Brief:
An OOP 2-foot tall rocket with a paper shroud transition and an unusual base. Recovers via a 12-inch parachute. I purchased it from the rocket model shop in one of its mystery box packages. The rocket came in a plastic bag with an art card.

Construction:
Kit consists of:

• 1 launch lug
• Estes paper shock cord mount
• 1 parachutes (Estes 12 inch)
• 1 2 foot length elastic shock cord
• Nose cone
• Shroud lines
• 2 Body tubes BT-55, BT-5
• 18mm Engine mount tube
• Hook retaining ring
• Old style Estes engine hook
• Two sets of pre-cut balsa fins (Good quality balsa)
• Clay
• Paper adapter rings
• Paper shroud card
• Decal sheet

To build the kit I used

• CA gel glue
• Model knife
• Aluminium oxide sandpaper
• White PVA glue
• Enamel spray paint
• Enamel paint
• Varnish

Builds pretty much like most skill level 2 Estes kits. The instructions are clear and straightforward. What was nice about this kit is that the engine tube protrudes out of the base and the three fins tuck in under the base to the motor mount.

As this is an old kit, the transition is achieved via a paper shroud reduction wrap. I actually preferred this style of transition to the plastic reducers used in the more recent Estes kits. The paper shroud does not give as clean a finish as a plastic transition, but I enjoyed the build more.

Recovery system uses a 12-inch parachute and the standard Estes paper shock cord mount. I replaced the paper mount with a Kevlar® thread tied to a Sunwards BT-55 baffle. The Kevlar® was then tied to an elastic shock cord that had a swivel attached for the parachute. A swatch of reusable wadding was added to the Kevlar® thread where it exits the body tube to act as an anti-zipper device.

Finishing:
The balsa was sanded, sealed, and re-sanded. One coat of grey primer. Three coats of off white spray paint for the entire rocket. Two coats of purple gloss for the fins. Two coats of red gloss for the nose cone area. Waterslide decals are supplied which went on well.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
Recommended motors are A8-3, B4-4, B6-4, B8-5, C6-5. I used a twelve inch Estes chute as recommended, which seems about right for this model. Estes usually massively oversizes the chute.

First flight was on a A8-3. The lift off was relatively slow and borderline on stability with wide wobbles up to ejection. Flights on B and C motors are good with no stability issues.

Recovery:
Recovery on the twelve inch parachute was fine and quite quick. On inspection of the parachute, it had suffered slight charring on one side. The baffle had done its job pretty well, but I will use a swatch of Nomex® as backup in the future. After a few flights I've swapped to an 8 inch nylon chute which offers a faster but safe rate of decent.

As the rocket breaks apart in the middle, this rocket survived recovery without a parachute! I forgot to put one in, which is the first time I've done that in hundreds of launches.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
A good size rocket that performs well on B motors. It's a shame that some of the older, slightly more complex building techniques that are on this rocket have been removed from the kits produced in the last decade or so.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5