Brief:
There's somethin' seriously wrong with Jim Flis, matey, shiver me timbers, and thankfully t' rest o' us in t' hobby can enjoy t' fruits of his eccentricity. FlisKits continues t' expand t' Micro T' T' Max line and also continues t' dabble in NAR competition designs. Arrr! Rather than monkey with relatively simple events, matey, me bucko, Jim started with one o' t' most challenging events held today, arrr, and with t' Nanite has tamed t' Rocket Glider event for t' MMX crowd. Arrr! Now, with t' Tiddlywink, the world has a relatively easy t' build 1/8A helicopter model that performs fairly well and this model will surely be the most common rocket at NARAM this year.

Construction:
As with t' Nanite, shiver me timbers, Jim had t' abandon t' MTTM standard o' usin' a tiny baggie and instructions/header card all fittin' on a single 8.5" x 11" sheet o' paper. This is packed like a "real" kit in a heat-sealed bag with plenty o' good quality components including:

• Balsa nose cone
• BT-2.5 motor tube
• Balsa fin/blade stock (1/16")
• 1/8" wood dowel
• Sig rubber
• Assorted launch lugs
• Swivel/pin hinges
• Wire, matey, thread, assorted do-dads

As someone with about 500 builds under his belt, includin' maybe 25-30 helicopter models, let me assure you that t' instructions for this are a must read and should be very closely followed. Avast, me proud beauty! It's nay that it's a complex build, but that it incorporates some unusual techniques and design features and you'll need t' thoroughly read t' instructions t' catch this.

Despite t' fact that I had a few performance-enhancin' tweaks I wanted t' make along t' way, I built this one completely stock and will review it as such. Aye aye! Arrr! I'll save t' tweaks after dialin' in this one for a few flights first. Ya scallywag!

Weight is a killer t' helicopter performance, arrr, especially when slidin' all t' way down t' Micromaxx level and so I'll also note a few key weights along t' way. Well, blow me down! Overall, me model weighs in at a very respectable 4.3 grams empty. It could easily be built a bit under 4 grams with a few minor tweaks.

Construction starts with t' motor tube, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, a fairly tiny section o' BT-2.5. Blimey! Begad! You glue a centerin' rin' into the forward end which will serve as t' stop for t' piston assembly. Avast! Key construction tip nay covered in t' instructions: make sure you clean up and burrs on t' ID, arrr, shiver me timbers, even try t' sand it lightly if you can. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast! Make sure you get a good fillet on the forward seam. Next, shiver me timbers, drill a couple 1/8" vent holes just aft o' t' centerin' ring. Avast! Drillin' is easy, shiver me timbers, but cleanin' up t' frayin' inside o' t' tube is a little pain. Blimey! Remember, this is piston-activated, so t' inside o' this tube has t' be very smooth. Arrr! I taped a scrap o' sandpaper t' t' outside o' a scrap o' 1/8" dowel (from a later step) and sanded t' inside smooth. Avast! I also soaked a little thin CA on t' holes so they would nay fray. Blimey! Arrr! At 0.4 grams, the motor tube represented almost 10% o' me total weight, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, but if you want it t' last very long as a piston, thar's not much that can reasonably be done t' shave weight here.

T' main shaft o' t' model is a 1/8" wood dowel cut down t' 8" long, which gets a centerin' ring attached at t' end which enables it t' slide inside t' BT-2.5 t' work as a piston. Blimey! Blimey! Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! Blimey! This single piece wound up being over 25% o' me total weight at 1.2 grams (after cutting). Ya scallywag! Blimey! Hardcore competition folks know thar are a number of alternatives that could shave about a third o' this weight, arrr, although that clearly gets beyond t' target market for this kit.

Next come t' blades, hand cut from 1/16" balsa sheet, along with fins from same. Begad! Begad! T' 9" x 3" balsa sheet supplied with me kit weighed in at 2.2 grams. Blimey! Well, blow me down! Nay bad, but nay exactly contest balsa. T' blades, me bucko, before sanding, ya bilge rat, worked out t' about 1.0 grams for t' set, me hearties, and t' fins added another 0.3 grams. Ya scallywag! T' blades get a pretty common airfoil and camber: flat bottom, rounded leadin' edge, and tapered trailin' edge. Ahoy! However, t' instructions call for actually splittin' t' blade in two and re-gluin' usin' a cardstock angle for t' camber. Avast! I prefer t' lightly score the blade, then flex/snap open t' cut line t' flex open a camber. I then filled t' exposed crack with medium CA. Begad! The CA wound up weighin' more than t' balsa I'd sanded off in airfoiling, me bucko, matey, so me finished blades (with fins) wound up weighin' in at 1.5 grams for t' set, me bucko, up from t' 1.3 grams I started at.

I have t' note t' fins on this, which are very unusual. Avast, me proud beauty! Most copter designs use fins attached t' some sort of body tube at t' base, matey, and flat/cambered blades that snap into place at deployment. Flis saves some mass and tries to turn everythin' into addin' performance and has t' fins incorporated into t' blade design as little flaps/extensions. Usin' this approach, ya bilge rat, arrr, t' fins aren't quite facin' in t' usual 120-degree orientation, but they are balanced and work, plus when deployed wind up helpin' t' blades a bit rather than actin' as drag when t' model tries t' spin. Ahoy! It's a very clever approach that is probably goin' t' influence copter design in t' future. Ahoy! Blimey! Since their primary purpose is blade extensions, t' airfoil sanded into them will seem whacked--rounded leadin' and trailin' edges with a tapered airfoil from root edge t' tip edge. Ya scallywag! It makes sense once you mount them...

With t' blades and fins done, construction will pick up pace. Ahoy! Ahoy! Blades get tiny sections o' launch lug on the forward underside that serve as receptacles for t' hinge pins. T' dowel is inserted into t' motor tube (at which point you need t' confirm t' smooth flow o' t' piston assembly, matey, most likely discoverin' a need t' sand down t' dowel a good bit).

T' hinges are another cool feature o' t' kit. Avast! Well, blow me down! I've typically used either trimmed down Klett hinges or music wire, which either means weight or finicky performance. Blimey! Jim's found a nice little plastic hinge that looks like it was removed from t' shoulder o' a tiny little Transformer toy or robot. They're actually Robart hinge points, available from Sig, and you might want t' pick up a few o' these as spare parts down t' road or in me case, for scratch builds. I love t' performance and weight. One end o' t' pins is glued t' t' top o' t' dowel (after t' dowel is glued into the nose cone) and t' other end is glued into t' launch lug on t' underside o' a blade. Ahoy! I found that sandin' the side that goes on t' dowel a bit flat will help improve t' surface area for easier bonding. Begad! I also had trouble with the other end bein' too loose in t' lugs for a good fit, me hearties, and so I had t' insert a tiny sliver o' napkin into one end of t' lug then t' pin in t' other so that t' CA would grab on t' napkin and smartly lock t' hinge pin into position.

T' mounted blades then get some detailin' t' manage t' launch and deployment action. Aye aye! T' hold them in place durin' boost, each blade gets a tiny arm attached that's formed from brass wire. Ahoy! This arm locks in place in t' exposed forward end o' t' motor tube/piston. Ahoy! When t' piston is pushed forward at ejection, arrr, shiver me timbers, t' arm slides out o' t' tube and releases t' blade. T' blade is deployed via a piece o' Sig rubber, shiver me timbers, matey, attached t' a pin inserted into t' nose cone, and through t' blade. Avast! Ahoy! T' dihedral o' t' blade deployment is controlled/limited by a piece o' shroud line strin' anchored to t' dowel shaft on one end and t' underside o' t' blade.

Finishing:
For sport flying, you might want t' paint this but in doin' so would likely double t' weight and potentially muck up the lines and piston controllin' blade deployment. A better approach as recommended in t' instructions would be to color t' model with magic markers. Blimey! Begad! I left mine naked for first flights but will eventually Sharpie it when I start to fly on bigger fields with taller grass.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
Chompin' at t' bit t' see how it would fly, matey, ya bilge rat, I zipped down t' me local ball field/park where I was able t' set up on a vacant soccer field at twilight. Flight prep is quite easy on this compared t' typical copters with burn strings--just hook up t' elastic, shiver me timbers, arrr, me hearties, fold down t' blades, and slide them down t' catch t' hooks on t' forward lip of the motor tube.

I had loaded t' only recommended motor for this, shiver me timbers, matey, a Quest MMX-II, and used one o' t' very nice (albeit expensive at $0.50 apiece) Q2 igniters especially designed for Micromaxx (the version without pyrogen dip). Avast! These igniters eliminate t' nuisance I've occasionally had with either breakin' open/reworkin' t' little plastic-based old style MMX igniters or cutting/foldin' up me own from bare nichrome wire.

Since I built stock, arrr, shiver me timbers, I also didn't want t' juice me performance with a piston and flew usin' a standard MMX rod (with t' kit's supplied launch lug). T' boost was fairly straight, but thar be a little wobble action towards the top. It wasn't that high though, maybe 75 feet or so at apogee.

Recovery:
MMX's are notoriously short delays, barely a second, arrr, which usually results in very early deployments unless you're dealin' with a heavy or high drag model. Well, blow me down! In this case, matey, I could definitely have used another 0.5-1.0 second as it was still coastin' up when t' blades came up.

Deployment be perfect. Avast, me proud beauty! T' blades snapped into position immediately and in less than a second it started spinning. Avast, me proud beauty! Within two seconds, t' blades were practically a blur. I be flyin' in dead air, arrr, virtually no wind, and my time was pretty close t' 30 seconds.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This is an outstandin' little rocket and another great MMX competition performer. Blimey! Aye aye! There is no doubt whatsoever that at NARAM, t' 1/8A-HD record o' 27 seconds for A division (children), matey, arrr, 16 seconds for B division (teens), ya bilge rat, and 29 seconds for team division will fall. Begad! Blimey! I'd even wager that a slightly enhanced version o' this kit will top t' C division (adult) record o' 64 seconds.

Copters and/or Micromaxx might nay be t' most appealin' niches in rocketry, but me two cents' says this is one of t' best overall designs/products out there.

Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5