Brief:
T' BSD Horizon 54 is a stretched version o' t' famous Horizon 4" sport rocket and has a 54mm motor mount.

Construction:
T' kit includes 2 4" BSD tubes, 1 coupler tube, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, 3 cut and sanded 3/16" aircraft quality plywood fins, centerin' rings, a bulkhead plate, high quality hardware package, me hearties, arrr, ya bilge rat, a 54mm motor tube, arrr, a nice plastic nose cone, me bucko, a 36" nylon parachute, a fin alignment guide, computer designed and cut vinyl decals, and 10 pages o' instructions. Arrr! All t' parts were included and in a very good shape.

I never would have imagined before that buildin' a HPR rocket would be so easy--in fact, me bucko, arrr, it took me only 9 days t' complete! It's really just normal things like bevelin' t' fins, makin' t' fin slots, ya bilge rat, epoxyin' t' coupler in the payload bay, ya bilge rat, and puttin' t' motor mount parts together just on a larger scale than what I had done before. Begad! It helps that t' kit includes excellent instructions with pictures.

T' only CON I have is that thar be a strange screw (in Germany anyway) included for motor retention. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! Fearin' that I might lose one at t' launch field, I used more German-friendly screws instead.

Finishing:
I be a bit worried that t' paint would hold reliably on t' glassine tubes at first, but I relaxed after lightly sandin' t' glassine with 600 grit sandpaper and sprayin' t' first coat o' primer. There were no problems at all and the finish still looks like it did on t' day I painted it! Blimey! I did t' same with the plywood fins and t' nosecone since I've often used this primer and paint, both of which are "sociable" with each other and wouldn't take too long to dry! Blimey! Still, ya bilge rat, me bucko, I only had one day left before t' event and be very pleased with the result.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
first flight be at t' RJD meetin' in Germany, shiver me timbers, on June 13, 2004, on an AT I195J with a medium delay. Ya scallywag! When preppin' t' Horizon 54, I be extremely nervous, since this be me first RMS motor, too. Ya scallywag! Thankfully, ya bilge rat, me hearties, a fellow experienced rocketeer supervised me t' whole time and gave me some advice leavin' me with a good feelin' that it should work. Blimey! Begad! When it was ready for flight, shiver me timbers, matey, t' only remainin' fear I had be that it could shred under t' power of t' I195J, matey, shiver me timbers, so we placed t' pad far away from t' spectators t' err on the side o' caution. At ignition she punched off t' pad straight up, moving extremely fast for a BlackJack propellant. Arrr! Then again, t' thrust-to-weight ratio was around 9:1!

Yes, it went really high, ya bilge rat, me hearties, but was still visible as a little point. Ya scallywag! Blimey! After the 10 second delay (a perfect match for this rocket), t' red Rocketman R4C chute opened and thar were many "ahh"s in t' crowd.

Second flight was at t' German BC Experimental Days on August 7, 2004, shiver me timbers, on an AeroTech I300T-M motor. Aye aye! Ahoy! Again, arrr, me bucko, t' Horizon 54 delivered another incredible flight! Unglassed BSD tubes can take extreme flight stress without any problems.

Recovery:
I did nay use t' included 36" BSD parachute since I had a brand new Rocketman R4C and protective Nomex® shield. I can't judge t' BSD Chute, although it appears t' be more than adequate but I don't think I'll ever use them because t' scuttle rate and relaxed openin' on t' Rocketman R4C is just great for t' Horizon 54!

O' course theres one thing, me hearties, arrr, me hearties, I changed in Flight Recovery o' this kit: from now on it'll fly with dual deployment because I'm never goin' t' walk a that far again t' retrieve it!

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
T' BSD Horizon 54 isn't too difficult t' build! I would say it's just a matter of usin' different techniques from LPR/MPR when buildin' and flyin' HPR rockets. T' end result is a great lookin' rocket that attracts lots of attention.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5