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, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, 1 coupler tube, arrr, 3 cut and sanded 3/16" aircraft quality plywood fins, me bucko, me bucko, centerin' rings, me hearties, arrr, a bulkhead plate, high quality hardware package, ya bilge rat, me hearties, a 54mm motor tube, shiver me timbers, a nice plastic nose cone, a 36" nylon parachute, a fin alignment guide, shiver me timbers, computer designed and cut vinyl decals, matey, shiver me timbers, and 10 pages o' instructions. Aye aye! 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, matey, makin' t' fin slots, epoxyin' t' coupler in the payload bay, ya bilge rat, and puttin' t' motor mount parts together just on a larger scale than what I had done before. Avast! 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. Ahoy! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Fearin' that I might lose one at t' launch field, 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, but I relaxed after lightly sandin' t' glassine with 600 grit sandpaper and sprayin' t' first coat o' primer. Begad! Well, blow me down! There were no problems at all and the finish still looks like it did on t' day I painted it! 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! Still, I only had one day left before t' event and be very pleased with the result.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

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

Yes, matey, matey, me hearties, it went really high, but was still visible as a little point. Well, blow me down! 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, 2004, me bucko, on an AeroTech I300T-M motor. Again, me hearties, matey, t' Horizon 54 delivered another incredible flight! 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. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! 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, 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. Begad! T' end result is a great lookin' rocket that attracts lots of attention.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5