Brief:
This is slick lookin' futuristic design featurin' a large tail rin' and lots o' transitions, ya bilge rat, resultin' in somethin' a far cry from t' ordinary.

Construction:
Parts were good quality, and workin' from nose t' tail include t' following:

• Balsa nose cone
• BT-55 upper body tube
• BT-50 main body tube
• BT-55 lower body tube
• BT-101 rin' fin
• Laser-cut balsa fins
• Cardstock transition patterns
• BT-20 motor mount
• Metal hook
• Assorted centerin' rings
• 12" mylar parachute
• Keelhaul®©™®/elastic shock cord
• Waterslide decals
• Peel & Stick decals
• 1/8" launch lug

Because this has so much goin' on in terms o' transitions and body tube sizes and placement, I'd probably rate this about a 2.5 or 3 on t' 5-scale for degree o' difficulty. Ahoy! Blimey! T' instructions are fairly well written, arrr, though a bit sparsely illustrated. T' experienced modeler will have no trouble buildin' this, but would have t' be careful lining everythin' up.

T' motor mount is a standard 18mm tube with CR20/5 block, shiver me timbers, metal hook, and a pair o' centerin' rings. Begad! The completed assembly is stuffed into t' BT-50 main body tube. Avast, me proud beauty!

T' BT-20 main tube gets marked with 10 different lines that will eventually be used t' locate centerin' rings and transition alignment marks. Avast, me proud beauty! Three more marks go along t' vertical axis for fin alignment usin' a wrap-around template. Begad! Avast!

Next comes t' fun part o' t' construction--makin' t' shrouds and linin' them up. Blimey! There are 4 cardstock shrouds. Aye aye! T' minimize t' exposed seams, t' instructions call for a butt joint rather than an overlappin' seam. Ahoy! This is a great technique. There be just one slight problem. Begad! Avast, me proud beauty! I stupidly built all o' me transitions at once and didn't test fit them first. Avast, me proud beauty! Even though I cut a bit inside/outside t' edge lines t' ensure slightly that t' ends were slightly larger, each o' me transitions proved t' be a bit too small for t' body tubes. Even after sandin' them open a little, it was still too tight, shiver me timbers, especially where t' transition has t' be slid down t' BT-50 smaller end first. I wound up printin' me own and it worked out fine.

T' 4 transitions slide down t' BT-50 and t' wider ends are held open/in place via thin centerin' rings. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! 3 of t' 4 butt up against sections o' BT-55 tubing, and t' aftmost end o' one is open, me hearties, servin' as a sort o' boattail. Avast, me proud beauty!

Once t' transitions and body tube are in place, it be time t' test fit t' fins. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! They're supposed t' fit snugly against t' aft transition, me bucko, arrr, BT-50, and second transition. Mine fit fairly well, though still took a generous bead of glue and a little filler afterwards.

T' BT-101 rin' fin was a perfect fit over t' fins. I then tacked on t' two launch lugs and construction was done.

Finishing:
Paintin' this be fairly easy, shiver me timbers, though I made one craftsmanship goof--I neglected t' fill t' spirals on t' inside of t' BT-101 rin' fin, me hearties, arrr, and they're pretty deep grooves.

I hit everythin' with a base in gloss white, matey, shiver me timbers, then followed up maskin' off two o' t' inner transitions and finished them off in gloss black. Well, blow me down!

I had some minor issues with t' decals--the waterslide decals are nicely printed, shiver me timbers, but on very thin and fragile material. Aye aye! I be either givin' them too much time in t' water, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, in which case they'd start t' separate from t' backing and wind up foldin' over and stickin' t' themselves, or nay long enough in t' water in which case they'd bite right away when mounting, so that they'd wind up breakin' when tryin' t' reposition. Avast!

T' second decal sheet is actually peel & stick, me bucko, nay waterslide, matey, which I didn't catch until soakin' t' first decal for a good 30 seconds, ya bilge rat, wonderin' why it wasn't slidin' off. Aye aye! It would have been helpful if thar were some mention o' this anywhere, arrr, ya bilge rat, such as in t' instruction sheet or even on t' parts list (which indicates one decal sheet, not two). Aye aye! Blimey! Once I'd gotten past me goof and dried out t' soaked decal, arrr, applyin' t' rest was fairly easy, ya bilge rat, me bucko, though I'll note that t' (3) decals that go on t' outer band o' t' BT-101 rin' fin are a bit too long, me bucko, and would overlap a bit. Arrr! I trimmed off t' last black stripe on each, matey, arrr, shortenin' them enough t' fit perfectly with no major gaps or overlap.

Construction Rating: 3 out o' 5

Flight:
Winter held off for another week, arrr, me bucko, temptin' me t' once again ignore t' growin' lawn and list o' chores and put a few rockets up into t' clear sky. Ya scallywag! Winds were steady at 6-8 mph when I sent this up on a C6-5. It was fine, even weathercockin' a little bit, shiver me timbers, me bucko, and t' -5 delay deployed t' chute just past apogee, me hearties, nose down.

Recovery:
This kit came with a 12" silver Mylar chute, which worked fine and I was able t' recover with hardy a scratch.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
Overall, this is certainly got some cool stylin' goin' for it, shiver me timbers, though I have t' din' it slightly for undersized/tight transitions and very fragile decals (plus t' odd mixture o' waterslide and peel N stick). It looks good, matey, arrr, though, matey, arrr, ya bilge rat, and flies great so is certainly worth considerin' if you want t' start gettin' away from t' ordinary and developin' some new craftsmanship skills as well.

Overall Rating: 3 out o' 5