Brief:
An interesting dowel stabilized Rocket. Small minimum diameter for 18mm engines with streamer recovery.

Construction:
Simple kit with 18mm tube, balsa nose cone, 3 finlets, 3 dowels, launch lug, silver Mylar streamer and shock cord. Minimum diameter for 18mm engines. Friction motor retention. Uses what I think is the Stine shock cord mounting method -- paper strip with 3 holes. Shock cord is threaded through holes and a knot is tied at end.

Very easy to build Rocket with laser cut finlets, and beveled dowels for fins with premarked body tube. Good instructions and with simple hand drawn illustrations. I used white glue and results seem strong as it stood up to sub-optimal recovery. Decent length of shock cord, though I should have used Kevlar® and mounted it to the engine block. Good materials, laser cut balsa and straight dowels. Dowels are pre-beveled to glue against the finlets and tube.

Pro's:

• Simple kit that is not just 3FNC.
• Good Materials.
• Good Instructions.

Con's:

• Shock cord mount and shock cord could be Engine Block and Kevlar®. Or one should be very careful with packing.

Finishing:
Standard balsa/kraft tube finishing methods used. I filled the balsa and sanded. I used rustoleum automotive primer. I launched it twice and haven't yet done final painting.

Pro's:

• Balsa/Wood/Paper tube, no plastic.

Con's:

• Balsa requires more work.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I flew it twice with Estes A8-3 motors. Took off fast and straight in very light winds. Flew very high, nearly out of sight. This is a simple rocket with simple preparation. I put some masking tape on the motor and put in some Estes recovery wadding. I used 3 and 5 sheets, but this wasn't enough or my packing technique was poor.

It landed close by on both flight.

On first flight, the streamer was burned through about 1" from attachment point. Rocket was recovered with no damage. Rest of streamer was recovered as well.

On second flight I taped the streamer back together and it flew very very high and I lost sight of it. I told my son to keep looking for it but it might be lost. He then informed me that it had already landed about 40 feet away. The streamer was intact but burned more. The shock cord looks like it should be replaced as the outer layer is burn off near the attachment. The rubber inside is still completely intact.

I'm a new BAR so I'll blame myself for poor recovery system packing. This is a small diameter rocket so maybe this is to be expected. I should have used Kevlar® tied to the motor mount. Still the shock cord seems better than Estes short rubber bands.

I was very pleased with the two flights. Would be 5 points if it recovered perfectly.

Pro's:

• Surprisingly high flight on A8-3.
• Nice straight flight.

Con's:

• None to speak of. Con's for me were in the recovery.

Recovery:
Pro's:

• It WAS a nice streamer.
• Strong rocket lands well even with 1" long streamer ;-)
• Lands close after a surprisingly high flight.
• Generous length of shock cord.
• Streamer is very visible which is nice since it flies so high.

Con's:

• Burnt the streamer on both flights.
• No Kevlar® shock cord to better withstand ejection.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Nice simple kit that isn't just 3FNC. Flies high on modest engine. I'm very pleased with flight characteristics but recovery needs some work (mostly my fault). It's a very classic kit with classic materials (no plastic except for streamer). Inexpensive and it was on the shelf at a LHS. My 8 y/o son liked it as well. As I've seen on many other reviews of many other rockets, I now recommend using Kevlar® shock cord!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Other:
Use Kevlar shock cord and attach to motor mount. Be extra careful packing the recovery wadding.