Brief:
Unusual single stage design. Recovery is via 18" parachute.

Construction:
Main body tube is 18" long BT-55 paper. Nose cone is 5.4" long hollow plastic. Motor mount is 2.75" long 18mm held in place by two centering rings and uses an engine hook as a motor retainer. Recovery is via an 18" plastic parachute attached with 1/8" elastic shock cord. There are three main fins with 1/8" dowel sticks glued on the outer edges. These dowels extend to near the top of the rocket. At this upper attachment point there are six small fins attached one on each side of the dowels.

While definitely not a rocket for a beginner, the instructions are clear and assembly is straight forward. The assembly order was logical and the needed templates where provided. The addition of the dowel rods to the fins and the forward swept trailing edges of the fins make for a design that is very sturdy and not easily damaged, even on hard landings. The overall fit was good, but the dowels needed a little finessing to get to fit snugly.

Finishing:
This kit comes with a great set of water application decals. I should have used white primer under the yellow paint to get as bright of a finish as possible. This design definitely draws looks at the launch site.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
The kit uses a metal motor retention hook. It requires 4 sheets of wadding. It DEFINITELY needs nose weight for stability. I added 0.5oz. It is heavy and not very aerodynamic so it flies best with the bigger engines. A C6-5 barely gets it over 600 feet. It actually flies very nicely on the AeroTech D engines. I prefer the 24/40 reload system using a D13W-7. That puts it to almost 1300 feet. With the extra nose weight it flies straight and true with little to no weathercocking.

Recovery:
The shock cord is standard 1/8" elastic. Not my favorite material, but as long as you keep an eye on how it is holding up and change after every 6 or so flights, it works fine.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Very unique design that grabs attention at the launch site. Don't forget the nose weight!!!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5