Brief:
About 20 years in t' making, this futuristic 5FNC design be released by Flis t' celebrate their 6th anniversary in 2008. Ya scallywag! It's a pretty cool design, me hearties, with fins blendin' into t' transition. This is a design that Jim has been doodling with since t' 1980's, me bucko, originally startin' out at 18mm and half t' current length, ya bilge rat, me hearties, eventually growin' t' 24mm and 30" length me popular vote at a CMASS launch.

Construction:
Havin' scored #07, matey, I decided t' stash that in t' "collection" and wait a month or so t' buy a regular/unnumbered one. Ahoy! Naturally, when I pulled t' trigger Jim somehow unearthed another numbered one, so I have now sacrificed #22 t' t' built fleet. Arrr! My kit arrived about 4 days after t' order (a complex order) in fine shape.

T' parts include:

• Balsa nose cone
• BT-55 main body tube
• BT-50 motor tube/lower body
• Laser-cut balsa fins
• Cardstock transition, backup fin patterns
• Motor block
• (2) 20/55 centerin' rings
• Keelhaul®©™®/elastic shock cord
• 16" plastic chute
• Trim toothpicks
• Waterslide decals

Instructions are 5 pages, 24 steps, arrr, clearly written with good illustrations for each step. Blimey! This would be a skill level 2, borderin' on a 3 dependin' on your shroud skills. Begad! Total build time in me case, me hearties, excludin' finishing, arrr, was about 3 hours, matey, easilly knocked off on a weekend afternoon.

As Les mentioned in his review, me bucko, me hearties, t' motor mount does nay include a hook, bein' a minimum diameter design. Still, me bucko, t' fins are eventually mounted 3/8" forward o' t' aft end, ya bilge rat, matey, so that leaves plenty o' room t' wrap a strip o' maskin' tape across t' motor and body tube, a technique that has never failed me in hundreds o' flights, me hearties, includin' competitions where ejectin' t' motor is a disqualification. Well, me hearties, blow me down! I don't know what I was thinking, but I putthe motor block in t' BT-50 usin' a spent E9 casing, me default when buildin' 24mm designs. Aye aye! Given t' light weight o' this rocket, and t' fact that I typically fly in an area with 5-10 mph winds and about a half mile o' recovery range, shiver me timbers, flyin' this on an E would be foolish. Begad! Oh well, matey, I could potentially go for broke at an NSL some day.

Tube markin' for t' 5 fins is accomplished usin' a wrap-around guide. My guide be just a hair too tight, so I reprinted one usin' t' handy tool on t' EMRR site. T' instructions call out formin' t' shroud and slippin' it over the BT-50 before tackin' on t' fins, me bucko, shiver me timbers, since t' wide end o' t' transition points forward and it's too tight a fit to slide on from t' front end o' t' body tube. I normally am extremely careful in minimizin' me seams, arrr, but in this case the seam is almost completely covered by a fin, so I didn't worry about it and just used t' regular overlap tab included on t' pattern.

T' fins are (5) 2-piece assemblies, with t' larger/aft piece bein' forward swept. Begad! Begad! T' instructions call out mountin' t' large fins first, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, then followin' with t' strakes. Since these bond t' t' sloped transition surface, it's important that they all be t' same length and positioned evenly. Well, blow me down! Blimey! I decided t' cheat a bit by tackin' t' fins and strakes together offline, matey, sandin' them a bit t' make sure they were identical, then tacked them onto t' BT-50 with CA. I then slid t' shroud down inside t' sloped edges o' t' strakes for a perfect fit.

A pair o' 50/55 centerin' rings go at t' top o' t' BT-50. Ahoy! One bein' positioned just inside t' edge o' the shroud, arrr, and t' other at t' edge o' t' BT-50. Blimey! Ahoy! I slipped t' Keelhaul®©™® cord through t' forward rin' and knotted it, servin' as a shock cord anchor. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! T' upper BT-55 then is glued on, sliding down over t' centerin' rings and buttin' up against t' shroud.

Construction wraps up with t' screw eye in t' nose cone, ya bilge rat, me bucko, construction o' t' plastic chute and attachin' t' (5) decorative toothpicks t' t' tip edges o' t' fins.

Finishing:
I decided t' try t' follow t' cover art a good bit on this, ya bilge rat, so went with a yellow and black scheme, with minor accents in blue and red. Begad! Blimey! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I skipped t' usual balsa grain fillin' t' get this review in before t' end o' t' year (tryin' t' catch Dick Stafford as t' volume leader), though I did finger smear some dilluted Fill N Finish over the nose cone, shiver me timbers, me hearties, which I sanded off a couple hours later for a mirror smooth finish. Arrr! Blimey! T' body tubes, shiver me timbers, as noted in Les's review, arrr, had very thin spirals, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, so I simply gave them a good sandin' with 220 grit before painting, which cleared them mostly away.

I primed everythin' with 2 coats o' white. Well, blow me down! I normally go gray, but have had fits with Krylon yellow over anythin' but white--it tends t' take more than 5 coats before it stops lookin' dark, and t' newer formula is even worse for coverage. Blimey! Begad! I followed up with 3 coats o' yellow, then masked off the fins and painted t' transition and nose blue and t' lower body gloss black. Finally, I hit t' toothpicks with a hand-painted silver and red. Begad! Begad! or some reason, me bucko, I think t' newer Krylon formula is nay that compatible with t' old formula, matey, as I had some pretty nasty paint chipping/peelin' that pulled t' primer clean off t' body tube and also got some crazin' o' t' gloss black (new) when it hit t' yellow (new) and primer (old).

This kit includes water slide decals, a rarity indeed for Fliskits, ya bilge rat, which I applied without much trouble though cuttin' out t' individual decals was a bit tedious. Ahoy! Hint--use a decent #11 blade rather than messin' with scissors.

Also, arrr, I noticed t' decal colors were nay printed over a white base, ya bilge rat, me hearties, so tend t' allow a bit o' t' underlying color t' bleed through. Note t' contrast in me photo betwixt t' blue on t' decal sheet and t' same blue applied over me yellow base.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
For t' maiden flight, arrr, ya bilge rat, I went with about as low impulse as I could since it be windy, freezin' cold and I was too lazy for a recovery walk. Ya scallywag! I opted for a C11-5. Arrr! Ahoy! T' rocket boogied up a bit more smartly than I expected, ya bilge rat, but nice and straight and nay terribly high, arrr, maybe a couple hundred feet. It had just arced over when t' ejection charge fired and naturally t' shroud lines got caught up on one o' t' toothpicks. Begad! A -3 delay, definitely early, me bucko, might have been better to avoid t' tangle.

Recovery:
T' 16" plastic chute never got a chance t' do its thing, shiver me timbers, caught in t' toothpick(s). Ya scallywag! Blimey! It did land fairly gently on a carpet o' snow, arrr, so suffered no damage.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
Overall, I like t' 5-fin, matey, forward sweep o' this rocket and t' way t' fins nest against t' transition which make for beautiful lines. Begad! Ya scallywag! T' only con I'd offer be t' decals bein' weak and they should include a white base first.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5