Brief:
T' Binder Design Raptor is a single stage 4 inch diameter kit. Ahoy! It has a 54mm motor mount and comes with high quality paper body tubes and laser cut fins.

Construction:
T' Raptor came with two 36" body tubes and an Ace nose cone. Aye aye! T' body tubes are paper and BSD style with a glassine coating. It comes with one paper coupler, one bulkhead, matey, 3 plywood centerin' rings, two eyebolts, 2 quick links, 18 feet o' tubular nylon, and a 45" Top Flight parachute. Begad! Begad! It had three sets o' four fins. T' fins are 3/16" aircraft plywood and come laser cut and sanded. Avast! It came with one nice white vinyl decal that said 'Raptor'. Aye aye!

One definite pro t' this kit was t' extensive instructions, which included directions on how t' make it dual deploy and adapt it for use with Hypertek hybrid motors. It had good drawings that showed exactly what t' do and left nothin' t' chance. Begad! Another thin' that was good about this kit was t' you had to slot t' tubes yourself, which was actually rather easy with a Dremel. It is also easily done with a sharp X-Acto knife. Avast! Avast! One thin' we did in this kit is fiberglass fillets on t' fins t' allow for a hard landing. T' only downside was that it was hard t' finish. Aye aye! Everythin' fit together perfectly with almost no need for sanding. T' put it together, ya bilge rat, we just marked and slotted t' tubes, tacked t' fins in place with 5 minute epoxy, shiver me timbers, and then applied fiberglass fillets. Begad! One tip t' align t' fins is t' use two clamps and a strip o' wood attached t' both set o' fins. Avast! This will insure that they are perfectly lined up. T' only con was that t' directions did nay include t' rocket's CP, ya bilge rat, so when it came time for flight some assumptions had t' be made. It really isn't that big o' a deal as I had simmed it on RockSim and knew approximately where it was, but that is just one minor detail.

Finishing:
T' kit is pretty easy t' finish. T' only thin' for us be that we used fiberglass fillets, shiver me timbers, so it took a little Kilz primer and Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish to get it t' look presentable. Arrr! We painted ours yellow and blue. Aye aye! T' decal is computer cut vinyl and says 'Raptor' in a pretty cool font o' white letters. We were nay able t' apply ours as we peeled off t' wrong side and t' letters were messed up in t' process. Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! This kit looks pretty sharp once it is finished no matter what paint scheme you use. Blimey!

Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5

Flight:
We have only flown it once for a successful level 1 certification and it be a beautiful flight. Arrr! We used a Pro38 I285 with a 6 second delay. Arrr! We also attached a Boostervision camera and got a nice video o' t' flight. Blimey! Avast! One cool thin' about the flight was that t' split fin design caused a whistle after motor burnout. RockSim said about 2800 feet on that motor but we built it heavy so I would estimate about 2200-2400' for us.

Recovery:
One cool thin' about this kit be t' 18 feet o' tubular nylon t' manufacturer provides. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, shiver me timbers, me proud beauty! I thought it was a nice touch. We used t' supplied 45" parachute with main at apogee. T' chute got tangle on t' way down because the nosecone somehow got looped through a shroud line. Ahoy! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! T' rocket was tough enough that it be fine though. Begad! I would say that chute is about perfect for this rocket.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This rocket be t' pride o' our fleet right now. It is very sharp lookin' and pretty big at 7 feet tall. Arrr! T' construction be fairly straightforward and the directions were wonderful. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! This kit can be easily modified for dual deploy with an electronics bay that can be bought from Binder Design. I would definitely recommend this rocket t' anyone who is lookin' for somethin' they can fly on a high range o' motors. It can be launched on anythin' from a high thrust H t' a K. Begad! Two thumbs up.

Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5