Brief:
Large, all glass single stage high-power scale model of the Black Brant. The kit came from Apogee, and it arrived quickly and free from any defects or damage.

Construction:
2 4-inch fiberglass body tubes, one fiberglass tube coupler, fiberglass and steel hardware for an avionics bay (dual deploy ready). Fiberglass 54mm mount with fiberglass centering rings and fiberglass fins. Tubular nylon shock cord provided, but no parachutes. Fiberglass tail cone, rail buttons, and some fiberglass tape for filling in fillets.

Instructions are typical (very simple) Madcow instructions, four pages b&w. Illustrations are good, but they could provide more detail.

The nose cone shoulder is not as thick as the body tube, which means if you want it to match, you have to shave the forward body tube to taper it or add material to the nose cone. The nose and tail cone have to be scrubbed and the mold flash has to be sanded. There are no instructions for installing the nosecone bulkhead or the aft tail cone centering ring, so I used Fix-It epoxy clay to create a shoulder to glue the parts to in both cases. The aft portion of the tail cone was off center, but still looks great when finished.

Finishing:
Cleaning and sanding nose cone and tail take extra time, but the body tubes are extremely quick to finish, and require no sanding at all. They are simply magnificent. The decals are vinyl and are very nice. The finished rocket looks magnificent.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
A Cesaroni I540 was used for the first flight, with a Madcow motor retainer. Prep was quick, the motor delay was perfectly timed at 11 seconds. The Black Brant flies perfectly straight with no corkscrew or veering.

Recovery:
My flight was spoiled by the parachute not unfurling from the shroud lines (my fault), which were wrapped around the chute. Not going to happen again. No significant damage. Versatility with the dual deploy capability is excellent.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
Pros: All-fiberglass is cool. The single-joint avionics bay design is elegant and reduces likelihood of flexing and airframe destruction. Body tubes are a joy to work with. Finished rocket looks fabulous. Flies great. Extremely impressive.

Cons: No parachutes or retention included, a little extra work on nose and tail glass.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Other:
The tail cone section does not have that little tank joining section that a detailed Black Brant scale model has.