Brief:
Military Style Sport Rocket with 3x24mm cluster.

Construction:
The kit comes with 2 sections of high quality, glassine coated BT-80 paper tubes. The two body tube sections are held together with a standard modroc tube coupler and centering ring which serves as the mounting point for the Kevlar® and elastic shock cord. The motor mount is a 3 x 24mm arrangement using high quality paper tubes and laser cut light ply centering rings. All of the fins are balsa and are cut from sheets of 1/8" thick balsa using the supplied templates. The nose cone is also a high quality balsa piece. The parachute that came with my beta test kit is a very nice 24" dia. piece made from rip-stop nylon. (The production kits will come with a similar chute except in 30" diameter.)

The illustrated instructions made construction a breeze. Cardstock templates are included for tracing the fins onto the balsa fin stock. A body tube marking guide is also included. This is a large model rocket, so be prepared for a lot of sanding. There are a 12 fins on this one, but it goes together nicely if you take your time. I had no problems at all during the construction. The quality of the included parts are very nice. I used TiteBond yellow carpenter's glue for most of the build. Be sure to sand off the glassine coating before you attach the fins. This will provide a better glue joint and help keep the lower fins attached when it lands on recovery.

The one thing that may be a bit different is that the instructions recommend coating the fins with thin CA glue. This improves the strength of the balsa, plus saves a bit of filling when it's time to finish it. I followed the recommended procedure and it turned out great. Just be careful with the CA fumes when you do this.

Finishing:
The only special technique on filling was the use of thin CA as mentioned above. I then used two coats of Kilz spray primer, sanding in between coats to fill the rest of the balsa and body tube spirals. You're on your own for picking a paint scheme as no decals are included. Since this one has a military look to it, I decided to give mine a camo scheme. Krylon flat spray paints and a lot of blue painter's tape were used for the winter splinter camo pattern on my MIKE IX.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
The recommended motors are C11-5's and D12-5's. The motors are friction fit using masking tape. I used "dog barf" wadding to protect the chute. This is a BT-80 sized bird so it does take quite a bit. The supplied chute is very nice. It folds up neatly and there is no problem fitting it into the large body tube. Plenty of space in this one.

The maiden flight was at NSL 2004 in Hearne, Texas. She flew beautifully on three C11-5's. It was my first flight that morning. There was a slight breeze out of the south. It leapt off the pad and climbed straight up to approx. 700 feet. Ejection was right after apogee and the chute came out perfectly. A textbook flight. The flame, smoke and noise from three 24mm black powder motors is impressive.

Recovery:
All of the materials in the recovery system are first rate. The shock cord consists of a heavy Kevlar® thread attached to a centering ring mounted midway up the length of the body tube. The centering ring acts as a 'sort-of' baffle, plus it keeps helps keep the parachute toward the top of the rocket during flight. The Kevlar® thread is attached to a very long piece of elastic which is tied to a screw eye in the nose cone. The chute comes pre-assembled with a snap-swivel, and is made of rip-stop nylon and Kevlar® shroud lines.

The beta kit that I built came with a 24" dia. chute. During my test flights, I estimated descent at 15 ft/sec, maybe a bit more. It seemed to come down a little too quickly, and the manufacturer has decided to supply the production kits with a 30" chute instead, a good move in my book. My second flight on D12-5's and the 24" chute landed on a gravel road and resulted in a cracked fin, however that was easily repaired.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
In typical ThrustAero tradition, this is a "builder's" kit. The quality of materials is first rate, but you must be prepared to cut your own fins and have a little imagination when it comes to finishing. The end result is a very handsome rocket that commands attention at the flight line. I love cluster rockets and this is a tough looking rocket. It absolutely roars off the pad on three D12's. It has a large profile in flight and is very stable as it goes up. I can't think of any CONs to this kit...

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5