Brief:
T' 3" Horizon is an easy t' build sturdy mid-power kit geared towards mid-power beginners. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, me proud beauty! It flies on a single 29mm motor, RMS or SU.

Modifications:
Recovery system as detailed below. Well, blow me down! Arrr!

Construction:
-3" diameter tube 26" in length
-12" plastic nosecone with 2" shoulder
-three 1/8" thick plywood fins that go t' t' motor mount
-two plywood centerin' rings
-29mm motor tube
-motor retention system:two Allen head bolts,two T-nuts,and two retaining clamps
-rail buttons
-10 feet o' 1" wide elastic
-24" high-strength ripstop circular nylon chute
-grometed nylon strap 2 1/2
-vinyl decals
-fin alignment guide for 3" or 4" tubes
-4 page instructions

T' contruction starts with t' motor mount which is very simple. Ya scallywag! A motor retention system is included in this kit, matey, arrr, which is a nice bonus. T' aft centerin' rin' (the forward one has a notch cut in it for t' nylon strap) needs two 5/32" holes drilled 3/16" away from t' 31mm hole in it for the T-nuts. Next, matey, I put t' T-nuts in and secured them with a drop o' Balsa USA Gold CA, which I have found t' be strong enough I can substitute it for epoxy in some cases. Begad! After that I attached t' centerin' rings in t' normal manner. After that t' instructions tell you t' pass t' nylon strap through t' notch and epoxy it t' t' forward centerin' ring. I opted t' deviate from the instructions. Begad! I decided t' drill a hole in t' centerin' rin' and replace the nylon strap with an equal length o' tubular Keelhaul®©™®. I passed t' Keelhaul®©™ ® through t' hole and CA'd about 4 inches o' it t' t' outside o' the motor tube. Ya scallywag! T' next step was t' cut t' fin slots into t' motor tube with an X-Acto knife - what fun! There are lines predrawn for t' slots but cutting them correctly takes a lot o' time and patience. Ahoy! Ahoy! After that I CA'd t' motor mount assembly in t' t' rocket.(Note:I had a major problem here! Make sure when you put t' motor mount in that neither o' t' Allen head bolts will be directly under a fin slot. Arrr! If they are they will nay go into t' T-nuts all the way due t' t' fin-tabs. I had this problem with both bolts because thar be no warnin' in t' instructions. Avast! I managed t' cut a piece off t' bottom o' each bolt t' make them fit into t' T-nuts.) I put a layer o' CA on t' rear centerin' rin' with a shot o' accelerator for added durability. Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! Next comes the fins. Avast, me proud beauty! First I put very sharp double wedge airfoils on them with only a sanding block. Ahoy! It took me about an hour. Blimey! After that you test fit t' fin slots t' make sure they fit correctly. Ya scallywag! Begad! I then tacked t' fins t' t' motor tube with CA and put epoxy fillets on them. Aye aye! I used Devcon 2Ton Clear Epoxy which is very strong, although it is hard t' work with because it has t' consistency and stickiness of pine sap. After I sanded t' fillets I then went on t' t' next step. BSD includes rail buttons with all their kits now, but due t' t' size o' this rocket I decided t' use Acme Conformal Launch Lugs. I used lugs designed for a 2.26" diameter airframe because they are t' biggest size available for a 1/4" rod. I used t' same epoxy I used for t' fillets t' attach these. One little anoyance was that t' nosecone shoulder be very loose inside the body tube. Ya scallywag! T' shoulder only has two little 1/16" bands o' plastic t' make the nosecone t' slightest bit tight in t' tube. Blimey! I ended up usin' about a quarter o' a roll o' maskin' tape t' make t' nosecone snug in t' body o' the rocket. Begad! Next I moved on t' finishing.

Finishing:
Finishin' was easy for this kit. Arrr! I hit it with two coats o' Krylon gray primer with sandin' in between. Begad! Begad! I then painted t' entire rocket Krylon Stone Gray gloss. I then masked parts o' t' rocket and painted 6 1/2" down from the nosecone Krylon Regal Blue gloss. Ya scallywag! Begad! I also painted t' fins blue except for the outer 1/2" edge o' t' fins. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! I put t' silver BSD vinyl decal in the center o' t' blue section o' tube. Begad! T' decals are great.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
I had an AeroTech G35-7 layin' around and that was t' motor that BSD recommends for t' first flight so I decided t' use that. Begad! I used t' masking tape retention method which is easy and is fine for SU motors. Aye aye! BSD recommends usin' cellulose wadin' but I used a Top Flight Recovery 9"x9" Keelhaul®©™® square t' protect t' chute. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! When t' LCO hit t' launch button the igniter(Copperhead) smoked then t' motor roared t' life. Begad! T' Horizon took off at a decent speed considerin' that it is a 3" diameter bird. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! It flew straight as an arrow throughout t' entire flight. Begad! It had a nice big flame on it with a large smoke trail. Avast, me proud beauty! I only have one flight on this kit so far, me bucko, matey, but I plan t' t' fly it on a wide variety o' motors in t' future. Aye aye! I'm nay sure if this kit can really fly on t' E30-4 like BSD says, ya bilge rat, me bucko, me bucko, but I plan t' try it out. Ahoy! I may fly it on an H motor one day.

Recovery:
T' G35-7 is about 1 second too long, but it deployed fine with no zipper regardless o' t' fact that I be usin' all 1/8" diameter tubular Keelhaul®©™ ®(18')from Pratt Hobbies. I used a blue 24" Ultra X-Type parachute from Top Flight Recovery for recovery with a swivel. Avast, me proud beauty! T' chute smartly but gently brought t' Horizon back down t' earth. Avast, me proud beauty! Arrr! I think t' included circular chute would work fine but I prefer t' quick low drift descent that TFR's X-Type chutes provide. Well, blow me down! Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! It was recovered with absolutely no damage. Begad! Ya scallywag!

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
I really think this is a great kit. It looks good and flies good. Begad! Although for a cardboard, plastic, arrr, and plywood kit with no precut finslots or payload section, it is a bit expensive ($60.00). It all depends on how much you want to spend.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5