Brief:
Sky brand model rockets are made in China and imported into t' USA by Apogee Components. Ya scallywag! They manufacture a number of conventional rockets with plastic fin cans. As far as I can tell, this be t' only boost glider made by Sky. Ya scallywag! The Apogee web site describes t' Condor as “a competition style glider”, arrr, in reality a standard pop-pod and plane setup. Blimey! I bought me Condor from t' newly opened Suburban Rocketry, ya bilge rat, based in Sydney, matey, ya bilge rat, Australia.

Tim Van Milligan, ya bilge rat, t' owner o' Apogee Components, is a pretty keen boost/rocket glider builder and flier; his book Model Rocket Design and Construction has t' majority o' a large chapter dedicated t' gliders. Begad! With this in mind, I had certain expectations o' t' Condor. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! I guessed someone with a reputation for bein' a bit o' a glider enthusiast may have found themselves a diamond in t' rough.

I have had some experience with budget gliders from t' good (Edmonds Deltie) t' t' nay so good (Starlight Sparrow). Ahoy! Now and then thar be a pleasant surprise, like t' Fun Rockets foam version o' Holverson's brilliant Silver Hawk, matey, which was a design so good that even makin' it out o' cheap foam couldn't destroy it.

Cheap pod and plane boost gliders usin' 18mm motors are a bit thin on t' ground these days. Begad! Blimey! Quest's Flat Cat and Q EZ, matey, Edmonds Deltie B, and t' Estes Eagle are t' ones that come t' mind. Well, blow me down! Arrr! Blimey! At $9, Sky's Condor is right at t' bottom of these in terms o' cost; Estes Eagle tops t' price list at $18, shiver me timbers, me bucko, and Quest's EZ comes in low at $10.50 In Australia, Suburban's keen pricin' means that at $13 AUD t' Condor is just over half t' price o' t' next cheapest boost glider, Quest's EZ ($24 AUD). Begad!

T' appeal o' an 18mm glider is simple: most fliers will have 18mm motors in their field box already. Well, blow me down! People may be put off tryin' a glider if they have t' buy 13mm motors they don't usually use or ultra short delays they can only use with that rocket. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag! Although it wasn't specifically recommended, arrr, me bucko, I wanted t' see if t' Condor would fly on an A8-3, a motor which seems t' breed in me field box.

Construction:
Sky's offerin' is in t' familiar plastic bag with full color face card heat sealed with a hang tag. Well, blow me down! Arrr! Blimey! In its bag the Condor wouldn't look out o' place on any hobby store's shelves.

Immediately obvious when you turn t' bag over are t' pre-printed body tube for t' pop-pod and t' blue plastic components for t' pod and glider. Arrr! Blimey! All good so far.

T' instructions are on a double sided sheet a bit bigger than an A4 sheet (236x37cm). Arrr! A quick skim read o' the instructions shows they are easy t' read and laid out logically. Arrr! Blimey! There are a couple o' minor spellin' mistakes (e.g., stabalizer,) and t' occasional extra space in t' text, but overall, t' instructions look good. Avast, me proud beauty!

Plastic moldings are o' extremely high quality with almost no flashing. Aye aye! Ahoy! I tried t' nose cone with industry standard BT-20 tubes and it is a good fit.

A small sheet o' peel and stick self-adhesive decals with a matte surface is included. Ahoy! Begad! These are nay included in the 'Parts' list and no instruction regardin' their intended placement is given in t' instructions. Avast, me proud beauty! I decided nay to use mine.

What at first looks like hard balsa is actually Tung wood. Tung is grown primarily for oil from its seeds and traditionally used in lamps, but these days they are mostly found in paints and varnishes. T' wood is light and hard, like a medium competition grade balsa.

T' instructions list buildin' materials needed for completion. Well, blow me down! T' only thin' I would add is CA Gel in addition to t' CA liquid (Superglue) listed.

T' glider is built first. Arrr! This goes together quickly, me hearties, in fact incredibly quickly.

Wings have a pre-cut airfoil, if a little rough. Well, blow me down! Avast! I gave t' wings an extremely light sand just t' remove the roughest edges, and this be t' longest part o' buildin' t' glider. Avast! T' wings are glued t' t' plastic win' mount with CA liquid. Avast, me proud beauty!

T' win' mount deserves special mention here as it nay only gives t' correct dihedral without you havin' to chamfer t' root edge o' t' wing, me hearties, shiver me timbers, it is also constructed with t' front higher than t' rear, arrr, so it automatically gives t' correct angle o' attack when you attach it t' t' boom. Begad! Very, very clever.

T' glider boom is roughly finished but dead straight. Arrr! Aye aye! It received a light sand as well.

Attachin' t' win' mount has two small areas o' concern. First be t' distance from the front o' t' boom that t' win' is attached. Begad! T' instructions say 38mm (1½ inches), matey, but that looks awfully close to t' nose. Begad! It looks much farther back in t' instructions. I checked t' picture on t' face card, and t' large image o' t' glider shows t' leadin' edge o' t' wings a good third o' t' boom length back from t' nose. Arrr! However, there is a small image o' t' glider on t' face card which shows t' win' in t' correct position. Arrr! It looks like some of t' photographs have been taken with t' win' set farther back so that it looks "better". Begad! Secondly, the win' mount is attached t' t' boom with CA liquid and will tend t' grab when you mount it. Unless t' win' mount is pressed smoothly home, me bucko, it may grab on one side first, me bucko, resultin' in a greater angle on one win' relative t' the horizontal stabilizer. Begad! Avast, me proud beauty! If I were buildin' t' glider again I would use CA gel for this step t' get a longer working time.

T' glider nose piece is both t' catch for t' pop-pod and a series o' holes t' secure trimmin' clay. Avast! Blimey!

T' whole glider is built in under ten minutes.

Oddly, thar be no indication in t' instructions o' where t' Center o' Gravity (CG) is located on t' completed glider nor are any instructions given on trimmin' and testin' t' glider before a first launch. Although after building the kit, I found some brief trimmin' advice is given on t' Apogee website.

No modelin' clay for trimmin' t' glider is included with t' kit, shiver me timbers, arrr, gross trimmin' is supposedly accomplished by movin' t' win' mount fore and aft prior t' gluin' it into place. Arrr! Blimey! T' fact that this is nay covered in t' instructions is an enormous oversight.

Conventional glider wisdom has t' glider CG one quarter t' one half o' t' win' chord from t' win' leading edge. Aye aye! My glider bare balanced about 200mm from t' tip o' t' nose piece. Avast, me proud beauty! This be behind t' root trailin' edge o' the wing. Well, blow me down! A quick throw around t' back yard indicated that t' trim was pretty much spot on where it was.

T' pop-pod is a fairly conventional rocket without fins.

T' body tube is white, matey, pre-printed with blue decorations and some Chinese script. Blimey! Interestingly, arrr, shiver me timbers, t' body tube is nay wound spirally as a conventional tube but just like rollin' up a sheet o' paper (convolutely wound). Arrr! Arrr! Blimey! No spirals to fill and pre-printed tubes are a snap. It will be interestin' t' see how this type o' tube stands up t' t' rigors of flight.

No thrust rin' is provided, ya bilge rat, me hearties, and one does nay appear on t' 'Parts' list. Aye aye! T' motor hook is nay very wide and has poor memory so it tends t' stay bent when flexed t' install a motor. Avast, me proud beauty! With that in mind I was loathe t' trust a tiny tang o' t' motor hook t' prevent t' motor thrustin' upwards through t' pod. Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! I fitted a standard thrust rin' I had sittin' in t' parts box.

Two launch lugs are provided, and like t' body tube they are made from, are convolutely wound paper too.

T' glider pod hook is contoured t' fit t' wall o' t' body tube. Begad! CA gel is o' use here as it fills t' small void betwixt t' contoured back o' t' hook and t' wall o' t' body tube.

T' shock cord attachment be t' standard Estes tri-fold mount except that thar be no pattern in the instructions for t' paper mount. Arrr! No measurements either, just a picture o' how t' fold it up and glue it into t' body tube. Begad! T' shock cord itself be t' usual three strand wide elastic, relatively short, which is in keepin' with glider standards. Aye aye! Begad! Long shock cords tend t' tangle with gliders as they separate from t' pod.

Pop-pod recovery is via a 50 x 5 cm mylar streamer.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight and Recovery:
T' instructions for flight preparation are quite detailed. Avast!

T' motor choices given seem a little odd t' me: A6-4, me bucko, B6-4, matey, C6-5. Well, blow me down! I would expect motor selection t' be t' short delay A8-3, ya bilge rat, B6-2, me bucko, C6-3 motors. Avast! I would be interested t' see flight results on some o' these other motors.

Use t' longest rod you have! T' combined length o' t' glider and pop-pod is about t' same as a standard Estes two piece rod. Avast, me proud beauty! Use a clothes peg under t' pop-pod t' keep t' glider tail off your pad's blast shield.

Our local park is a good size for shakedown flights, two standard football fields placed end t' end.

A quick test glide in light wind at t' park showed t' Condor needed just a little tail weight (about a match head o' clay) t' smooth out t' glide.

First flight was on an A8-3. I held t' motor hook in place with a small piece o' maskin' tape. Avast! This seemed t' do the job o' ensurin' t' motor wasn't spat out on ejection.

Boost was t' about 70 meters (~230 feet) with clean separation and a shallow glide with a left turn. Forty seconds into t' flight, ya bilge rat, matey, t' Condor met a tree at a height o' about three meters. Well, me hearties, blow me down! T' pod landed about ten meters away from t' launch pad.

There was some charrin' o' t' win' root, t' picture shows t' glider after a single flight.

T' glider is quite sensitive t' additional weight. After t' first flight I test threw the glider again and ended up removin' t' tail weight I had added for t' first flight. Ya scallywag! Blimey! A quick test glide every few flights will ensure your glider is trimmed optimally for t' current conditions.

Given t' size o' t' field I was testin' at, we kept first flights t' t' A8-3. Total time on each flight (includin' boost) be in t' 35-50 second range. A nice small field glider on this motor. Avast! On a C6 t' Condor will probably thermal away.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This is a great glider, and a pleasant surprise at t' price. Skill level is listed as 2. Begad! If t' instructions included trimmin' t' glider it would be more like a 1.5 This kit is certainly suitable as a first glider if you have access t' t' trimmin' instructions.

T' Good:

• Intelligent win' mount
• High quality plastics
• Contoured pod hook
• Glider nose piece
• Precut airfoil on wings
• Straight timber
• Price

T' Bad

• Poor quality motor hook
• No thrust ring

T' Ugly

• No trimmin' instructions included
• No pattern for shock cord mount

I would advise you t' just make a few small changes when you build your Condor:

• Read t' trimmin' instructions on t' Apogee website
• Fit a thrust ring
• Junk t' motor hook and friction fit motors
• Use CA gel t' attach t' win' mount and pod hook

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5