Brief:
The FlisKits "Tumble Weed" Model Rocket Kit had caught my eye on the FlisKits website when I was looking to purchase a Nomad, so I had it added to my order. It's by far the smallest rocket in their line, resembling somewhat a dressed up Mosquito and it is designed to fly on 13mm motors. However, upon arrival I knew this was much more than a simple model and I quickly stored it away for a build. Well, my daughter found it and decided she wanted to build this little beauty, so off to the workshop we went, kit in hand.

Construction:
The kit comes in a small package and includes a nose cone, Balsa Fin material, extra long custom motor retainer, stiff glass type cloth, Fin Ring, Launch Lug and body tube. Once again, this kit was a post update and already had the hole punched in the side for the ejection charge. The instruction sheet was well written with ample photos of construction and the template sheet included cut outs for a body wrap, fins and fin tips. All in all, the quality was excellent and I was pleased with the contents.

My Tumble Weed was kit #33; yes, FlisKits actually serial number the first 100 production kits for you collectors out there and have forced me to buy double kits on the ones I wanted, one to save and one to build. This one was no different! Construction went well and was straight forward until we got to the fins. Note that there was a change to the instructions calling for you to shorten the nose cone shoulder and this was stickered on the instructions themselves so you wouldn't miss the step.

Fin construction went well, but was rather complex, hence challenging, for such a small kit; the templates produced perfect fins with the ring fitting the first time. Even the body wrap fit perfectly, no over or under wrap as I had seen with other mfgrs…they obviously have it down to an art in this department. Fin tips were even more of a challenge, but I found that when sanding with some fine sandpaper, even my large hands could handle them without much difficulty.

The motor ejection was another story. This model uses a blow-back ejection, where the motor blows most of the gasses out the side hole, travels rearward over an inch, then stops by means of the motor hook catch. It is an old concept which works. The only problem I had was with the cloth you overlay on top of the retainer bar. Using glue, it is "glassed/laminated" to the side of the body tube, which is fine except the cloth is a bit stiff. I recommend you use epoxy on this cloth; I used Alphaetic Resin and it took a wile to set and probably isn't as strong. Another thing I did was to coat the nose cone with thin CA glue, which gives it a "plastic" coating after sanding.

Finishing:
The model, once built, was sanded with 320 and 400 grit sandpaper to remove ridges and smooth out the fillets, then I applied a few coats of Krylon Primer. I waited a day, then sanded the primer and planned the paint scheme. My daughter wanted it painted using the same pattern as on the package, so I purchased some bright green and orange and bought a can of Krylon Purple Glossy for the main body tube. Painting went well…The Krylon was first, then the other two colors were brushed on a couple days later…even so, it came out pretty nice. It was then time to let it dry, then fly.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
Launch day came and I had picked up a pack of 1/2A3-4's to test both it and my new FlisKits Cougar 660 Streamer Duration Rocket. The A motors were left in the box as I wanted to be able to find this one. It was set on the pad and hooked up. We were getting excited just thinking about it going up, but my previous experience with rockets of this size usually resulted in donations to the "rocket gods", as many a Mosquito just seemed to just disappear, never to be found again. I did NOT want that to happen here, so we started slow.

Recovery:
The model was launched and left the pad in a hurry, but was able to be easily tracked. Ejection happened near apogee and the rocket free-fell back to earth and landed without damage. The bright colors made it easy to find in the grass and we quickly prepped it for another flight, which went just as well as the first. Both times the motor actually stayed in the model, so I was happy about that.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
In summary, the FlisKits Tumble Weed is a very cool little kit! Don't let the small package fool you as there are some building challenges in store, but the results reminded me once again of the old Nostalgic rockets from days of old, when quality and classic design prevailed over mass production. The Tumble Weed is no exception and I recommend it to those who are looking for great looks and flight characteristics … Good things really do come in small packages and this is no exception for the FlisKits "Tumble Weed!"

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5