Brief:
1/10 Scale Model of the Canadian Sounding Rocket, the Black Brant VA. It is a single stage rocket with parachute.

Construction:
The kit consists of one 1.72" main body tube, one smaller aft tube, balsa nosecone, motor mount parts, vinyl and waterslide decals, 20 laser cut parts for the fins, 24" of Kevlar®, and 33 inches of 3/8" elastic shock cord. It includes detailed instructions as well. The model is a three fin and body tube type.

The instructions twelve B&W 8.5" x 11" pages. The instructions include a very nice engineering drawing of the model with marking information. The motor mount instructions were clear and straightforward. The tail assembly is the most complicated part of the model. The instructions take two full pages. I did find some of the marking/test fit/gluing instructions confusing. It is a lot of text to read through. I would recommend reading it through several times and breaking the build down into smaller sections. The fins mount to the aft tube only. The aft assembly is then glued to the primary body tube. A note of caution: In the same paragraph that has you test fitting the aft tube also has you gluing in the motor mount. The full size sanding instructions were very nice.

Finishing:
I personally had difficulty in getting a smooth finish on the balsa nose cone. My first coat of primer was too thick. When I started to sand it smooth, the paint lifted off and became uneven. It took seven more coats of a thinner primer to get a minimum acceptable finish. The rocket is red overall with one white fin. I chose to build and paint the rocket red without the one white fin. The one white fin was painted separately then glued on after drying. The decals went on without difficulty.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
First flight was on the recommended D12-5. The model uses a standard metal retention clip. Recovery wadding was used. The rocket lifted off with ease and was a very straight flight.

Recovery:
Ejection was normal although the delay was closer to 4 seconds. The chute opened and the rocket settled down. It was noticed that there was some separation at ejection. After recovery, it was discovered the separation was half of one of red fins. It tore along the balsa grain. There was also a crescent shape dent in the nose cone. I suspect that the nose cone impacted the body tube during ejection.

Flight Rating: 2 out of 5

Summary:
I feel the highlight of this rocket is that it is a scale model of the Black Brant. I really like this family of rockets and ARG has made a whole collection in the same scale. The con was the fin separation during flight. I would consider some type of reinforcement for the fins, either tissue or fiberglass. Alternatively, new fins could be cut with the grain going the opposite direction.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5