Those of us who have seen the large increase in the number of rocket manufacturers this year are waiting for what many think is the inevitable shake-out. No doubt, room has been made by Quest's and Estes' emphasis on RTF models, Apogee's shift in focus, and other nere-do-well start-ups, but most of us are afraid that many of the new companies that have formed to fill that void are too numerous to stand the test of time. Others, like me, have faith that good products will let a company with a dedication to the sport survive. 

While they're starting a bit later than their competitors, like Custom and Cosmodrome, Nordic Rocketry plans to make a big splash with a large kit line. If published reports are correct, they're hoping to come to market with a lot of new designs this year, up to twenty kits available by Christmas. One of their original designs, the Velocity, became mine in the Essence Rocket Reviews' quarterly rocket give-away. If this bird is any indication, Nordic's new kits just might capture them a good market share. 

The Good Points

As you can see from the picture, the parts count in this ship is low, and none of them are plastic, just good, old fashioned wood and paper. The laser cut fins, made on Nordic's own cutter, get my highest praise. Made from tough plywood, .107" thick (~7/64"), sanding is required to bring them into the instructed airfoil shape (and to get rid of the laser burns), but this is easily accomplished with an upright belt sander or, my personal choice, a sanding wheel. For the recommended F50 motor, though, I would have been much more comfortable with a through-the-wall attachment. 

The gorilla-style shock cord mount comes preassembled on a centering ring, and arrived without kinks, ready to be installed. The rip-stop chute is light weight and well-sewn, a pleasant change from Estes' chinese cheapies. The balsa nose cone, which is smooth, sharp, and has a good, tight fit in the body tube, arrived wrapped in dent-preventing foam, a smart touch. The tubes are thick-walled and perfectly smooth, though the 36" main body tube arrived with a few smallish dents in each end. Nordic should take a page from other makers here, and ship the body tube in sections with an appropriate number of tube couplers. The increase in the model's weight would actually help altitude performance when using the higher-powered engines, and make the package much easier to ship and sell on a peg board, as well as prevent tube damage. 

The bag art, which looks good, but is not up to the big companies' glossy pop, gives the model's spec.'s, and at 5oz. (slightly more with the included 24 mm adapter installed), this bird is gonna be darn near transonic on the recommended F50 engine. Only single use Estes and Aerotech motors are spec.'ed, and the 24 mm motor mount is only designed to take 2.75" long motors, so the Aerotech non-standard 124 mm long motors, such as the F32, won't fit. Nordic doesn't recommend any G motors, and I wouldn't either; an F25 should take this kit to well over 3000 feet, more than high enough for most model rocketeers. I'd be leery of the recommended F50, too; without though-the-wall fins on its well-sealed tube, you might be looking at a shred. Since this bird is so light, she would actually fly lower on the F50 than the F25, anyway. 

The Bad Points

The instruction manual is a stapled set of single-sided pages, and is short on dimensions. The print is small, contains numerous margin notes and the steps are not very well delineated. On the other hand, the manual is very complete, outlining every step in complete detail, the graphics are clear and sharp and a goodly amount of technique is discussed. The author and artist did well, the fault lies with the printer and lay-up. 

One could ask for a better mounts for the 'chute and the nose cone; metal eye hooks are notorious for their poor grip that allows the cord to untie, usually at a very inopportune time. Tying the 'chute to the center section of the shock cord is convenient, but weakens the cord itself. The cord seems a bit short, too, though my test flights produced no 'Estes dents', most probably a testament to the beefy body. 

My real big complaint about this bird is its inability to switch from 24 to 29 mm or back. You must decide which motor size you're going to use during assembly, and then you're stuck with it. Maybe I'm just spoiled by my Aerotech Mustang, but I was disappointed that my Velocity really won't fly all the engines Nordic recommends for her. As I was not going to run the recommended F50 and that would only leave me with the F25 to fly in 29 mm configuration (a motor I've had zero luck with), I chose to install the 24 mm adapter. 

Assembly

Placing the shock cord mount ring was challenging, primarily due to its depth in the body tube, 8" from the aft end. Getting epoxy, the required adhesive, that far in there without making too much of a mess was a pain. Sectioning the body tube might help here, too. I used two hour stuff to be sure I had enough working time, and was glad I did. (Maybe I'm just paranoid here, though; the recommended 30 minute goo would probably have been all right, but I'd just lost my beloved Python to a shock cord mount failure.) I also skipped ahead a step or two, and made the motor mount up before hand, so I could slide it in over my mistakes before they set up. 

The back of the bag art has the stand-up tube marking guide. Try as I might, I just couldn't get it to work (the fin thicknesses were wrong), so I gave up and made one in VCP. Since the fins are thick and the body has such a high curvature (it's really about 1¼" in diameter, not the 1.4" advertised), I sanded four small flats on it where the fins would go to get a good joint and break the body tube sealant. I also made Nordic's suggested pin holes, which I created with the tip of my compass. My home made fin jig isn't big enough to hold these fins, so I just set her where I could watch her while she dried. 

The brass launch lugs are probably very durable, but I was nervous about trying to attach them to that surface-filled body tube with epoxy. The instructions say to put pin holes in the body tube near the attachment points and scuff the lugs with a light sandpaper before gluing, but even with that, I just couldn't see where they'd get a grip. I opted for a standard Estes maxi-rod launch lug and a UFO CA glue joint instead. Those who build the Velocity in the 29 mm config. will want to use the included lugs, though, and put some time into their attachment. Attaching the nose cone and 'chute to the shock cord (I also added some Rogue PW-34 Permawading®) was a bit difficult since the cord is so wide (½") and the shroud lines and eye hook are so small. 

Finish

Finishing, on the other hand, was a breeze. I sealed the fins with a light coat of epoxy and the nose cone with three coats of Krylon® Sandable Primer after an initial sanding with 160 sandpaper. This is the first kit I've seen that actually recommends Krylon® paints, and they worked very well. My paint booth isn't big enough for this forty inch bird, so I did it outside on my long model hook. The instructions don't tout the "official" color scheme, though I don't know why; painted like the bag art shows, the Velocity is a very handsome ship. 

I cut an Optima (a.k.a Shadow) silver accent band in two and cut one of the halves long ways to make the silver bands shown on the bag art. I'd been forewarned about the vinyl name decal (see the Essence review of the Nordic Rocketry Delta-X), and applied a little vaseline to the edges of the backing paper to prevent it sticking to the paint. The decal itself stuck "like stink to a monkey", and though I did apply the recommended clear coat to seal it (Krylon® Acrylic Clear), I probably could have gotten away without it. I suppose once I got used to working with these decals, I'd really like them, they have some very strong points. 

Final dry weight was 160.6 grams (5.665 oz.), and CG with a D12-5 motor installed was @ 12.5" from the aft end. 

While she has her good points that make for a rugged, attractive bird, the Velocity's assembly is much more difficult than her low parts count would indicate, and I'd really like to be able to use all the engines she's rated for. For construction, I'd rate the Velocity a 2 ½ on the Essence scale, needs some improvement. 

Flight

As I didn't want to loose this good looking bird the first time out, I flew her on the least powerful recommended engine, an Estes D12-5. Estimated altitude was about 650', and ejection looked to be right on time. Recovery was fast, and she returned to within 100 yards of the launch rod. Other than a little ding in the nose cone, she was fine. The Permawading® was perfectly clean, as was the shock cord. This girl could fly on those engines forever, and just about anyplace you can set up a pad. 

The next flight was on an Aerotech E30-7, and boy, did the Velocity live up to her name! Bang, Zoom, darn near out of sight, only the high visibility colors made her trackable with the naked eye. Ejection seemed a bit early with this one, but everything worked just fine. Again a fast recovery, this time about 200 yards away. The Permawadding® and the shock cord below it were soot-covered, but neither seemed to have been adversely affected, and the rocket showed no damage. Next time I'll add some standard wadding first, and shove it down to the shock cord mount ring. 

Both flights were rock stable with little weather cocking (surface winds were light, though above 100' or so it seemed to be gusty), and darn near flawless. The E30 flight elicited more than one "Wow!" from my experienced model rocket buddies, and that's high praise, given the rockets they've seen fly. I'd rate the Velocity a 4 ½ on the Essence scale, well above average, and further qualify the 24 mm configuration as the more flexible. 

Summary 

I was excited when I first saw the Velocity, but when I realized what I was in for, my expectations dropped. Her E30 flight brought most of those back, though, and I'd say this ship is worth the effort. The design isn't everything it could be and the assembly process needs careful attention, but the Velocity will stand out in any fleet once she's done, and should be pretty durable. Overall, I'd rate her a 3 ½ on the Essence scale, somewhat above average.