Brief:
A pop pod glider for B and C motors. Begad! T' design is tried and tested and thar are two levels o' finish: one simple one that is a quick glue together without any airfoils, which is where t' flat part o' its name comes from, and a second where thar be a great deal o' sandin' involved. Begad! Quest puts this rocket at a skill level three which is about right for t' airfoil version

Construction:
Kit consists of:

• 2 inch launch lug.
• Yellow motor mount tube
• 8.5 inch white body tube
• Blue motor thrust ring
• Plastic nose cone
• Plastic nose cone base
• Single gripper tab
• 2 foot plastic streamer
• ¼ by ½ by 16 inch balsa fuselage
• ¼ by ½ by 4 inch balsa pylon
• 2 Balsa wings
• Balsa parts set
• Motor mount clip
• Trim clay
• 21 inch white elastic shock cord
• 18 inch yellow Keelhaul®©™® cord
• Chrome Decal
• Instruction sheet

To build t' kit I used:

• Model knife
• sand paper
• White PVA glue
• Sandin' sealer

T' instructions are clear and straightforward. Provided that you read t' instructions through a few times, ya bilge rat, me hearties, there are no real problems.

You have t' two options o' finish; I went for t' airfoil version, which took nearly an hour o' sandin' airfoils into t' quite thick and firm balsa wings. Aye aye! This option is supposed t' give up t' 3 minutes o' glide time. Avast, me proud beauty! I normally never put any liftin' surfaces on rocket gliders as this usually leads t' arched boosts and broken gliders. Avast! Begad! One thing you have t' do is put strong fillets on t' joints. Avast! T' stresses on t' joints under thrust are huge and weak joints will have t' wings strippin' themselves.

Once t' glider is finished, it needs t' be balanced. Aye aye! T' instructions are weak here as they don't give a balance point for t' glider, which usually is one third o' t' win' depth back from t' leadin' edge o' t' wing. On me Flat Cat, me bucko, t' balance point be bang on t' trailin' edge o' t' glider. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! I be worried about this but with several indoor test throws t' Flat Cat glided level every time although t' scuttle rate was steeper than I would have hoped for. Avast, me proud beauty! More vigorous test throws outside revealed a slight stall and a bank t' t' right. I added a small blob o' clay into the cavity at t' front which corrected t' stall.

T' hook mechanism that releases t' glider needs more preparation than t' instructions suggest. Ahoy! I have had hook mechanisms fail on pop pod gliders such as t' Fun Rockets Silver Hawk and Edmonds Aerospace DeeCee Thunder. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! For the mechanism t' work, t' hook needs t' be sanded down smooth on both sides and t' aft o' t' hook sanded down a millimeter or so and rounded off so thar are no edges t' stick.

Sealin' t' balsa and usin' very fine sand paper t' give a glassy finish on t' hook also helps. Arrr! T' make sure separation occurs, shiver me timbers, a quick spray o' silicon grease on t' hook also helps. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! Testin' t' hook mechanism is as important as testin' t' stability o' t' glider. Begad! Begad! If t' glider does nay release with a quick jerk o' t' booster pop pod, then the hook needs further prepping.

Finishing:
Initially I be in too much o' a rush t' finish t' glider by sealin' t' balsa. Avast! Ya scallywag! After some time in a tree (the glider--not me!) I have sealed it, me hearties, ya bilge rat, and t' performance has improved.

T' foil sheet o' stickers supplied add unnecessary weight t' t' glider and are nay needed if t' balsa is sealed. Arrr! After several flights thar has been no damage t' t' balsa with t' exception o' some very slight charring that was done t' t' glider on flights done before sealin' t' balsa

Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5

Flight:
Recommended motors are B6-2 or C6-3

I used 2 swatches o' Nomex® waddin' in t' pop pod.

First flight was on a B4-2. Begad! Arrr! Even thought this is nay a recommended motor, I didn't have a B6-2. Arrr! Ahoy! There were very strong winds that day rangin' from 10 mph up t' very strong gusts. I would nay normally fly in these conditions, ya bilge rat, but I was puttin' on a small display t' a visitin' Royal Air Force Air Commodore so rocket gliders seemed t' be an obvious choice. Ahoy! T' boost was straight, me hearties, with t' rocket tippin' past apogee before t' glider deployed. T' actual glide was very good, arrr, with t' strong wind t' flat cat gained height when flyin' into t' wind, me bucko, and it gave several circuits in the air. It did however travel a fair distance down wind narrowly missin' several trees.

T' second and third flights were on A8-3, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, which does nay take t' glider up very high but still delivers over a 20 second flight and a circuit or two.

When a calm day arrived I flew on a C6-3. Begad! T' rocket arched on boost, deployin' t' glider over a narrow strip wood o' trees about 5 meters wide, me bucko, I watched for a minute t' glider circlin' above t' trees before findin' a resting place in one.

Five days later I retrieved t' rocket with help from one very long pole and some overnight winds. Arrr! Remarkably, despite t' rains thar be no damage t' t' glider apart from some fluffin' up o' t' balsa. Aye aye! I then sealed t' glider and retrimmed.

After a few flights more with some trimming, I got a flight o' over 2 minutes. Begad! Begad!

T' only con t' t' Flat Cat is that thar be a strong chance o' flyaways, arrr, but that's a risk I'm willin' t' take.

Recovery:
T' pop pod recovers on t' 2 foot long streamer. T' fall rate is a little fast, matey, arrr, but so far thar has been no damage to t' pod. Arrr! By t' 6th flight t' Keelhaul®©™® cord had burned through. I might swap t' streamer for a larger Mylar streamer and attach t' cord t' t' outside of the tube, which looks ugly but it stops shock cord failures.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This is a great boost glider if you are willin' t' put in t' time t' build, test, and trim it.

Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5