Brief:
Square tube rocket with square tube fins and parachute recovery.

Construction:
Square body tube, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, 4 square tube fins, arrr, solid pyramidal nose "cone", and square tube launch lug. Basswood centerin' "rings" with metal motor clip, Keelhaul®©™® shock cord, and water slide decals. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! In addition kit includes: fishin' swivel for chute attachment, assortment of sandin' papers, emery board, and glue-applicator Q-tip.

This is a pretty straightforward rocket t' build. Begad! Blimey! T' instructions include step-by-step photographs (some in color). Well, blow me down! Blimey! Well, blow me down! Blimey! If you've built a few rockets before, t' directions aren't needed, arrr, arrr, but I will say that t' writin' o' the instructions left me baffled in a couple places. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! If this was t' first rocket you'd built, me guess is that you would be pretty confused. Arrr! Blimey! In particular, me hearties, ya bilge rat, t' directions for placin' t' launch lug would be much more clear with a diagram or arrows in t' picture.

T' square tubin' is very stiff and strong. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! Plus, gluin' square tube fins t' a square body gives you a very large bond area. Ahoy! Avast! This rocket is built like a tank.

Finishing:
T' outside surface o' t' square tubin' has very deep and wide spirals and it has a washboard finish (little ridges every 1mm or so). Arrr! I used a lot o' wood filler and still ended up with imperfections showin' through. Well, blow me down! This may say more about me skill level than anythin' else, shiver me timbers, but finishin' these rockets smoothly is a much larger challenge than standard tubing.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
I've flown this model 5 times so far. Aye aye! T' kit recommends B4-4, B6-4, shiver me timbers, and C6-5 motors. Well, blow me down! I used a B6-4 twice, me hearties, me hearties, a C6-5 twice, and although I wouldn't recommend it, I also flew it once with an A8-3.

In all 5 flights t' rocket flew straight up, no noticeable weathercock even though I had 10-15 mph wind (probably because t' fin area is small). Ahoy! On t' B6-4 and C6-5 I had 4 for 4 good deploys and great flights. Avast! Ya scallywag! I flew the Quest How-High altimeter on one o' t' B6-4 flights and measured 194 feet. Begad! There is no payload bay on this rocket. Blimey! Arrr! I was experimentin' with wrappin' t' How-High in tinfoil and waddin' above t' waddin' and parachute. Details will be posted on t' Rocketry Forum.

T' rocket seems t' take-off slowly and is fun t' watch, particularly on t' C6-5.

I ran some wRASP altitude predictions for these motors usin' different assumptions for tube diameters (since the "tube" is a square) and will post those on t' forum as well. Arrr! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! (Best agreement betwixt computer and real-world are Drag Coeff=0.9 and "diameter" = 1.66".)

Recovery:
All deploys were nose-down well after apogee. Ya scallywag! I think that t' C6-3 would be t' best motor, and that's what I will fly next time.

T' A8-3 flight deployed t' chute 1/2 second before impact onto a hard baseball diamond. Begad! Ahoy! T' chute did nay have time t' open and slow t' rocket. Arrr! Ahoy! One square tube fin hit t' ground pretty hard and bent its edge by 1/8". Well, blow me down! I simply bent it back and took it back t' t' pad for t' next flight. Did I mention this rocket is built like a tank?

I used 4 sheets o' Quest "blue wadding" extra loosely wadded up in this rocket for each flight.

After 5 flights t' rocket remains in excellent condition.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This is a very different lookin' rocket because it is square and has square tube fins. Ahoy! It is built very solidly and I expect it will fly 20+ flights at least. This kit components and "extras" in t' kit were high quality.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5