Brief:
This is #2 of 10 "ready to build" models released by Semroc at NARAM-52. The design is an upscale of the classic Bill Simon/Estes design that was introduced in 1963 and sold for more than 20 years. For the collectors out there, I'll also point out that in addition to the standard kit, at NARAM-52 Semroc was giving away a limited number of kits with special header cards depicting Bill Simon, who was also briefly in attendance and autographing some of these kits.

Construction:
Parts were excellent quality, and the sealed bag contained:

• Balsa nose cone
• Series 10 slotted body tube (1" ID)
• Series 9 stuffer tube (1" OD)
• 18mm motor mount (tube, metal hook, centering rings)
• Laser-cut balsa fins (3)
• Elastic shock cord
• 12" plastic chute
• Waterslide decals

The "ready to build" series is Semroc's answer to numerous requests for "ready to fly" rockets. In the RTB series, the modeler still has to actually do work to build and fly the model, but the design includes a number of features that simplify the build process, including slotted body tubes for thru-wall fin mounting, an alignment jig, and a stuffer tube to serve as shock cord anchor and reinforce the body tube.

The RTB series are all fairly easy to build, with almost all of the construction process using the same standardized steps. Depending on whether or not you want to paint the spiral stripe, I'd rate it either a skill level 1 or 2.

The motor mount is a standard BT-20 tube, metal hook, and a pair of centering rings. Unlike the typical mount, though, there are two different centering rings involved with slightly different diameters. Pay careful attention to the instructions, as the white ring goes forward and the brown ring goes aft. This is critical later in the process. Surprisingly, the mount does not include an inner motor block, so the metal hook will have to hold for the life of the model. I found the centering rings a bit too snug, and had to peel off a layer of paper from the inside of each, plus one layer of paper from the outside of the white ring.

The stuffer tube contains a couple slits, which are used to slip the elastic shock cord through, serving as an anchor. After knotting the cord and reinforcing with a drop of glue, it's ready for the motor mount. The motor mount slides just a tiny bit into the stuffer tube, enough that the forward (white) centering ring is flush with the aft end of the stuffer tube. Do not slide the motor tube any further--the aft/brown ring is too large for the stuffer tube and instead is used to align inside the large series 10 body tube. Sliding the assembly into the body tube to dry fit is a good idea at this point, to make sure the forward centering ring is aligned properly inside the stuffer tube. Once the motor mount/stuffer tube assembly has completely dried, it can then be glued inside the body tube (though be careful to make sure the metal engine hook does not line up under a fin slot).

As noted, fins are thru-wall, and the fit against the motor tube was very good. Included in the kit is a nifty little cardboard fin alignment jig, which fits smoothly on the series 10 body tube and has notches to accept 3 and 4 fin patterns. The fixture fits well for most fins in the RTB series, though for fins that have a significant span and are not swept back very far, the slots in the jig are not long enough to be of much use. That was not the case with this model, though.

Finishing:
I went with the stock paint scheme on this, starting with two coats of primer, following up with a couple thin coats of gloss white, then masking off to paint the fins gloss red and the nose cone gloss black. The cover art depicts a spiral stripe which would be painted (no decal). I masked the lower black stripe first, then ran one thin wrap of tape (3/8") from the top of that stripe spiraling up to the top of the tube. I then took another 3/8" strip of tape and ran it parallel to the first spiral, leaving an opening of a little over 1/4" for the spiral. I had to carefully use a knife to slice away the overlap into the base stripe, basically masking off a v-notch on each side of the spiral. The finished effect turned out fairly nicely.

The waterslide decals add the name and while there are two, if you run the spiral about 1 complete revolution around the body tube as I did, you'll find that the spacing along the spiral doesn't really work that well with two decals--one will slightly overlap the other--so I recommend just using one name decal.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
For the maiden voyage, I went with a B6-4, flying on a gorgeous day with winds hanging around 4-8 mph. The boost was pretty fast, and it hit a high enough altitude that on a C I'd suggest several hundred yards' drift range in light winds and clear skies, as it could be somewhat tough to track.

The boost had a slight roll, indicating that even with the jig tool, fin alignment was less than perfect, but the flight was straight up with no other issues.

The recommended delay of -6 for a B and -7 for a C are appropriate. On my -4 flight, the ejection was while the model was still clearly coasting upward at a good clip.

Recovery:
The 12" plastic chute is plenty for this lightweight model, and I had a decent recovery walk as it caught some light thermal action. I was able to recover it about 300 yards down range, no damage. All in all, it was a very nice flight and I'll probably fly this primarily on B's, going with an A for small fields or a C to show it off a bit.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
I like the swept fin styling of the Skyhook, and one of my favorite Semroc products is the oddly named SLS (Semroc Large Scale) Skyhook, which at 20" long is a very tiny big brother to this kit. The paint pattern is a bit of a pain to mask and a simple stripe decal could greatly simplify this. Overall, though, it's a very good flyer and with the roughly BT-50 body tube could even make for a decent parachute duration model in NAR competition.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5