Brief:
A great and cheap to build monocopter. Flies well on an A motor. I first found out about this rocket via The Rocketry Forum. Within a day of seeing the post, I had started to build the monocopter.

Construction:
Not much is needed to build the monocopter:

• 6 lollypop (popsicle) sticks (UK call popsicle sticks lollypop sticks)
• 2 3" x 5" index cards
• 18" of nylon cord--I used cotton thread.

Art's design is simple and excellent. The plans are very well laid out with lots of photos so it's nearly impossible to get it wrong. The only alteration I made was to use cotton thread instead of nylon. This was by no means an improvement--the nylon option is better. However, I did not have any nylon string on hand, but I did have some cotton thread!

I emailed Art about using epoxy instead of nylon, his reply was to use the nylon, as epoxy won't hold it together.

After my first shred, I soaked the cotton threads in glue and also put several wraps around the support and mount, mainly as a backup. I will be building another monocopter exactly to Art's description.

Finishing:
After the first few flights (and repairs), I gave it a quick spray with a spray can, which is not needed but it makes it look a bit neater.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
It flies well on a 1/2A but a full A gives much better flights.

My first flight resulted in the mount ripping itself clean from the monocopter. Because I was in a rush to fly the monocopter and I did not read Art's instructions fully, I used too much rod.

Rest of the flights (after repairs) were all good. Altitudes of about 40-60ft were achieved.

One interesting flight had the monocopter hovering at head height--I reckon it was a motor failure.

The best thing about this rocket is the noise it makes, a nice thumping beat.

Recovery:
Depending on how high it gets, the monocopter usually rotates back down, and close to the pad. I did have one go off at an angle and hit a wall, but it was undamaged.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
This is a great design, and I've now been bitten by the monocopter bug. My own design (18mm motor) is slowly being built. This is a great introduction to monocopters. Looking at Art's website, it looks like there are some bigger brothers getting ready for a spin too.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5