Pic Courtesy of Giant Leap

Brief:
Single stage, minimum diameter, hpr, with 24" Parachute. Optional SlimLine motor retainer, 29mm adaptor, Kevlar® shock cord, Kevlar® chute protector.

Construction:
Kit contains:

• Single 56 inch long, 38mm non-brittle phenolic tubing.
• One Acme Zytec fin-can (3 fin).
• One ogive nose cone.
• Coupler with section of all-thread attached through walls for shock-cord attachment.
• Set of acme conformal launch lugs (.25 inch).
• 24" round chute with swivel.
• Optional upgrades:
  • 15 foot Kevlar® shock cord (.25 inch).
  • Kevlar® chute pad.
  • SlimLine motor retainer.
  • 38-29mm SlimLine adaptor

Pros: GiantLeap Rocketry's kit is as advertised, easy to build. Kit arrived promptly, packaged well. Instructions were easy to follow. After some prep sanding simply epoxy the fin can onto the body tube leaving room to tape an engine in or for the optional SlimLine retainer. Attach the shock-cord to the piece of all thread running through the coupler then epoxy the coupler into the tube. Epoxy on the conformal launch lugs. Attach the Kevlar® pad, chute and nose cone and you're done. All in all and extremely sturdy and easy to build kit. Other than the standard supplies (epoxy, filler, sand paper, paint) you will need a rod long enough to reach inside the tube about 30 inches to apply epoxy and push the coupler (shock mount) into the body tube. Fit was virtually perfect with very little sanding needed.

Cons: Just the standard with almost all kits, the stock nose cone attachment is useless.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight/Recovery:
Since the kit is so rugged it is designed to come back down quickly on a 24" chute. Because of the small diameter I used the optional Kevlar® shock cord and Kevlar® heat pad to eliminate the need for wadding. No damage to the fins or tube on landing.

The only problem during its first launch on a Pro38 1 Grain was one I expected. In the rush to get ready for the launch I skipped adding an eyebolt to the nose cone and used the stock connection and had the nose cone part company during deployment.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
This kit truly is almost ready to fly. An easy build for a new BAR such as myself. Previous to this kit I had only built a LOC-IV (thanks to the reviews here I beefed up the fins and they stayed put even after coming down directly on one fin). More experienced fliers will still enjoy the performance potential of this minimum diameter kit (10,000' on a J350). First flight was on a Pro-38 1 Grain with a 7 sec delay which was almost right at apogee. With the smaller motor the rocket was over-stable and did weather cock in the wind (around 15-20 at launch) not helped by the fact I angled the launch rod. I suggest upgrading to the Kevlar® shock cord and Kevlar® heat pad for the chute. Due to the 38mm body tube its much easier not having to fuss with wadding. I also opted for the slim-line retainer (works and looks great) and the 29mm adapter. If you're looking for an easy to build, high performance, yet able to take abuse rocket you should consider this kit.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5