Brief:
The BSD 3" Horizon is a wonderful kit designed for the builder new to high power rocketry. It flies on 29mm SU or RMS motors from G to low H power. This was my first HPR rocket.

Construction:
The kit went together very easily with extremely clear, well written, and detailed instructions, including many black and white photos of the build process. Construction starts with assembly of the motor mount. The kit includes a nylon recovery strap that is to be epoxied to the motor mount, then the forward centering ring notched to fit over the recovery strap is epoxied to the front of the motor mount. I deviated from this by drilling two 1/4" holes in the forward centering ring spaced to fit a 1/4" stainless steel U-bolt. I installed the U-bolt with nuts and washers on both sides of the centering ring. Epoxy was then coated onto the nuts to hold them securely. The front centering ring was then epoxied in place. Epoxy fillets were then added to both sides of the centering ring. I then attached 15ft of 1/4" tubular Kevlar® with pre-sewn loops on the ends using a quick link to the U-bolt assembly. This completed the motor mount assembly since I was just fitting the rear centering ring so internal fin fillets could be added. Before installation of the motor mount, fin slots need to be cut. BSD provides guide lines for the fin slots, but the builder must cut them. I found this to be easy with a sharp hobby knife and actually enjoyable. The motor mount is then epoxied in place except the rear centering ring is only fitted in place until after curing was complete. The rear centering was then carefully removed. Before installing the fins, I put sharp double airfoils on the leading edge using a disk sander. The fins were tacked in place using 10 minute epoxy followed by adding thick fin fillets inside using 30 minute epoxy mixed with milled fiber to provide a very strong joint. The rear centering ring was then epoxied in place and fin fillets added similarly to the internal ones. Although BSD provides motor retention using blind nuts, I used an Aero Pack retainer and epoxied it in place using JB Weld as directed by Aero Pack. A loop in the Kevlar® recovery strap 18" from the nose cone end was created using CA to tack it. Kevlar® string was then wrapped around this joint and all coated with epoxy to provide a parachute anchor point. Construction was then complete. Quick links are used to attach the parachute and the Kevlar® recovery strap to the nose cone.

Finishing:
Elmers Fill 'n' Finish was used to even out the fin fillets and sanded to smoothness with 400 grit sandpaper. Two coats of gray Krylon primer with sanding in between followed by wiping down with a tack cloth were applied. It was then painted with three coats of Rustoleum Gloss White. The rocket was then masked off so that the front 6" was left unmasked. Three coats of Rustoleum Gloss Black were applied to this front section and the nose cone. After drying for two days, the vinyl decals were added. These are of superb quality. Finally, it was sprayed with two thin coats Rustoleum Crystal Clear.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
My first flight ever was with a G64-7W. I had help assembling the motor, but the flight went off without a hitch. It was quite a thrill to see my first flight work so beautifully. It was the perfect delay too. While this rocket has now flown many times on G64s, this rocket really loves a H128-M or H165R. It really moves out!

Recovery:
As previously mentioned, I changed the recovery strap to 1/4" tubular Kevlar®. I felt the nylon BSD provides would eventually burn through, but there's no chance of that happening with the Kevlar®. I feel the U-bolt I installed provides a more secure mounting for the recovery system. On the first few flights, I thought the included 24" chute provided too fast a descent, so I have now changed to 28" SkyAngle which I reef slightly. The drift is a bit further, however, I like the descent rate much better. The 24" chute would work for windier days, but for days when the wind is less than 10 mph, it's too small.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
This is a really great kit. It flies beautifully on rather inexpensive reloads and scoots on low H power. Although I made some modifications, these were purely my preference; it would still be a great flier built stock. This is an ideal first HPR kit.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5