Brief:
This is a basic 4-fin single stage model, though features a boat tail and some interesting finishing that results in a really nice looking overall model that flies well on 24mm motors as low as C11-s for small fields or baby F's for larger fields.

Construction:
Your $19 retail gets you a somewhat short list of parts, but all very good quality. I'd especially note that the body tube was nearly perfect, with only trace spirals that would probably have been filled just fine with a heavy coat of primer.

• Balsa nose cone
• BT-55 tube (18")
• Balsa fin stock
• BT-50 motor tube, centering rings, motor block
• Shroud pattern (plus a spare)
• Waterslide decals
• Plastic parachute
• Kevlar®/elastic shock cord
• 3/16" lug

Construction is pretty simple on this, except for some tricky fit/alignment issues related to mounting the fins along a tapered boat tail surface. It's rated a skill level 2, which strikes me as accurate.

Construction begins with the motor mount, a simple BT-50 tube sized for E motors, with a forward block and a pair of centering rings. There is no metal hook because the boat tail would impede movement. There is also no D-E spacer adapter provided, though most flyers have probably already accumulated one or two in the range box. I've probably got 20, but never seem to have one when I'm trying to fly...

Careful spacing of the aft centering ring is required, to allow proper room for the shroud to fit. I followed the instructions, leaving 1.75" exposed, and mounted the motor tube assembly into the BT-55 body tube with about 1/16" of centering rings exposed to help hold the shroud.

The shroud itself is printed on slightly heavy paper, but I would have really preferred a heavier cardstock. There's a spare in case of a goof, but in my case the fit was just a little snug, and the paper not stiff enough to handle having to push with some force to slide the shroud up the motor tube. I'd recommend forming the shroud, test fitting it over the motor tube (before gluing the motor tube into the body tube), then coating it with thin CA to firm it up. Once the motor tube is glued into the body tube, the shroud can then be pushed into place and tacked in by wicking CA along the seams. This will provide a much better surface to work with.

Cutting the fins is slightly challenging due to the tricky angle from the bodt tube root line to the shroud root line. There's also not a lot of balsa supplied, so no room for mistakes. Make sure you lay out all 4 fins first before cutting anything, as finding out after cutting the first two that there's not enough room left for the last two would be bad...

Normally I'd only use a medium CA for attaching fins, plus wood glue fillets, but given the angle of the shroud, I found some slight gaps and decided to apply a thin layer of epoxy to the fin roots instead, which would not only offer a good bond but do a much better job of filling the gaps as well. The instruction calls for mounting the lug in a fin/root joint, but since that's going to be a mask line later, I moved it more towards the center, and also kicked it forward closer to the CG.

Anchoring the nose cone with a screw eye wraps up construction.

Finishing:
Finishing on this can be a challenge, but if you're careful the effects are well worth it. I applied a couple coats of gray primer, the followed up with two coats of Rustoleum gloss white. Next came the tricky part--masking off for the black pattern. The instructions note that there's a masking template available for download, but as of this writing the website does not have one available. I emailed Jim directly and got a copy, then traced the template on some Frisket film. After carefully applying the Frisket film mask, I then hit everything with a dusting of white primer, hoping that anything that bled through would seal up and blend into the white undercoat.

Two coats of gloss black topcoat later, I peeled away the Frisket film and found nearly flawless masking lines. I then hand-painted the boattail with aluminum paint.

There are also some very nice waterslide decals to apply, though the decal sheet contains one pretty significant error. The trim bands intended to go on each fin should have been printed out in a mirror image left/right for each of the colors (red/black), but what seems to have happened is that every band is designed to only fit the left side of the fins, so I half of my decals would not fit correctly. I wound up leaving the right side of the fins with the bare white base and no trim stripes.

Construction Rating: 3 out of 5

Flight:
For the inaugural flight I opted for a C11-5, sliding in a 1" D/E spacer from my range box. The flight boosted perfectly straight, unaffected by the 6-8 mph winds. Deployment was darned near perfect, and I'd estimate this hit around 350-400 feet on the C11.

Recovery:
Somehow I managed not to attach one of the shroud line loops, so the 16" plastic chute never really had a chance to do its job. I figured it would be fine, though, as I was flying on a field with tall grass. Naturally, the rocket managed to find the concrete access road, though, so I suffered a slight chip of the boattail paint job.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
While the profile of this is a somewhat ordinary 4FNC, I really like the boattail and the color and decal scheme on this. I think the two main drawbacks on my kit--the decal error and lack of masking template--can both be written off as early release issues, as surely Jim will get them corrected/online.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5