| Construction Rating: |   | | Flight Rating: | | | Overall Rating: | |
Contributed by John Lee
 Brief:
While making a good faith effort to finish the rockets I had started, I once again found myself at the shop with glue
and paint drying and nothing to do so I opened this "kit" in order to occupy a little time.
Construction:
The components of this rocket are nothing more than a white Styrofoam shell and a motor tube with a few crack and
peel stickers to liven things up.
Finishing on this one comes before assembly. The foam was lightly sanded and then it was put in the spray booth.
The instructions recommended only a few types of paint and these included spray enamel. I went with a Rustoleum blue
and lightly dusted the shell, hoping that the paint would be almost dry by the time it settled. It was built up slowly
in this way until I was confident enough to give it 2 real spray coats.
With the painting done, the real assembly could begin. I located the motor tube and saw that it was indeed sealed
at one end. The tube was inserted into the hole in the foam and construction was over. No glue was needed.
 
Finishing:
Final finishing involved placing the stickers. I don't like crack and peel stickers but they do have their place in a
simple project like this. They also really dressed things up. My big complaint is that they were not well thought out.
The ideal arrangement as given on the box was not possible because all of the stickers, the triangles in particular,
had the same orientation. Those that worked fine on one lobe of a fin looked bloody awful on the other because the
angles did not complement each other.
Construction Rating: 2 out of 5
Flight and Recovery:
When it came time to fly, I found I had no A10s laying about and decided to chance things on an A3-4. The motor had
an igniter inserted and was stuffed into the tube. It was a fairly tight fit. It was then taken out to the pad and I
realized that for all its simplicity, its not a bad looking little rocket.
When it was launched, I was unprepared for how fast it scooted and had trouble whipping around fast enough. The
launch coincided with a gust of wind and it weathercocked, arcing over my head.
 
It landed a few yards away with no harm done and I decided to try it again on another occasion when I had some
A10s. A video of the flight can be seen here.
Flight Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary:
I did not expect much of the rocket and was not disappointed. That being said, it's not bad. It's fun. It's different
and it's a kid magnet. The old guys at the club paid a lot more attention to it than I would have expected.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Flight Log- Post a Comment -
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