Brief:
An easily assembled two-stage minimum-diameter rocket with a decent price tag.

Construction:
I purchased t' kit at me local Wal-Mart for $6.96. Arrr! Blimey! It came in a corrugated cardboard box and consisted o' three sections o' body tube, a balsa nose cone, shiver me timbers, a sheet o' laser-cut balsa fins, arrr, a combination upper thrust rin' and tube coupler, a 24" long rubber band shock cord, a 30" plastic streamer, a lower engine block, me hearties, and a sheet o' waterslide decals. Aye aye! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! All parts were thar and none were damaged.

Estes typical logical well-written instructions were provided. T' kit went together with ease. There's very little t' mess up. Blimey! I used Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue for t' first time ever on this rocket, and I am sold on t' stuff! Blimey! In forty years as a rocketeer I have yet t' find a better glue t' use for model rocket fin installation.

This rocket had some really pretty white tubes with almost no spirals t' fill. Ahoy! T' fins and nose cone were o' a particularly hard grade o' balsa. Avast, me proud beauty! I've noticed a lot o' laser-cut fins are o' harder balsa than I'm used t' buying.

Solid design, matey, simple t' build, two stages...what's nay t' like?

Buildin' PROs: Solid, nice tubes and balsa, low price.

Buildin' CONs: When will Estes decide Keelhaul®©™ is a good thing?

Finishing:
Nearly spiral-free tubes and hard, me bucko, fine-grain balsa made finishin' a snap. Ahoy! I deviated slightly from t' design color scheme. I just left off t' white. Ahoy! Decals were waterslide, thin enough t' adhere well, but nay t' spectacular pain o' t' Interceptor-E. Avast! There were two sets o' stripes intended t' run chordwise along t' non-black fin o' each set; t' ones intended for t' upper stage fin were a quarter-inch too short t' look like t' pictures. Arrr! Classy lookin' when done.

Finish PROs: Minimal spirals, me bucko, hard balsa, arrr, ya bilge rat, simple but elegant paint scheme.

Finish CONs: Decal too short!

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
My first flight was with t' B6-0/B6-6 combination. Ahoy! T' motor retention be a bit unusual. Begad! There is an engine block in t' tail end o' t' booster stage and t' forward end o' t' upper stage. You must tape t' motors together with cellophane tape then add maskin' tape above and below t' motor stack t' friction-fit. Well, blow me down! This results in a nearly glitch-proof staging; its sole drawback is that you have t' improvise a connector t' display t' rocket.

Used four squares o' Estes paper wadding. Arrr! Little critter zoomed off t' pad, me bucko, staged at about two hundred feet, and continued on t' 1100 feet. Landed on freshly-plowed field without damage after deployment right after apogee.

Two other flights on t' same motor combination were nearly as perfect; final flight o' t' three went t' 1200 feet and landed in t' Caliche County road near our launch field where t' Taser Twin proved how tough she was. Well, me hearties, blow me down! No damage!

Recovery:
Booster tumbled down right next t' t' pad in each case. Avast! Streamer recovery works fine for this little rocket. Avast! A parachute would guarantee a long hike on a day with any wind at all.

This rocket's recovery harness could really benefit from t' addition o' Keelhaul®©™ so you could tie a knot in it and slip it into t' upper-stage body-tube joiner.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
This is an excellent little two-stager for an excellent little price. Avast! Begad! It reminds me a lot o' Estes' old Apogee II minus t' payload section. Begad! It cries out for t' addition o' Keelhaul®©™® and t' reintroduction o' A8-0 and A8-5 rocket motors because o' its obvious light weight. I resisted t' temptation t' load a C6-0/C6-7 pair. Avast! T' field would have probably been big enough, but this rocket was hard t' track at 1200 feet.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5