(07/01/99) I purchased the Pratt Polaris, along with some Kevlar® cord, just to give one of their kits a try. I had no idea how many events were to occur involving this little kit.

CONSTRUCTION:

The Polaris is an entry level kit with very easy construction. It is made up of a single, 24" long, slightly-larger than 18mm diameter body tub. It has a hollow, thin plastic nose cone and a paper nose cone shoulder. There are three laser cut balsa fins (dense and less porous than what typically comes with other kits). Its motor mount includes a thrust ring and is just the right size to slide into the body tube without centering rings. One launch lug which is cut into two. The recovery system is a piece of Kevlar®, a small piece of Nomex® cloth and a plastic streamer.

The instructions are covered on a single 8x11 page, printed on both front and back. They have a few photos and a fin marking guide. Outside of the photo of the streamer, they are not included to help clarify the build, therefore, one needs to read the text thoroughly. Fortunately the text is clear and if you have built a couple of Level 1 or Level 2 kits, this rocket will still be an easy build.

I built it in under one hour with the exception of the fin fillets. I did everything with yellow glue, except the nose cone to shoulder joint. I use Quick Grab on that.

The paper tube nose cone shoulder was a new twist to me. It had a pre-cut hole that was used to tie one end of the Kevlar® shock cord to. The other end of the shock cord is attached at the thrust ring. The streamer is made from yellow "Caution" plastic tape. It is attached to the Kevlar® with tape.

And that's about it. Like I said, it is a very easy rocket to assemble.

For finishing I hit it with some primer and smoothed out the fins. I then painted the whole rocket with fluorescent green. I have come to dislike working with fluorescent paint. Too thick and rubbery! After that I covered the fluorescent green with some of the crackling black paint I had left over from my Phantom. This stuff is also a bit hard to work with since the amount of paint (on the first pass) determines the thickness of cracks. Well, she was finished and looked mostly black.

The Polaris kit does not come with any decals.

Overall, for CONSTRUCTION I would rate this kit 4.5 points. Good quality materials even including Nomex® and Kevlar® in the recovery system, good instructions, although lacking the illustrations found in most other entry level kits.

FLIGHT/RECOVERY:

Pratt recommends A and B motors with the preferred motors being the A8-3 (Estes) and the A6-4 (Quest). The motors are retained with friction fit.

I took it out for its first flight at a NOVAAR launch. I used an adaptor and loaded an Apogee B2 into the Polaris. It was a wonderful boost, this long slender rocket looked nice coming off the pad on the B2. It just kept going with the 2.8 second burn time. At apogee we all waited and watched as there was no ejection and the Polaris flew just a majestically back into the ground.

The damage recovery unit (me) accessed the model and determined that she would fly again. Indeed with 2" sliced off the top a new nose cone (this time balsa). I also painted the new nose cone with the fluorescent green and then repaint the fins with just the fluorescent green. That really made the rocket look better getting a contrast from the body tube.

The next flight was just a spur of the moment launch in my front yard. I flew it on an Apogee 1/4A. Well, she cleared the pad by about 20 feet, popped the ejection and the streamer just finished unrolling as it hit the ground. Successful flight but not one to repeat.

The next flights were for the sole purpose of this review. So I went out to the field at 6:30am alone and put the Polaris in the air. The first time on an A8-3. Very nice flight with ejection being just before apogee. With the streamer fluttering, the Polaris actually fails pretty quick. Most of the impact is taken by the motor sticking out of the back of the rocket so not too much to worry about.

The next flight was with a B6-6. This too was a nice flight, maybe to 800 feet. Ejection was just after (and I mean just) apogee. The rocket fell at the same rate as prior however when I got to it the nose cone and paper shoulder were gone. I never saw them split in the air.

So, that wrapped up the flights of the Polaris. I wrapped up my launcher and put my camera (yes I had two nice shots of the Polaris) in my small field box. I then walked out to try to recover another rocket. When I returned there was no longer a Polaris, there was no longer a launch box and their was no longer a camera! There were two construction workers that were nearby but both claimed ignorance and both claimed not to have seen anyone. Can you say, hmmmmm?! Oh, yes, I did recover the rocket I went after . . . but at what cost! So, that is why you don't see any pictures (of mine) for this review. When it rains, it pours! Of course I was the one that left them there . . .

For FLIGHT/RECOVERY, I would rate this kit 4 points. Its length makes it look good coming off the pad. It falls a bit fast and may do better with a small parachute. I suggest making an adaptor to fly this guy on Apogee Micro-Motors. The long burns with this rocket are fun to watch. Stick with A's and B's.

Overall, for the price ($5.00), this is a good kit. The fact that it comes with Nomex® makes it a cut above most other entry level kits. I would recommend it as a second or third kit. I give the kit an OVERALL rating of 4.5 points.