Brief:
This is a review of Art Applewhite's newly released "Delta" saucer, which flies on 24mm motors. The main difference between his Delta saucers and his standard line is that there are no fins, and both the top and bottom shrouds extend to the motor mount. This makes them simpler to construct, less expensive, and fly higher than the standard saucers.

Construction:
The Kit includes:

• One sheet of cardstock - top and bottom shrouds
• One 7" square piece of foam board - center plate
• One 24mm motor mount

Tools and supplies required:

• Scissors
• Exacto knife
• White glue
• Sandpaper
• Clear enamel spray paint (not required for the Gold metalized cardstock)

[By the way, if you already looked at my article on the 13mm Delta saucer, you can pretty much skip to the finishing section, as the assembly of these saucers is essentially identical]

My Delta saucer came nicely packaged in a food saver type sealed bag. The saucers were packaged in the shipping box with large plastic bubbles also made with a sealing machine. The three pages of instructions for the Delta saucer are well detailed and include lots of photos.

Construction of this saucer is really simple. You first cut out and form the top and bottom shrouds. On this small saucer, I found it difficult to cut the launch rod holes with scissors so I used an Exacto knife for these cuts. You then cut out the center plate from the pre-marked foam board. There is an inner mark around the outer rim, where you only cut through the top layer. You then form a bevelled edge by cutting at about a 30 degree angle and sanding the edge smooth.

Assembly consists of gluing the top shroud to the plate, adding the motor tube, and finally the bottom shroud. You must ensure that you align the launch rod guides on all three components. Also, make sure that the motor mount extends through the front shroud so that no paper overhangs the end of the mount. On a home-grown paper saucer, I left some overhanging just a bit, and the gasses from the motor charred the paper, leaving a hole in the front.

Finishing:
On Art's saucers, there is typically no finishing required, other than sealing the printed cardstock with a clear coat. Note that the gold saucer uses metalized card stock and no clear coat was required.

I cannot say enough about this mirror gold card stock. It is both beautiful and is a little thicker than most, making for a nice sturdy feeling saucer. The photos I provided do not do it justice. In the one attached photo, you can see the reflection of the smaller Texas Special reflected in its finish.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
In the instructions, Art says that you shouldn't fly these saucers in winds over 10 mph. This weekend the winds were over 10 mph, and several days of rain had left the field a swampy mess. The latter at least made saucers a perfect choice, as the area surrounding the pads was high and dry. And hey, if I've driven almost 2 hours to a launch, I'M GONNA FLY SOMETHING. :-).

I flew this saucer off a 3/16" Estes rod. It was a bit wobbly on the way up, but just like the smaller Delta the trajectory was almost perfect. I am anxious to try it on an E9 with calm winds. The wind caused the saucer to tumble end-over-end on the way down. Nevertheless, the recovery was fine.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
Arts Delta saucers are an interesting addition to his extensive saucer line. As advertised, they are indeed easier to build - I built two in a leisurely afternoon. They fly well, although I did not perceive a noticeable difference in performance over standard finned saucers. Then, I have only one data point with this 24mm Delta. It appeared to be far more stable than standard saucers in heavy winds. [Note that I recommend you follow the manufacturers recommendations on flight conditions! I flew this saucer at a HPR launch from a pad that was probably three times as far away as a normal low power pad. I do not have the experience to say that these saucers will always fly straight in such high winds.]

When I was going to rate this rocket, I almost began feeling bad rating all Arts products so highly. There is no distinction between the different models if you go by my ratings. Finally, I decided "what the heck?" They all are relatively easy to build and fun. The Deltas are easier than the others are, but I have no problems cutting fins. My guidance to the buyer is: buy the size you think you would like for the motors you want to use and buy the style you find most pleasing (Standard vs. Delta, and the pattern/color).

Finally, I'll repeat how much I liked the mirror gold paper. I recommend you select this option!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Brief:
I have always liked UFO type rockets like the Estes Snitch which I was glad to find out about these good quality kits that are high drag and dying to fly.

Construction:
The kit includes:

• 7" of cardstock for shrouds
• foamboard
• 24mm motor tube

The instructions were very easy to follow. I think it went together very nicely. It was kind of tricky cutting the edge of the foamboard, so you will need a sharp X-Acto knife. Somehow it could use some reinforcing to strengthen it and making the cardstock tougher after you have formed the shroud. It went together nicely using white glue and epoxy.

Finishing:
I love the finishing on the Art Applewhite rockets because you have almost no finishing to it except a clear coat like I did. I love all the designs they have like the smiley, flames, mirror gold, etc.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
The first flight was on a C11-3 for a nice, straight flight. The second flight was on a D12-0 and it had the same flight characteristics. After that I wanted to use some E11-3Js I had. I was feeling brave and loaded one up in my case and set off to my fairly small backyard and stuck a rod into the ground, unrolled my launch controller, and started the countdown. 5...4...3...2...1...Blast off! First there was nothing then it slowly came up to pressure, chuffing out lots of Blackjack smoke and then lifting off the rod slowly going to the sky on the long burn motor for one of its best flights ever. Its fourth flight wasn't so fortunate. I started in the daytime but after a few ignitor failures, it was dark when I finally got it to launch. However, I still launched it on an Ellis Mountain E12-0 motor, having a long burn flight. It vanished into the dark sky and was found the next day completely smashed and ruined.

Recovery:
The first few flights of the saucer were typical, great saucer flights but for the fourth flight it was total and complete devastation because of the weak body. This is where reinforcements would come in handy.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
I love this rocket and I recommend it to anyone who is good with an X-Acto knife and is looking for a good backyard rocket. I wouldn't change a thing except that I would like it to be stronger, but I don't think that is possible.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Brief:
This is a very nice simplified version of Art's Original Flying Saucer rockets which flies great and can be launched on a wide variety of 24mm motors.

Construction:
I ordered Art's 24mm 'Flames' Delta and included in the kit is:

• One sheet of cardstock to make up the top/bottom shrouds and shroud tabs.
• One pre-marked 7" piece of foamboard to make up the center plate.
• One 24mm motor mount.

This was my first Art Applewhite build and although the construction techniques are somewhat different from a 4FNC rocket, they are quite easy to master. The components are top quality and the instructions very thorough with no obvious gotchas so that even complete rocketry novices should have no problems constructing this rocket.

Firstly, the top and bottom shrouds are cut out from the provided cardstock and the provided shroud tabs are glued into place. After cutting out the holes for the launch rod and motor mount, each shroud is then formed by gluing each respective side on to the tabs.

The center plate is then made up by cutting along the pre-marked outer line with a sharp X-Acto knife. It is a good idea to make this cut with a progressively deeper series of cuts rather than trying to cut through in one hit. After cutting out the pre-marked holes for the motor mount and launch rod, a shallow cut is applied to the pre-marked inner line to facilitate ease of cutting to form a 30 degree beveled edge which will enable the top shroud to mount to the center plate. The beveled edge is then done by cutting at a 30 degree angle along the outside bottom edge to the above mentioned shallow cut. Be sure to use a fresh X-Acto blade for this as a blunt blade will prevent a clean cut being made and could possibly damage the foamboard. Once formed, I sanded the beveled edge smooth with 180 grit sandpaper.

The top shroud is then glued into place on the beveled edge and the glue then allowed to dry. Glue is then applied to the center plate's motor mount hole and the motor mount pushed into place through the bottom until the top slightly projects past the top of the shroud. Once the glue was dry, I then applied glue fillets where the motor mount meets the top shroud and center plate. The bottom shroud is then glued into place after which I applied glue fillets to where the bottom shroud and center plate meet and to where the motor mount and bottom shroud meet. During this whole process, it is imperative that all three launch rod holes are aligned with each other.

Art recommends that only white glue be used during construction so I used Selley's PVA throughout.

Finishing:
This rocket is a cinch to finish with the only finishing technique recommended by Art being an application of clear coat paint to protect the cardstock from moisture for which I applied a single coat of Tamiya Clear acrylic.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
This rocket is designed to be launched using a 3/16" launch rod.

The first flight was with a D12-3 (friction fitted) with which I was not familiar and upon launching, the motor ejected itself through the top under power which thankfully left the rocket undamaged bar some soot on the top shroud. Ditto that for the second flight.

After liberal use of masking tape on another D12-3, the third launch was successful with the rocket taking off slowly and merrily with lots of noise and smoke to the amusement of spectators. Ditto that for the fourth flight.

Recovery:
Recovery is a cinch due to the rocket employing aerobrake (tumble) recovery and is especially amusing to watch if using a motor with an ejection charge as ejection will cause the rocket to spin end over end during descent. As a consequence, the rocket also recovers quite close to the launch pad which makes this rocket ideal for use in 5-10mph windy conditions.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
This is one heck of a great rocket for flying in small fields which can be built in an hour or two then flown on the same day. Once built, the rocket is surprisingly robust and I managed to obtain fourteen awesome flights with this rocket till a malfunctioning D11-P caused the rocket to CATO. I have since flown other UFO rockets supplied by Art and cannot recommend his products highly enough.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5