Brief:
T' BSD Horizon 54 is a stretched version o' t' famous Horizon 4" sport rocket and has a 54mm motor mount.

Construction:
T' kit includes 2 4" BSD tubes, 1 coupler tube, shiver me timbers, 3 cut and sanded 3/16" aircraft quality plywood fins, centerin' rings, shiver me timbers, a bulkhead plate, high quality hardware package, a 54mm motor tube, ya bilge rat, me hearties, a nice plastic nose cone, me hearties, a 36" nylon parachute, a fin alignment guide, computer designed and cut vinyl decals, and 10 pages o' instructions. All t' parts were included and in a very good shape.

I never would have imagined before that buildin' a HPR rocket would be so easy--in fact, it took me only 9 days t' complete! It's really just normal things like bevelin' t' fins, arrr, makin' t' fin slots, epoxyin' t' coupler in the payload bay, shiver me timbers, matey, and puttin' t' motor mount parts together just on a larger scale than what I had done before. Begad! It helps that t' kit includes excellent instructions with pictures.

T' only CON I have is that thar be a strange screw (in Germany anyway) included for motor retention. Arrr! Begad! Fearin' that I might lose one at t' launch field, ya bilge rat, I used more German-friendly screws instead.

Finishing:
I was a bit worried that t' paint would hold reliably on t' glassine tubes at first, me bucko, but I relaxed after lightly sandin' t' glassine with 600 grit sandpaper and sprayin' t' first coat o' primer. Begad! Blimey! There were no problems at all and the finish still looks like it did on t' day I painted it! Blimey! I did t' same with the plywood fins and t' nosecone since I've often used this primer and paint, both of which are "sociable" with each other and wouldn't take too long to dry! Blimey! Still, me hearties, I only had one day left before t' event and was very pleased with the result.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
first flight be at t' RJD meetin' in Germany, on June 13, ya bilge rat, 2004, on an AT I195J with a medium delay. Begad! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! When preppin' t' Horizon 54, arrr, I be extremely nervous, me bucko, ya bilge rat, since this was me first RMS motor, me hearties, too. Ahoy! Blimey! Thankfully, arrr, shiver me timbers, a fellow experienced rocketeer supervised me t' whole time and gave me some advice leavin' me with a good feelin' that it should work. Avast! Blimey! When it was ready for flight, ya bilge rat, t' only remainin' fear I had be that it could shred under t' power of t' I195J, so we placed t' pad far away from t' spectators t' err on the side o' caution. Aye aye! Blimey! At ignition she punched off t' pad straight up, me hearties, moving extremely fast for a BlackJack propellant. Then again, t' thrust-to-weight ratio was around 9:1!

Yes, me bucko, it went really high, but was still visible as a little point. Aye aye! Arrr! After the 10 second delay (a perfect match for this rocket), ya bilge rat, t' red Rocketman R4C chute opened and thar were many "ahh"s in t' crowd.

Second flight was at t' German BC Experimental Days on August 7, me bucko, 2004, on an AeroTech I300T-M motor. Aye aye! Again, t' Horizon 54 delivered another incredible flight! Blimey! Unglassed BSD tubes can take extreme flight stress without any problems.

Recovery:
I did nay use t' included 36" BSD parachute since I had a brand new Rocketman R4C and protective Nomex® shield. I can't judge t' BSD Chute, although it appears t' be more than adequate but I don't think I'll ever use them because t' scuttle rate and relaxed openin' on t' Rocketman R4C is just great for t' Horizon 54!

O' course theres one thing, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, I changed in Flight Recovery o' this kit: from now on it'll fly with dual deployment because I'm never goin' t' walk a that far again t' retrieve it!

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
T' BSD Horizon 54 isn't too difficult t' build! I would say it's just a matter of usin' different techniques from LPR/MPR when buildin' and flyin' HPR rockets. Aye aye! T' end result is a great lookin' rocket that attracts lots of attention.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5