Brief:
A diminutive scale model of a Sandia Sandhawk that's small in size but big on detail.

Construction:
Don't be mislead, as I was, about the skill required to build this kit. What you get for your money is a great 13mm body tube, a shorter piece of 13mm tube for the nose cone, a good quality balsa nose and a balsa plug (more on this later), a length of wire, a generous (read: twice as much as needed) amount of basswood for the fins, and some of the best instructions in the industry. Dig further and you'll find the thickest streamer you've ever seen, and some good elastic and Kevlar® for the shock cord.

The instructions are the best I've seen in a long, long time. Likewise, the quality of components will blow you away, especially considering this kit's price is so cheap! It seems like it will go together easily enough, but... If you want to build a "slap-dash" rocket, go satisfy your need for instant gratification with an Estes E2X kit. If you want something you actually have to build, look no further. This kit's as challenging as you want to make it. Personally, I don't care to make it a 100% perfect replica of the real thing. I fly every rocket I build, so sometimes I take liberties in the construction. They may not be perfect scale rockets, but they fly, and are durable. This thing goes together with all the tools you already have, so no need to buy anything special. The balsa plug is used to fill the short body tube, and is glued in place, along with the nose cone. This whole assembly becomes the nose cone, and the solid nature of it gives the wire antennae someplace to glue into.

Finishing:
This rocket finishes great! The basswood isn't grainy, and with a little care and a lot of sealer and primer and sandpaper, the spirals and nose cone and body joint will completely disappear. The only con here: the decals look cheesy if the paint is not matched exactly. But I built it to fly primarily, so it doesn't matter too much to me.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
Prep is as easy as they come, but loading the humongous streamer takes skill. It will get stuck if not rolled as tightly as possible. My suggestion is to cut it in half lengthwise and discard one half of it. I suggest keeping the power low, because this sucker will move out with authority! An Estes 13mm 1/2 A3-2T will suffice, but an A3-4T will give you a good chance to lose the rocket. Expect about 800+ feet with an A10-3T. The rocket will fly perfectly time after time, and recovers well on a streamer.

Recovery:
The only con here would be the tendency for the streamer to get stuck. I'd add my own streamer next time, and use a much thinner material.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
I would like to recommend this kit to anybody who is bored with all the plastic schlock that's out there today. This gives a budding rocketeer a chance to learn some skills, or for a BAR like me to hone them or just remember what it was like on a rainy Saturday in the mid 1970s to build a Mars Snooper or Trident. The only con I would throw in here is the company itself. I visited their booth at LDRS in 2000, and not only did the representative there totally ignore me (I practically needed a bull horn to get his attention to buy a kit, and I was the only customer at the time), he wouldn't even answer my questions, nor did he say thanks for purchasing one of their kits! You know, guys, if you want a loyal customer, a smile (at least) would go a long way. But nevermind. Despite being the grouchiest rocket company on the planet, they have reason to be a bit smug. This is one great kit.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

The BT-5 based scale model of the Sandia Sandhawk (kit KSAN-13) from Aerospace Specialty Products is among the most challenging mini motor kits that is currently on the model rocket market. The basic look of the kit seems straightforward when one see the drawing on the instructions. There is more to this than the drawing implies. Due to the small size of parts like the antennas and the precision of the final painting and detailing, a novice can easily make a mistake if s/he is not careful or patient.

The drawings that illustrate the Sandhawk plans are extremely clear. It was quite easy to assemble the motor mount/shock cord assembly. Where one needs to be careful is in the drawing of the fin patterns onto the 1/16" basswood. In order to keep the fins from being oversized, I had to use a .7 mm mechanical pencil because a wood pencil could not maintain a sharp enough point to keep one fin tracing from being larger than another. Be sure not to press down too hard on the pencil. This results in way too much lead graphite being left on the wood and thus an increase in the amount of sanding sealer that will be needed to cover it up.

EXTREME CAUTION is needed when the builder sands in the bevel edge onto the fins. If you sand too much, you will wind up with beveled fins of different lengths being glued onto the rocket. Given the proportional size of the fins to the body tube, the odd fin sizes will be seen very easily. Be sure to sand the Sandhawk kit fins with fine sandpaper and a light hand.

Gluing and aligning the fins onto the tube was straightforward. The same applied to the construction of the nose cone/body tube/bulkhead assembly. The antennas were a nightmare. They were only a fraction of an inch in length when cut and bent. It is easy to loose an antenna and somewhat difficult to bend them to the right size. After trying to assemble a set of antennas, I tossed the metal wire and miss-shapened antennas aside and deleted this step from the assembly. I also lost track of the steel band decals for the fins so that step was also deleted. The same applied to the micro bands of black and gray color on the body tube.

After painting the rocket, I had a semi-respectable sport scale model of the Sandia Sandhawk. While purist would dislike the lack of antennas on the nose section, the advantage of not having the antennas was a boost in performance and less of a chance of having a recovery system failure because the streamer or shock cord got caught on the wires.

The recovery system comes in a form of a long plastic streamer that is 3 " wide by about 30" long. There was plenty of room to pack it and a generous amount of recovery wadding onto the rocket. Using a A10-3t, the rocket will climb pass 300 feet with little trouble. Without the antenna, the Sandhawk would make a good streamer duration model. With the antenna and other accessories installed, the ASP Sandhawk kit could place in national or even international competition if properly built.

Likes: clear instructions, good flyer, challenging kit

Dislikes: a major challenge to work with and shape Lilliputian parts and Lilliputian paint details. This kit is not for a beginner.