Brief:
This is a basic 4 fin minimum diameter 24mm rocket designed for impressive altitude performance.

Construction:
After orderin' online, me kit shipped same day and arrived 2 days later priority mail (very reasonable shippin' to boot!) and carefully packed.

Parts are all very good quality with a very professional header card and sealed bag.

• Balsa nose cone
• BT-50 body tube
• Laser-cut balsa fins
• Nylon streamer
• Elastic shock cord
• Waterslide decals

Instructions were clearly written with computer-generated illustrations spannin' 3 pages. This is a very easy construction job, skill level 1. Arrr! Total build time in me case was under an hour plus finishin' time.

As a minimum diameter rocket, thar be no motor mount. Avast! Typically it would be just a centerin' rin' slipped in as a motor block. Well, blow me down! In this case though thar be a rather unusual process o' mountin' two centerin' rings, one about an inch farther forward than t' aft one. Avast! T' aft one is spaced t' handle D motors nay anythin' longer such as an E. I would guess t' forward rin' is a backup and skipped it havin' plenty o' confidence in me glue joint. Aye aye! I also thought it a bit odd that for t' spacing, you cut out a pattern and roll it into a tube rather than simply usin' a spent casing, ya bilge rat, but since it's a beginner's kit, maybe t' assumption that t' modeler has a spent casin' would nay normally apply.

With t' stop(s) in place, ya bilge rat, next up comes sandin' t' fins and bondin' them t' t' body tube. Avast! Tube markin' is done via a markin' guide on t' instruction sheet--this might have been a good case for a wraparound guide, arrr, matey, which tends to be more accurate. Avast! Note that t' fins are mounted flush with t' aft end o' t' tube so with no clip you'll need t' use a good friction fit for motor retention. Arrr! I mounted me fins about 1/8" forward so that I could apply a little external tape for retention.

About all that's left for construction be t' paper tri-fold shock cord mount, matey, me hearties, attachin' t' 3/16" launch lug and t' screw eye mounted t' t' nose cone.

Finishing:
Prior t' painting, shiver me timbers, arrr, I applied a little Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish t' t' tube spirals and balsa fins/cone, ya bilge rat, sanded down, then started on t' paint. Ahoy! Blimey! Two light coats o' white primer, then three coats o' white gloss on t' body, shiver me timbers, and a couple coats o' gloss red on t' nose plus top 2" o' t' body tube. Ya scallywag!

T' waterslide decals were easy t' work with and strong enough t' avoid tearing. Blimey! Arrr! My red paint (Krylon) did not match t' red o' t' forward decal that well, but it still looked OK. I did especially like t' Atomizer name/logo decal.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
For t' first flight--even though thar were hardly any winds--I wimped out with a C11-7 fearin' that anythin' more and I risked losin' it visually. Begad! Good choice, as even on a C11-7 it raced pretty close t' t' 1000 foot estimate on the header card. Arrr! Ya scallywag! You'll definitely want a long delay on this as its low drag results in plenty o' post-burnout coasting.

Recovery:
Recovery consists o' a nice 2" x 60" nylon streamer, which really helps pick it up as it drifts back. Aye aye! That streamer brought it back t' earth in fine shape.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
I like t' stylin' o' t' sleek fins and cool decals, ya bilge rat, and you gotta love t' performance.

T' only con I'd offer up is that it's almost too quick/easy t' build although that's obviously appealin' t' many modelers and this certainly doesn't pretend t' be a challenge.

Havin' never seen a Mercury Engineerin' kit previously, me hearties, I was very impressed with t' quality o' this kit and will definitely be buyin' and buildin' more o' their products in t' future.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5