Brief:
This is a scale high power rocket. It's a very nice kit, which was custom made for me by Blackhawk R&D. Very easy to deal with and you get what YOU want, and for a VERY good price!

Construction:
The quality of the rocket was VERY nice. It used flexible phenolic for tubes, 1/4" 5 ply ply-wood for fins and centering rings, a electronics bay, PML nose cone and LOC motor tubing. I had him leave out recovery hardware since I wanted to do my own. There were no instructions for the kit, but if you have built a few high or mid power rockets before then its very easy to build. You do need epoxy, CA, wood glue, etc. for assembly. I used 5 minute for tacking stuff down and 30 minute epoxy for doing all the fillets and putting stuff together. When this was all built it was one VERY sturdy rocket, I used no fiberglass at all. Since it's unnecessary in my opinion. Also the altimeter bay that was included with the kit was very nice, and it can hold up to 2 altimeters.

Finishing:
I used Rockets of The World to help with finishing. It is a pain to paint as there are 6 different colors, which takes a lot of time to mask the rocket off. But is well worth the effort because it makes the rocket look very nice. Other then I did have a problem with my copper paint 'orange peeling', but after some work I got it to look pretty good.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
I have flown this rocket 4 times since I built it (in August of 1999), the first flight was with a Kosdon 54mm J480 FAST, it really ROCKED! It got up there in a hurry, very fast, straight and loud boost! I used a Olsen M2 altimeter for recovery, the 18" drogue chute came out at apogee as planned, then at 550 feet the main chute charge fired, but the main got tangled. It came in for a VERY ruff landing on the hard dirt. But there was NO damage at all. The recorded altitude on that flight was 3837 feet! I have also flown it on a Kosdon 54mm J300 FAST, a Ellis Mountain Works J330 and a Vulcan 38mm I250 Smokey Sam, all for perfect flights and recoveries!

Recovery:
Since I did not have him include any recovery hardware, I made my own, for shock cord mounts I used a steel cable in both the booster and payload section, with bungee cord attached to that with a quick link. For chutes I used a 18" chute for the drogue and a 48" chute for the main. Which brings the rocket down at the right speed.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
Overall the rocket is very nice. I do not recommend a custom kit by him for a first mid or high power rocket. But he does offer many kits with directions, recovery hardware, etc. with them that would be great for a first kit. I was very pleased with the results of the rocket, very sturdy and flies very well.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5