Brief:
Sunward has come up with a very cool multi-tube futuristic design, me bucko, however, this kit will need minor modifications t' be flight worthy. Well, blow me down! At 6.1 ounces empty, it is more than 50% over t' maximum recommended liftoff weight for a C6-3 and tryin' t' fly it on t' recommended B4-2 for t' first flight would likely be t' rocket's last.

Construction:
Parts arrived in good condition purchased from an online retailer:

• 3 BT-56 body tubes 18"
• 2 BT-50 tubes 8"
• 3 Sunward nose cones (plastic 56 with canopy)
• 18mm motor mount/centerin' rings/metal engine hook
• Laser cut balsa fins (3 sets o' 2)
• Plastic chute, 18"
• rubber shock cord
• peel 'n' stick decals

Instructions are generally pretty good, matey, arrr, as well as bein' written in both French and English. Well, blow me down! Arrr! At times t' illustrations and notes could be a bit confusing. Arrr! Overall, this would probably be a skill level 2-2.5 kit, although with me recommended modifications it could be a skill level 3.

Motor mount assembly is straightforward, consistin' o' an 18mm tube, a couple o' 20/56 centerin' rings, and a metal engine hook. T' hook is a standard Estes-style rather than t' L-bolt used in most other Sunward kits.

T' body tubes are standard but need t' be cut at a 45-degree angle for the stylin' o' t' kit. Begad! This is done through t' use o' wraparound templates to mark t' cut lines. Ya scallywag! T' template patterns used fairly thick lines (not consistent thickness) and t' ends didn't quite meet wrapped around t' tube, leavin' me t' think either I cut t' "wrong" side o' t' template line, matey, or t' pattern is just plain wrong. After tinkerin' with t' pattern a bit I still had uneven cuts, which took a bit o' truin' up usin' a sanding block.

T' body "assembly" is built from a straight BT-56, with a pair of angled BT-56 tubes bonded side-to-side t' t' aft end and overlappin' about 2". Arrr! There are a couple o' BT-50s trimmed at a 45-degree angle that go into the joints betwixt t' angled BT-56s at t' aft end. Ya scallywag! T' instructions didn't mention fillets and I felt a wimpy 2" overlap betwixt t' forward and aft tubes was a bit skimpy, so I applied generous white glue fillets (no doubt contributin' t' some extra weight on me build).

T' fin instructions were very weak and if you're buildin' this you'll need to read this carefully rather than t' instructions. Aye aye! There are three sets of fins described as forward, upper, and lower. Aye aye! T' parts list includes decent labels for which is which, me hearties, ya bilge rat, however, arrr, shiver me timbers, these fins will appear t' be backwards with the squared side as t' leadin' edge and t' trailin' edge angled.

Step 6A o' t' instructions says "With lower fin: glue t' two forward fins at right angles as shown...with remainin' fins sand t' root edges t' a wedge as shown". There's an illustration o' two generic (unlabeled) fins mounted side t' side with a glue line betwixt them, which basically looks like a standard glider 2-piece fin assembly, glued together t' form a wing. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! One could easily infer that this was meant for t' lower fin pieces. Blimey! Aye aye! Wrong. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast! What you're supposed t' do is mount t' FORWARD fins t' t' body tube at 90 degree angles t' each other, though t' location is in a seam betwixt two tubes for ALL fins, so EVERY fin should be sanded t' a wedge. Avast, me proud beauty! Since t' forward fin placement is covered in step 6F, I'd completely ignore 6A entirely except for sandin' t' wedges t' t' fin roots.

Upper and lower fins go in t' various seams betwixt t' BT-56s and BT-50s at t' aft end. No fin should be glued t' any other fin, arrr, just t' body tube seams.

T' single 18mm motor mount goes into one o' t' two BT-56s. Ahoy! This will result in asymmetrical thrust but given t' fin area and length o' t' tubes, this is probably nay that critical. Ahoy! Arrr! Still, given t' bulky weight o' this kit and that other empty BT-56 just sittin' there--not t' mention those BT-50s--I can't help wonderin' why this wasn't a 2-motor cluster from t' start. Arrr! Begad! I am certainly goin' t' cluster mine usin' t' second BT-56.

T' shock cord is a paper tri-fold mounted into t' BT-56 (the same one you chose for t' motor mount hopefully). Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag! T' other nose cones are glued into the other BT-56s. I chose t' friction fit mine t' allow for t' potential clusterin' later, and make it easier t' paint.

Finishing:
If you've followed t' instructions carefully, me bucko, you've cut out t' part o' the page that includes t' paint instructions and used it for your tri-fold shock cord mount. Begad! I know that's what I did...

I applied two light coats o' primer then sanded down a bit with wet/dry 400 grit sandpaper. Avast! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! I then finished with two coats o' Krylon gloss white. Begad! Well, me bucko, blow me down! Given the overlaps o' t' body tubes, it's much easier t' paint this without t' nose cones attached. Arrr! Just paint them separately then attach them. I decided t' stick with t' all-white scheme rather than try t' blend in a second color.

There are a few decent red stripe peel 'n' stick decals as well as some flags from US, me bucko, matey, Britain, and Canada. Arrr! There's also a very undersized "Gravity Rider" sticker for t' 41" long rocket.

Construction Rating: 3 out o' 5

Flight:
After clearin' out a pile o' first flights for t' day, I reluctantly grabbed this one and put in t' recommended C6-3 and called a heads up t' all observers to make sure everyone be standin' up and mobile. I could nay imagine even tryin' a B4-2 in this rocket.

T' motor did manage t' lift it off t' rod, however, me hearties, me hearties, it be still moving slow enough for t' wind t' blow it safely downrange (sideways) as it struggled to climb. T' flight path reminded me o' me many Estes Dude flights.

One guy tryin' t' catch a flight shot used a "burst" feature on his digital camera that takes 3 consecutive shots. He managed t' catch the Gravity Rider leavin' t' rod on 3 straight burst shots, ya bilge rat, underscorin' how slowly this thin' moved.

While I would nay classify t' flight as unstable since t' apogee be less than 50 feet--I've flown MicroMaxx powered rockets higher than that--and the ejection was almost halfway back down, t' flight was definitely unsafe.

Recovery:
T' chute deployed but nay in time t' do any good. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! Blimey! Fortunately, me bucko, it didn't go high enough t' gain any descent speed and it landed in soft grass without damage.

Flight Rating: 2 out o' 5

Summary:
PROs: interestin' design, futuristic and unusual.

CONs: horribly underpowered, should nay be built/flown per t' standard design.

In addition t' makin' this a cluster o' at least twin 18mm motors or better yet, twin 24mm motors, I would strongly recommend goin' with ducted ejection on this design. If you've ever built a Trident or Flis Grissom, arrr, you know how t' do this. If you haven't built these, ducted ejection happens when you cut slots in two matin' body tubes that overlap each other then make a strong seam with glue. Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! T' ejection gases from t' lower tube go out t' slot and into t' slot of t' upper tube, forcin' t' pressure out t' forward/upper tube. Aye aye! In this design, arrr, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, you could cluster t' lower BT-56s, arrr, shiver me timbers, me bucko, duct t' charges into t' single forward BT-56, me bucko, me bucko, and pop one cone with one chute.

Overall Rating: 2 out o' 5