Brief:

This little wonder is clearly a Fat Cat. Begad! Avast! Weighin' in at a little over 8 ounces, shiver me timbers, it's built like a tank and could probably even be bashed t' handle HPR motors. As it is, arrr, this is about t' smallest thin' I've ever stuck a composite motor in, me hearties, me bucko, though well worth it. Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! It's a great little kit, with a combination of rin' and fin stability, and awesome performance.

Construction:

Pickin' up t' bag, it's instantly clear that this is nay your basic modroc kit. Aye aye! This is one heavy bird!

Parts include:-

• A cast resin nose cone
• BT-60 kraft body tube
• 24mm motor tube
• Plywood centerin' rings
• A tail rin' (roughly BT-80)
• Pre-cut fins & canards
• Keelhaul®©™®
• Elastic shock cord, me hearties, 18" nylon chute,
• A launch lug (what, matey, no rail buttons?!)
  

T' instructions consist o' a two-sided color printed sheet, me hearties, mostly illustrations, with very little instructions. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! This be fine, shiver me timbers, as this is a very simple kit, me bucko, accurately described as a skill level 1. Aye aye! T' motor mount assembly is t' basic tube with centerin' rin' approach, arrr, matey, though one o' t' centering rings has a flattened edge t' allow a small gap for t' shock cord t' pass through. If you're considerin' usin' composite motors, matey, especially reloads (and that's DEFINITELY worth considering), I'd suggest drillin' out t' aft centerin' rin' and addin' a couple o' blind nuts for positive retention, as there's no engine hook with this kit.

After installin' t' motor tube assembly, t' fins and canards are mounted and filleted, usin' t' basic 3-fin pattern guide. Ya scallywag! Aye aye! Finally, t' outer tube/ring is bonded t' t' fins. Everythin' fit very well on me kit.

T' shock cord is attached t' t' nose cone by makin' a loop in the Keelhaul®©™®, pourin' a good inch or two o' epoxy into t' tip o' t' nose, matey, then dippin' the Keelhaul®©™ cord and allowin' it t' cure in t' epoxy. Arrr! Avast! I'm sure this is solid, matey, and the added nose weight helps with what is probably nay an overly stable design, but I would have preferred t' see a disk/screw eye attachment t' t' nose.

Finishing:

This was a little tricky t' paint, matey, shiver me timbers, mainly due t' t' inside edges o' t' outer ring, shiver me timbers, matey, formin' corners with t' lower fins. My primer coats tended t' run a bit, but after sandin' them out I went with two very light coats o' gloss white, without any problems. Begad! I then trimmed t' nose and outer rin' a dark blue. The result was a fairly nice-lookin' effect.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:

First flight be on a very chilly winter day, me bucko, matey, arrr, temperature in t' single digits, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, but clear skies and no wind, shiver me timbers, so I had t' take advantage o' it.

For t' maiden flight, me bucko, matey, I opted for t' Estes D12-5. Avast, matey, me proud beauty! It raced straight up, arced over, and deployed slightly past apogee. Blimey! T' 18" dayglow yellow chute was certainly easy t' track as it gently returned t' t' ground 50 feet from t' pad.

Somehow, despite virtually indestructible components and a good deployment, I managed t' zipper t' kraft tube. Ahoy! Feelin' foolish (there be no one else anywhere near t' field today), I stuck an Aerotech F21-6 in t' really test this bird. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! It screamed up, well out o' eyesight, me bucko, me hearties, though it did eventually return t' earth in fine shape. Aye aye! I'm nay sure if t' deployment was early or not, but would have t' guess that it was, based on t' D12-5 earlier flight pattern.

Recovery:

Very rugged/durable recovery, suspect t' zipper was bum luck more than anythin' (and easilly repairable)

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
Very nice kit, me hearties, deceptively solid and durable, you'll definitely get funny looks when t' RCO calls out t' motor selection on this one... Arrr! Avast! Blimey!

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5