Brief:
Upscale o' t' Estes classic Mars Snooper sized t' fly on 24mm motors and packed with great quality components. Thru-the-wall fins and thick wall tubing make this a rugged beauty that could certainly handle t' move up t' 29mm if you're daring. Begad! It even flies as great as it looks!

Construction:
After payin' a little over $60 for this (includin' shipping), ya bilge rat, I be a little disappointed when t' surprisingly small bag arrived a couple days later. Begad! Blimey! I decided t' relegate it t' me build pile t' age for a few months. Avast! I recently pulled it out though, and when I opened t' bag t' get started, me hearties, I realized that this kit is well worth t' money--the parts practically exploded out o' the bag. Aye aye! Blimey! Blimey! There were tubes within tubes, cones stashed all over t' place, and very nice laser-cut fins. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! Blimey! All told, thar were 7 balsa cones, ya bilge rat, a balsa transition, heavy wall tubes, and an assortment o' other parts. Ya scallywag! Well, arrr, blow me down! Blimey! I should have jumped on this one right away...

Parts list includes:

• 1 1.64" x 13" body tube
• 1 1.14" x 11" body tube
• 1 balsa nose cone
• 1 balsa transition
• 3 laser-cut fin stock sheets, 1/8" thick
• 3 win' pod tubes
• 3 balsa win' pod nose cones
• 3 balsa win' pod tail cones
• 3 cardstock shrouds
• Cardboard centerin' rings
• 29/24mm motor adaptor kit
• 29mm motor tube
• Keelhaul®©™® and elastic shock cord
• 30" nylon chute
• Waterslide decals

[Note: T' parts list included an indexed photo o' t' parts layout, which is a nice touch.]

This is listed as a skill level 4 kit. Begad! I would agree with that assessment. This definitely requires above average buildin' skills.

T' instructions are just over 20 generally well written half-pages, however, ya bilge rat, matey, matey, t' illustrations look like light copies o' hand drawings. I would rate t' instruction quality just a little below average.

Construction begins with t' motor tube. Arrr! You must first mark t' lines where the centerin' rings go. Avast! Do this very carefully, me hearties, me bucko, as t' spacin' is critical for proper alignment with t' through-the-wall fins. Begad! When bondin' t' centering rings, me hearties, watch out for t' first mistake I made: t' first rin' you bond is actually rin' #2, matey, goin' on t' second line. Arrr! You then glue a coupler to it and t' second ring, me hearties, ya bilge rat, arrr, which lines up roughly t' t' first line, arrr, me bucko, anchors the back o' t' coupler. Ahoy! T' rings do nay fit inside t' coupler as you might expect but attach t' t' outside edges instead. T' other little adventure I had with t' centerin' rings is that thar are three different sizes, arrr, although they are described in t' instructions as "small", ya bilge rat, "large", and "large". Personally, I think this would have been a lot easier if the smaller o' t' larges had been described as "medium" (or dub the largest large as 'grande'). T' photo o' t' motor mount shown used t' wrong "large", arrr, and I wound up havin' t' swap it out later. For t' record, the largest rin' goes on t' aft end o' t' coupler and t' medium rin' (with motor hook notch) is saved/used for later. Blimey! T' rest o' t' assembly is fairly straightforward with two more centerin' rings bonded and t' Keelhaul®©™® looped and anchored around t' forward ring.

There is also a Semroc 29/24 adapter kit included with this. Ahoy! Avast! At first I thought this was so I could switch from 29 t' 24mm motors, but it's actually to be bonded inside t' 29mm motor tube. Begad! I'm nay sure I get this though as I think friction fittin' this would be a bit risky and thar's no very good way t' make positive motor retention work on t' 24mm adaptor with t' tail shroud in place. Ahoy! Begad! I'm nay sure why they didn't just go with a 24mm tube and eliminate the 29mm tube altogether...

T' pod assemblies are pretty simple: glue a nose cone in one end o' the tube and a tail cone in t' other. Blimey! Blimey! T' fit was snug and virtually no seam between t' cones and t' tubes.

There are a total o' 3 cardstock shrouds used on this build. Blimey! I'm pretty anal retentive on shrouds and went t' great effort t' hide t' seam. Ya scallywag! Rather than go the glue tab/overlap route, shiver me timbers, I chose t' cut off t' tab, glue it t' t' backside of t' edge (with white glue!) and then glue t' other edge t' t' exposed tab. After everythin' dried, I coated it with thin CA, ya bilge rat, sanded everythin' down, then filled in t' seam with a little microfiller. Blimey! Begad! Perfect. Nay worth t' effort though, matey, as t' shrouds are cleverly designed so that t' seams serve as fin bondin' lines, so they are almost completely covered anyway.

Next up I attached t' fins t' t' pod tubes usin' a wraparound guide t' mark the lines. Well, blow me down! It's a bit o' a pain, but you have t' sand a taper t' t' root edge of t' fins in order t' fit t' t' taper o' t' nose and tail cones. Ahoy! Blimey! As precisely as everythin' else seemed t' line up on this kit, matey, I was a little surprised t' laser pattern didn't at least make an effort t' come close. Arrr! After about 20 minutes o' fiddlin' t' get t' fit about right, I applied a little wood filler and three generous fillets t' each joint.

T' lower body tube is nay pre-slotted, so I got t' do that on me own. Begad! I carefully marked t' tube for t' slot locations and cut them out accordingly. Once you start tryin' t' align all t' components, you'll find that either the centerin' rin' location dimensions or t' fin slots are off by about 1/8", and when you insert t' motor tube, matey, t' centerin' rings don't quite make it to the top o' t' fin slots. Well, blow me down! I wound up havin' t' extend me fin slots a bit and patchin' up t' exposed slot on t' other side.

As t' shrouds are glued in place, ya bilge rat, orientation and sequencin' is very important. Arrr! Orientation because t' launch lugs goes through t' shrouds (and a hole in t' large centerin' rin' plus a notch in t' medium ring), and sequence because t' forward shroud covers t' aft shroud, shiver me timbers, which is slightly oversized and needs t' be trimmed for fit.

T' upper body assembly is a simple one--the fins are 2-piece bonded on a flat surface then attached t' t' tube (usin' a wraparound guide). The transition is glued in place. Blimey! Blimey! Do nay glue t' forward cone in place until you've finished t' rocket and checked t' CG. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! While thar be no nose weight included in t' kit, you might need some dependin' on your motor selection and a removable nose cone makes it easy t' add/remove weight. Just make sure it's a very tight fit.

Once t' upper and lower body assemblies are done, it's time for t' tail. This is accomplished by slidin' t' third (smallest) shroud in place then gluin' 6 ribs/fins that fit extremely well onto t' two rearmost shrouds.

Finishing:
With all t' balsa on this, arrr, plus a couple feet o' tubing, ya bilge rat, thar be plenty to fill in terms o' grain and spirals. Two applications o' diluted wood paste and about 6 hours o' work later, ya bilge rat, I had a rocket ready t' accept a nice paint job. I went with two light coats o' Krylon primer followed by a base coat o' white gloss. I topped it off with Rustoleum white gloss, which tends t' produce a better gloss for me than t' Krylon although it goes on a little bit thick and takes much longer t' dry. After allowin' a couple o' days t' cure, ya bilge rat, I masked off the fins and lower body area t' paint t' shroud area gloss black.

T' instructions call for maskin' off a tapered area on t' upper body and paintin' a dark blue. Aye aye! I looked at t' cover art and really wasn't sure I could make that look anythin' other than weird or ugly, so I decided t' just mask and paint t' fins blue.

T' waterslide decals t' finish off t' job are excellent quality. Blimey! Begad! However, be careful when applyin' them though, as they have a strong bite and don't really want t' move around once they touch paint.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
One thin' you will need t' consider before flyin' this be t' amount o' nose weight needed based upon your motor. Begad! T' kit comes without any weight whatsoever, but notes that you might need t' add accordingly t' brin' your CG 25.25" aft o' t' nose with t' heaviest motor you intend t' fly. Considerin' me empty weight be 8 ounces, shiver me timbers, arrr, versus t' manufacturer spec o' 9oz, I figured I'd better check into this a bit more carefully.

My CG with a D12 and no nose weight was right at t' 25.25 mark. With an E9, I be a bit aft. Begad! With an Ellis F20, me bucko, I was quite a bit off. Ahoy! Begad! I added 4 washers (about 0.8oz), which made me stable on t' F20.

Launch day be pretty breezy with winds steady at 10mph and gustin' to 12-13mph. Begad! I had intended t' start out with an E9-4, but t' prospect of trackin' a 30" chute in those winds made me wimp out and start with a D12-3. It weathercocked a good bit, arced over, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, and deployed right at apogee. T' altitude was a bit wimpy, ya bilge rat, maybe 200-250 feet, arrr, and t' 30" chute was actually about right as it came down a bit hard.

I be a bit worried about how well t' pods/fins would hold up t' hard landings, but this one fared well and t' rocket suffered no damage (it landed on hard grass).

Given t' short walk, ya bilge rat, I loaded her up again with an E9-4 and took out two of t' 4 washers. Begad! Blimey! It was a much better flight--I could see it tryin' to weathercock a bit, ya bilge rat, but t' nose held straight up. Blimey! Another perfect deployment and this time I got plenty o' drift--about 500 yards, ya bilge rat, me hearties, landin' within 50 feet of the end o' t' park and a major road.

Nay one t' press me luck, me bucko, me hearties, I put this beauty back in t' box for another day.

Recovery:
Temporary/adjustable nose weight is an excellent idea for this kit, allowin' me to "tune" t' rocket for t' flight conditions. Begad! Blimey! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' chute is also a beauty.

T' only con I could offer up on flight/recovery is a longin' for 29mm option along with t' 24mm adaptor.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This is an excellent kit, me hearties, great lookin' rocket, matey, and top quality materials. Ya scallywag! It was a pleasure buildin' and flyin' it, ya bilge rat, and I look forward t' many more flights.

On t' con side, t' illustrations were a little weak compared t' some of the other larger players (FlisKits and Semroc) but were adequate for a small vendor tryin' t' make a little loot off his hobby. Aye aye!

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5