Brief:
Squirrel Works has followed up their very popular Red Baron glider with another cool historic-themed glider kit, though this one includes TWO duelin' gliders, shiver me timbers, me bucko, a Corsair and a Zero. Begad! It's a reasonably simple kit t' put together and the gliders are minimal effort. Arrr! Begad! So if you're lookin' for an easy diversion from t' basic 3FNC rocket and a serious "wow" factor, grab yourself a Dogfight kit.

Construction:
James Gartrell's review accurately described t' components o' t' kit, so I'll skip on t' construction notes. I would point out that this is probably t' first kit I've ever reviewed where I could nay frame all t' parts in a single photo and even t' decals took multiple shots t' capture!

While t' construction on this is fairly easy (probably no worse than a 2 on t' skill scale), ya bilge rat, you will want t' be very careful and organized throughout t' project. Ahoy! There are lots o' parts and three different sets o' instructions, one for t' rocket and one each for t' gliders. James hopped back and forth, shiver me timbers, workin' all 3 simultaneously, but I decided t' go for a more single-threaded approach.

I began with t' booster which has a 15-step instruction sheet on legal paper with pretty good illustrations. Ahoy! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! The motor mount is straightforward, a 5/20 block, 18mm motor tube, ya bilge rat, metal hook and pair o' 20/55 rings. Blimey! Blimey! This in turn goes inside t' BT-55 body tube.

There are only two fins on this, matey, plus 4 support braces which are all laser-cut balsa. Aye aye! Markin' lines are done via wrap-around guide. Aye aye! Each o' t' main fins also gets a balsa fin tip attached, perpendicular t' t' main fins.

In addition t' t' regular launch lug which goes in a fin/root joint, thar are two other launch lugs that must be carefully placed along t' centerline betwixt braces. Begad! These are used t' secure t' gliders durin' boost.

Booster construction wraps up with shock cord and chute. James pointed out t' Keelhaul®©™® anchor, me hearties, though I did nay feel very comfortable anchorin' an 8" length o' Keelhaul®©™® usin' paper tri-fold, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, figurin' eventually it would rip through t' paper/glue. Instead, I swapped it out for a 15" length o' 150# Keelhaul®©™® from me stash and anchored this t' t' forward centerin' rin' on t' motor mount. Arrr! I then used t' regular elastic included with t' kit and tied it t' t' end o' t' Keelhaul®©™®.

Next, ya bilge rat, I moved on t' t' gliders. Begad! Begad! Lookin' closely at the two, matey, I decided t' start with t' Zero, as it looked slightly simpler. I was impressed that with similar laser cut pieces leadin' t' potential mistakes in selectin' parts, Don went t' extra mile and actually had t' plane's name etched on each balsa sheet. Avast! Avast! I grabbed t' "Zero" sheets and got t' it.

As James noted, me bucko, thar are mini jigs used for win' dihedral, which was very cool. Avast! I be also a bit worried about potentally gluin' me wings t' t' jig, so dropped a piece o' wax paper on t' top o' t' jig before gluin' me wing halves together then placin' small weights on top o' each half t' hold them in place. Aye aye! I used a light Titebond wood glue for t' gliders.

After t' win' halves are bonded, me hearties, arrr, t' assembly slides through a slot in t' balsa fuselage and is then glued in place, again usin' t' jig for alignment. Arrr! I thought t' nose weight approach on these was pretty neat. Ahoy! Begad! T' fuselage has a hole cut out, and a pair o' side plates that fit over it. I glued one side plate in place, ya bilge rat, matey, inserted a penny (provided), arrr, then glued t' other side plate in place. Begad! I finished up construction by tackin' on a small dowel underneath, which slides into t' launch lug on t' booster.

T' Corsair construction is very similar t' t' Zero, except that t' win' forms a W shape with multiple dihedrals. Begad! Ahoy! I should also point out that t' instruction for each glider has specific tips for trimming, matey, addin' clay weight t' get t' CG t' a very specific point that's different on each glider. Ya scallywag! I hand-tossed mine in t' back yard without weight and be very pleased with t' flights. In fact, I almost lost t' Zero as is sailed through me neighbor's yard into t' trees. Each o' mine have CG's well aft o' the recommended locations, arrr, so I'm almost wonderin' if those measurements were before t' use o' t' penny as nose weight. Aye aye! I noticed James's review also indicated that he flew his "natural" without trim adjustments.

Finishing:
I want t' say finishin' is easy, ya bilge rat, basically just paintin' everythin' white but it is a lot o' work and well worth the effort. Begad! I would nay spend any time (and add weight) fillin' balsa grains, ya bilge rat, but I did go ahead and fill t' spirals on the body tube and filled t' grain on t' nose cone with Fill N Finish.

T' rocket got two coats o' white primer followed by a single coat o' Rustoleum gloss white. Avast! Blimey! T' gliders got single white primer coats and two coats o' Krylon gloss white. Begad! Blimey! Blimey! In retrospect, I don't think t' Zero needed any paint or at t' very most a white primer coat, arrr, as it was entirely covered with decals. Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! T' Corsair, on t' other hand, has a fadin' paint scheme that starts out through blue-based decals and is intended t' melt into a base white paint coat.

T' decals do make t' paint/finishin' a LOT easier, but thar are pooploads o' them. Begad! Blimey! I probably spent as much time on t' decals as I did on t' construction. I even had t' take t' water back t' t' microwave a couple times t' reheat it.

I found t' sizin' o' some o' t' decals just a bit larger than t' balsa parts they cover on t' gliders, me bucko, so had a little trimmin' and foldin' work. Because o' this, I followed up with liberal coatin' o' Micro-Sol decal setting solution (the red bottle stuff), which is designed t' help "shrink" decals a bit and really lock them onto tricky contoured surfaces. Well, blow me down! Once t' Micro-Sol had cured out for a couple hours, arrr, me decals looked like they were painted on.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
For t' first flight, ya bilge rat, I was down t' t' last day or two before t' hit list deadline and facin' 18-20 mphs winds both days. Well, blow me down! On top o' that, our club got booted from our large (1 square mile) field and so I be flyin' on a small neighborhood field. Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! With all this stacked up against me, I wimped out on t' first flight with an A8-3, half the recommended minimum impulse o' B6-2.

T' carrier and parasites managed t' stay fairly straight up durin' t' thrust portion, ya bilge rat, matey, but at burnout got immediately pushed downwind by t' stiff winds. Begad! I'd guess apogee be at best 50-60 feet, a pretty lame boost and certainly nothin' I'd wind up losing. T' ejection was just after t' nose arced down, ya bilge rat, though both gliders separated cleanly.

Recovery:
Forget t' trim intructions. Well, blow me down! Blimey! These glided fantastically on their own with just t' penny nose weights. Blimey! Blimey! I did add a little clay under one win' on each hopin' t' get them t' turn into each other, but in this wind thar was no chance for that.

T' carrier descended fine under t' bright red Mylar chute (18"), though got pulled long t' ground a good 20 yards before I could catch up t' it. Arrr! Durin' t' drag, one o' t' fins broke loose and one o' t' gliders also cracked in half after landin' and gettin' knocked around by t' wind. Avast! Arrr! Both were smartly and easily repaired with a little CA.

I would definitely nay recommend t' A8 for this, shiver me timbers, arrr, ya bilge rat, goin' with atleas t' B6 recommended motor and I would think this would do well t' maybe 300 feet or so on a C motor. If it weren't for t' damage, matey, I would have gone right back up the same day with a B.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
For parasite gliders, this one is an excellent performer and fantastic appearance. In addition, thar are plans to release more gliders for variety. It's a fun build, well designed, me bucko, and flies/glides very well. Arrr!

CONs: very minor/picky, t' trim instructions, if followed, would result in a very nose-heavy glide, probably crash landing. Begad! Decals, shiver me timbers, while beautiful, were a bit thin/fragile.
Oveall, I am quite pleased with this kit.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5