Brief:
the flying umbrella was a flawed design. The very high drag meant that any delay at all way too long. The rocket was nearly on the ground before the chute ejected. This modification removes the chute, glues in the nose cone, and allows the rocket to fall back to earth.

Modifications:
Everything is the same for the standard build except that the nose cone is glued into place and there is no need for the parachute.

No motor retention is needed or desired.

Construction:
The kit comes with:

• a single body tube
• 8 fin struts
• 8 panels
• a aircraft cock pit nose cone
• shock cord
• parachute
• 24mm motor mount

The nose cone is a standard Sunward aircraft type and is of good quality. I swapped this for a standard Estes nose cone which required some clay to bring it up to the correct mass. The parachute went into my spares box.

Finishing:
The original review for the umbrella had a really nice paint job. I was going to leave mine bare after a few coats of sealer. In the end I painted it up but used holographic paper on the base and on the top of the body tube

Flight and Recovery:
The main point of the modification is that the D motor is spat out, leaving the rocket to float down. To aid ejection, I removed a few layers of paper off the Estes D12-0 motor.

I have not had a problem with the motor case being spit out as the rocket never gets any real height and is nearly always pointing at the launch pad. At ejection the umbrella turns around in a few feet and then floats back to earth. The base acts as a parachute and the recovery is at a decent rate and most of the times you can catch it. On one launch with strong winds, the umbrella did bounce a bit, which caused slight damage to one of the corners. Most landings are hard but leave no damage other than wearing the paint of the nose cone away.

I did try a E9-4 motor but the delay meant that the rocket was on the ground when the motor ejected, and the motor shot out like a shell being fired.

Summary:
I honestly believe that this mod is the best thing to do with the Umbrella kit. It's quick and easy and will give good flights.