RocketReviews.com - FlisKits - A.C.M.E. Spitfire

Brief:
Absolutely the most INNOVATIVE commercial kit I've ever seen in rocketry, this rocket looks like Wyle E. Coyote has built and flown it a few too many times. You won't believe it flies nor will anyone else at the pad, yet you'll all be laughing your fannies off when you witness its perfect flight path. I witnessed the prototype of this kit in action at NSL this May and have been chomping at the bit ever since then to get my hands on one. While #4 sits in my private collection (this is a signed/numbered limited edition), #51 was quickly built for flight.

There are no especially difficult skills required to build this kit, but if you've got experience building model rockets (and I've built around 250 now), then you might find yourself at a significant disadvantage. Every step of the way my experience was telling me, "That can't be right!" Trust in the force (and the very clearly detailed instructions) and you'll be fine. Don't expect centering rings to be centered, fins to balance, etc. right away.

Before beginning construction, I highly recommend making a critical finishing decision. FlisKits has free "skin" downloads available on their website which can be used instead of painting but these skins should be applied before bonding the tube sections. You will find that they cover up all the alignment marks you make if you follow the instructions so you need to mark the INSIDE of the tubes to use the wraps. You can certainly express your creativity by painting this on your own, but personally I think Jim Flis has expressed his creativity extremely well and the wraps offer a wonderful visual style to this rocket, complete with weld marks, bullet holes, and duct tape. You can save yourself the fin sanding/finishing if you go with the wraps.

Construction, as noted, is fairly easy if you forget the customary alignment practices. You cut the BT-70 into 4 odd pieces using provided templates, carefully marking two different alignment lines on each, along with a top & bottom mark. Flis recommends using red and black markers, which is a good way of mistake-proofing. The tubes are then stacked and bonded one-by-one around a 24mm motor tube that runs the length of the rocket using custom laser cut centering rings. And if you're very careful and pay attention to the instructions and the alignment lines, you will find everything fits very well (well, "fit" for a rocket like this takes on a different meaning). There's also a shroud transition at the bottom that is intentionally long, to be glued then trimmed resulting in a stronger bond to the centering ring. Flis has called this the "Tulanko tail" and it's a new technique I'd never tried before.

Fins are cut from heavy 1/8" balsa stock from 4 custom patterns. You read that right: no two fins are alike. In fact, one of the fins is actually angled to bond across the bend between tube #1 and tube #2.

The nose cone is rolled from a custom template, and has a balsa plug that fits into the 24mm motor tube. Shock cord is 1/2" elastic using an Estes-style motor mount, which was my biggest disappointment about this kit. Using D power I would much rather see Kevlar® mounted to a centering ring, and most other Fliskits I've built have featured Kevlar®. I finished up by making the 16" plastic chute (Fliskits standard chutes are patterned for 9, 12, or 16" configurations).

There are two launch lugs. One is mounted on the edge of a fin and the other is mounted with a balsa offset to an upper tube. If you follow the directions carefully, you'll find there really is one straight line on the outside of the tubes for the lugs. In my case, I blew the orientation of the shroud, resulting in fins that weren't quite where they were supposed to be, and had to customize the mounting of the lugs a bit, as my rocket has NO straight surfaces. Of course, with a rocket like this, who's going to notice my goof?

Finishing:
As previously mentioned, you can either choose to paint this, or go with free wraps. I chose the wraps, printed them using an inkjet printer onto cardstock (shroud/nose cone) and white label paper (tube & fin wraps). This covered just about every inch of the surface with very slight seams on the wraps. Some edges of fins were not covered (an easily corrected issue with the wrap if Jim's looking for improvement on this) and there's about a 1/4" gap between the shroud and the edge of the tall side of body tube #1. These were colored with magic markers.

One finishing tip I'd suggest, though I wimped out and didn't try it, would be to "weather" the inkjet wraps with a fine mist of water. Jim's prototype was inadvertently weathered this way, and the inkruns and fading actually improve the visual effect for this rocket.

One note on the finished product: my rocket, built using sparing amounts of white & yellow glue and the clay provided for nose weight, came in at 4.3 ounces versus the manufacturer's spec of 2.9 ounces.

Flight:
For it's maiden flight, I chose to drag race with another ACME built by Carl Tulanko. I chose a D12-3 and he flew on a D12-5. (Carl had already flown on a D12-3 which he felt was too short a delay.) The drag race was very close but I think Carl got first motion, I reached almost double his altitude (I'd guess I hit around 450 feet) but I managed to beat Carl back down when two of my shroud lines came unstuck and my chute turned into a streamer. Carl's weathercocked a bit in our 8 mph winds but mine flew straight up without even a spin. Unfortunately, I hit the frame of my canopy/tent and broke two fins. After a quick repair, I flew it later the same day on another D12-3 with a slight spin but great flight. Flight #2 suffered some significant damage--the ejection kicked the motor retaining clip completely out (along with the motor), the balsa plug in the nose cone got burned, leading to separation, and the shock cord while still intact was charred enough to warrant replacement before I attempted another flight. The nose cone separation seems to be a problem on this kit, as Carl's also separated after his second or 3rd flight. I'd recommend a strong epoxy fillet when bonding this unless a more reliable retention method is introduced.

Recovery:
Flights with this are incredible. It's got to be an optical illusion because there's no way this thing should be stable! It flies as well as (or better) than most of my normal rockets. The only con would be the Achilles heel of the elastic shock cord and nose cone plug.

Summary:
I have built more than 250 model rockets at this point, including just about everything in the Estes/Quest lines and have scoured every available archive of plans and designs for "classic" kit ideas to clone. Let me tell you that there's NOTHING like this on the market. No company has ever introduced as radical a design as this, and I am absolutely awed by the innovation and creativity of Jim Flis. I can't imagine how in the world he's going to follow up on this design, but can't wait to see what's next.

Give yourself a whack on the head, get out of the 3fnc standard mode, and build yourself an ACME!

Flight Log

Date	Rocket Name	Motor(s)	Altitude	Notes
2003-08-11	Carl Tulanko's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	Great first flight...low and graceful with chute at apogee.
2003-08-16	Carl Tulanko's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-5	-	Another good flight with late ejection...but still fun to do. I traded someone my last D12-5 for a...
2003-08-16	Carl Tulanko's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Another good flight, number 4 for the day on this model...I just can't get enough...ran out of...
2003-08-16	Chan Stevens's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Blew out motor tube--wound up rebuilding/new kit.
2003-08-16	Chan Stevens's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Excellent flight, though flight #2 resulted in nose cone sep (balsa plug burned through), motor...
2003-08-17	Dick Stafford's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	nice straight flight, recovery was close by and there was no damage
2003-08-17	Carl Tulanko's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Perfect flight. Ejection at apogee, but sounded like a cannon going off! Everyone thought it had a...
2003-09-06	Dick Stafford's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	good straight flight, no damage, spat motor
2003-09-06	Dick Stafford's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	much higher, some wobble on the way up; no recovery damage
2003-10-04	Mike Herndon's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Another nice flight!!
2003-10-11	Dick Stafford's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	chute tangled, hit hard on end of BT, top outer BT separated, was flyable as is
2004-03-06	Marty Wiggins's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Nice flight with slight cocking into the wind. The ejection charge must have been very strong. The...
2004-06-05	David Logan's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Nice boost, a litte crooked, but what do you expect with a crooked rocket? Recovered about 40...
2004-08-28	Warren Wattles's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	Good low flight
2004-09-04	Donald Laskey's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-5	-
2004-09-04	Donald Laskey's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-5	-
2004-10-09	Dick Stafford's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	OK flight, but the crowd loves the rocket
2004-11-26	Donald Laskey's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-5	-	the chute was a melted and lost.
2005-04-16	Dick Stafford's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	Shouldn't have packed the Mylar chute the night before, didn't open, front- end smashed, repairable
2005-04-16	Clive Davis's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	Slight weathercock, but otherwise great flight. The C11 is perfect for this rocket. My parachute...
2005-06-18	Larry Zeilmann's ACME SpitFire	C11-3	-	Super Stable, striped the kit 16" chute, Broken Fin, repaired.
2005-07-10	Scott Turnbull's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	First flight of this seemingly bent rocket flew arrow straight.
2005-08-28	Mitchell Small's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Nosecone separated from body. Nosecone landed with parachute. Body landed on blacktop and...
2005-08-28	Mitchell Small's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	Nice flight, not too high.
2005-09-10	Scott Turnbull's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-
2005-09-11	Scott Turnbull's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-
2005-12-23	Donald Besaw's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	Excellent first flight. Nice straight boost with no wobbling noticed. Recovered nicely on the...
2006-01-12	Donald Besaw's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	This is the ideal motor for this rocket. Very cool flight, noticed some wobbling but I think it...
2006-02-10	Donald Besaw's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Pretty decent flight, weathercocked quite a bit though. Recovered fine after a moderate walk. No...
2006-03-18	Larry Zeilmann's ACME SpitFire	C11-3	-	Perfect flight, good chute, motor kicked slightly, no damage.
2006-04-29	Clive Davis's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	C11-3	-	Great flight. Nice recovery. Parachute slightly scorched.
2006-05-06	Chan Stevens's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Not that stable, might have been bad nozzle. Arced over halfway through burn.
2006-07-08	Todd Mullin's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-5	-	Cracked fins off on landing and somehow the launch lug stand-off...? It was sitting on the ground...
2006-10-14	Mitchell Small's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	E30-4	-	Previously repaired numerous times. All night I was asked if this realy flew. Took off like a...
2006-12-02	Chan Stevens's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-
2007-06-02	Dwayne Shmel's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire (RIP)	D12-3	-	PERFECT flight. Ejection was perfect.
2007-06-21	Dwayne Shmel's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire (RIP)	C11-3	-	Perfect flight profile. The kids in the park enjoyed this one. Not too much altitude - chute...
2007-07-21	Dwayne Shmel's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire (RIP)	D12-5	-	Nice corkscrew flight. Perfect ejection and recovery on 12 mylar chute
2007-08-12	Edward Chess's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Wonderful slow liftoff, nice recovery.
2007-08-25	Dwayne Shmel's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire (RIP)	D12-3	-	Drag race with another Spitfire. I lost. Shock cord burned through and nosecone came down on chute...
2008-08-09	Edward Chess's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Another good flight, no damage on landing.
2008-08-10	Les Bradshaw's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Drifted aways, but nice flight as usual
2008-08-23	Bob Harrington's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Nice straight boost.. Parachute came off immediatly at ejection so it may be that clipped the...
2008-09-06	Ron Coffee's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-5	-	First flight. I was a little nervouse since one the segments did not figt exactly on the...
2009-01-31	Tim Bearden's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-5	-	Maiden Flight, drifted far and landed on concrete resulting in detatched fin.
2009-03-14	Tim Bearden's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-7	-	Hard Landing had to repair fin
2009-04-25	Bob Harrington's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Parachute failed to eject. Lawn dart but no apparent damage
2009-05-16	Michael Mangieri's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Nice straight flight.
2009-07-04	Dwayne Shmel's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire (RIP)	E9-6	-	CATO. Rocket was propelled about 20' into the air and engine failure ripped out the motor mount...
2009-10-10	Edward Chess's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Chute deployed late after ejection--just took a second to clear the Nomex chute protector--was a...
2009-11-14	Moe Bertrand's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-5	-	Great first flight of my Spitfire...
2009-11-14	Moe Bertrand's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	E9-4	-	Great 2nd flight of my nekkid Spitfire. Not sure how I'm gonna paint this one.
2010-05-15	Michael Mangieri's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Another great flight for this really cool looking rocket.
2011-06-11	Edward Chess's FlisKits A.C.M.E. Spitfire	D12-3	-	Just past apogee, good flight, no damage

FlisKits - A.C.M.E. Spitfire

Flight Log

What You Can Do