Brief:
Since its inception, me bucko, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, FlisKits has had a policy that if an order ever shipped late, they would provide a free rocket called "OverDue". Arrr! I've ordered quite a few products from them and t' me knowledge, me hearties, only pre-order customers o' t' Grissom and/or Nomad have ever been fortunate enough t' get their orders late, and therefore accompanied by t' ever-elusive OverDue. Aye aye! Begad! Now, shiver me timbers, Jim Flis has released a "stretch" version o' t' OverDue, ya bilge rat, for regular commercial sale, me bucko, called t' "Long OverDue". Same great tube-fin design, ya bilge rat, but even more o' it t' love.

Construction:
Inside t' bag, ya bilge rat, you'll find plenty o' tubes--a BT-50 upper body tube, matey, a BT-20 lower body tube, and a BT-60 and BT-20 for cuttin' makin' into tube fins. Aye aye! Blimey! Also included is a nice balsa nose cone, shiver me timbers, a card stock pattern sheet, and a recovery package o' elastic and a plastic chute.

FlisKits instructions are always well written and contain sufficient illustrations; this is no exception. Bein' a minimum diameter design, me bucko, me hearties, thar's no motor tube assembly, shiver me timbers, just a centerin' rin' block. Next, t' BT-20 must be carefully marked for alignin' t' tube fins.

T' transition from t' lower BT-20 t' upper BT-50 consists o' a cardstock shroud, supported by a centerin' ring. Well, blow me down! My shroud was slightly oversized, ya bilge rat, easily corrected by trimmin' it down. Begad! Well, blow me down! If it feels like you're doin' this upside down or backwards, shiver me timbers, relax--you are. Avast! This design is an inverted small lower tube topped by a larger upper tube. Avast, me proud beauty! Remember, these are t' guys that brought you t' ACME Spitfire!

T' good news about fin construction is that thar's no balsa t' cut, me bucko, sand, me bucko, fill and seal. Arrr! T' bad news is that t' tube fins aren't your basic Totally Tubular design. T' Long OverDue has a set o' three BT-60's, shiver me timbers, each o' which has a BT-20 nested inside, and all 6 tubes have 45-degree sloped cuts at t' top. T' tubes are easily marked and cut usin' t' included pattern, ya bilge rat, then marked with centerlines for mounting. Arrr! Pay careful attention t' t' directions for this step, matey, as thar be very little extra tubing, and if you don't nest t' cuts just right, shiver me timbers, matey, you won't have enough t' complete all t' tubes.

T' shock cord is attached by a paper tri-fold, then secured t' t' nose cone by a screw eye.

Overall, this would be about a skill level 3 kit due t' t' complexity o' angled tube cuts.

Finishing:
I filled t' seams in t' body tubes before bondin' them, thinkin' this clever step would make finishin' go much more smoothly. Well, blow me down! Well, me bucko, blow me down! Blimey! Unfortunately, I filled t' OUTSIDE o' t' tubes, me bucko, and for t' tube fins thar's a lot o' t' inside exposed. Ahoy! Blimey! Try sandin' and fillin' t' inside o' a BT-20 with adult fingers! Blimey! I made a feeble effort usin' a 13mm motor casin' glued t' a dowel, arrr, but decided I'd just have t' live with a few spirals.

I opted for a metallic finish, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, usin' red for t' top, blue for t' bottom, arrr, and green and silver for t' tube fins (paintin' t' tube fins before bonding, then substitutin' CA for yellow glue makes t' multi-color effect easy t' achieve).

T' finished product is a very eye-catchin' design. Blimey! I only wish FlisKits would include decals with more o' their kits, arrr, although this is a lot o' kit for t' loot and I suspect water slides would be a bit over budget.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
After several club launches were blown/snowed-out this winter, me cabin fever be burnin' badly enough that I trekked out in 10 degree weather t' fly in clear skies and near zero wind conditions.

For its first flight, I went with t' max--a C6-5. Begad! T' flight be perfect--straight up, nay even a trace o' spin, ya bilge rat, and deployment right at apogee. FlisKits chutes offer three different sizes on t' pattern sheet, and I went with t' largest, resultin' in a very slow descent, matey, landin' only about 20-30 yards from t' pad. Well, blow me down! A 12" chute would suffice on a more windy day.

Recovery:
Excellent flight; best one o' t' day.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
Another great design from Jim Flis. Ahoy! This one will be one o' me most frequent flyers.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5