Brief:
Minimum diameter rocket with a ring tail assembly

Construction:
The kit contains:

• balsa nose cone
• 9" BT-20 Tube
• 18" Mylar streamer
• Precut balsa fins
• Card stock ring fin
• shock cord, screw eye, launch lug, and engine block
• decals

Motor mount assembly consists of gluing an engine block 2 1/2" into the body tube. No engine clip is provided due to the minimum diameter. You friction fit motors with masking tape.

The shock cord is threaded through a cardstock mount, unlike the usual trifold mount in other low power kits. The other end of the cord then attaches to screw eye in nose cone. The streamer is attached to screw eye using provided tape disk and 6" string.

Ring tail assembly builds quickly and easily, yet adds a great deal of strength to the rocket. Fins are precut for ease of assembly.

I used white glue to complete rocket. Complete assembly took a little under an hour.

Finishing:
The ring tail assembly is small enough that the rocket can be painted after assembly. I did not prime the rocket to keep weight as low as possible. The included decal says "HYPERON".

This is a very attractive, unique design overall.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
Perfect flights using a A8-3 and B6-6. The rocket was unstable when using a C6-7.

B6-6 provides a high, energetic flight. The minimum diameter design, along with the suggested round of the fins and launch lugs makes this a high flier.

It had extremely straight flights except with a C6-7 motor. Based on performance with a B6-6, a C6-7 would be an out of sight flight.

Recovery:
the rocket employs a simple streamer recovery.

The small diameter of rocket seems to trap wadding but it still ejected the streamer when wadding remained.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
The Starlight Hyperon is a great low power kit. It's unique design exposes newer and existing rocketeers exposure to a ring tail assembly.

This is a very inexpensive kit that can be assembled in a relatively short period of time. It is a skill level 1 rocket that is fun for all ages.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5