, so it gives an effortless-look to its flying. Ejection was a bit before apogee. Recovery was good, but fast. I should have selected a larger 'chute when cutting it out (see above).

Second flight was on a B6-4. Zipped off the pad and went quite high. Not a single wiggle or spin... straight as an arrow (as the saying goes). Ejection was again a bit early, however, no damage. Recovered without problem.

Looking forward to some C flights!

For FLIGHT/RECOVERY, I would rate this rocket 5 points. Sleek and low profile gives this rocket a nice look. It is a very stable rocket. Recovery system is fine, but I would go with a larger parachute than what I picked.

I give the rocket an OVERALL rating of 4 ½ points. This longneck is more than 3-fins-and-a-nose cone utilizing a ring-fin for looks and stability. Nice rocket. Let's get some decals and really turn it into a 5. Fliskits has made a "baffle" available for this kit, which I would have bought had it been available back when I purchased it.