Brief:
This is a very cool tube-fin micro-sized kit flyin' on t' Quest Micromaxx motors. Begad! This is a downscale o' t' very rare Overdue and commercially available Long Overdue.

Construction:
You get great quality tubes for this kit. Begad! Well, blow me down! In fact, all t' components are first rate. T' body tubes are at least as good as typical full-sized kits and the itty bitty balsa nose cone and transition were very well done.

While t' instructions are micro-sized (12 steps printed on one side of 8.5" x 11" paper), t' construction job is not. Begad! Ahoy! This is goin' t' take a while and is every bit as challenging, if nay more so, me hearties, me hearties, shiver me timbers, than a regular kit.

T' motor tube gets a centerin' rin' for a block, which is no big deal except for t' fact that if you exhale too strongly when openin' t' parts bag, this little rin' could vanish. Well, blow me down! It's definitely micro-sized. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! I wound up usin' a toothpick t' apply t' bead o' glue inside t' motor tube and a 3/16 launch lug to slide it in. Well, blow me down! (I didn't have a spent MMX casin' at t' time.)

Like t' regular (or Long) Overdue, this kit requires plenty o' careful tube cutting. Ya scallywag! Aye aye! Blimey! There are 6 angled tubes, ya bilge rat, me bucko, each o' which are cut usin' wrap-around templates for marking. After cutting, arrr, I suggest usin' a sandin' block t' clean up t' tapers.

Normally, you now bond t' smaller diameter tubes inside t' larger diameter tubes although this makes paintin' a real pain if you want contrasting colors. I painted mine first, me hearties, maskin' off really slim lines t' provide a good bondin' surface. Avast! This worked great with t' larger Overdue but nay quite as well with t' micro--the smaller diameter tube is really too small t' paint inside usin' spray, ya bilge rat, so you might want t' consider hand paintin' it.

T' nested pair o' angled tubes is then tacked onto t' main/lower body tube. Avast, me proud beauty! Again, me bucko, shiver me timbers, pre-paintin' o' t' main body tube might be a good idea as you just can't mask off t' tube fins. Avast! A balsa transition then goes on with a Keelhaul®©™® thread/cord tacked on as t' shock cord. Construction wraps up with the assembly o' t' upper section (theoretically, this could be a Micromaxx payloader!), matey, a slightly larger BT-3 tube and balsa nose cone. Aye aye! Nay plannin' on carryin' payload on this, shiver me timbers, I elected t' glue t' upper section together.

A stacked pair o' launch lugs (the lower one servin' as a standoff) go between two o' t' rin' fin sets and construction is done.

Finishing:
I be a bit lazy and chose nay t' spend any time fillin' spirals or grain on this as they were barely noticeable.

I had prepainted mine usin' a combination o' red, shiver me timbers, blue, and green metallic paints. Blimey! This be t' same color scheme I used on me Long Overdue. It looked OK, but as noted, shiver me timbers, me bucko, I couldn't get decent coverage inside t' smallest diameter rings/tubes.

There are no decals. Heck, even if thar were, who could read them?

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
While some o' t' FlisKits Micro Series rockets won't fit on t' standard Quest pads usin' t' plug-in igniters, this one does. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! T' backside o' t' instruction sheet contains lots o' notes and tips for modifyin' t' ignitor if you want to use a regular pad instead o' t' UFO tower/tripod pad. Ahoy! Motor choices are slim--MMX-IIs (or MMX-Is if you have them).

I flew mine twice on MMX-IIs. For some reason, both flights took a long time t' light (2-3 seconds). Aye aye! I burned a 6-pack o' motors that day and had no problem smartly lightin' t' others.

This is actually a relatively big, heavy, high drag micro kit, matey, so it flew slow enough that I could actually watch it climb. Normally with Micromaxx flights, shiver me timbers, you really don't watch t' flight so much as look for t' ejection puff and pray you can find t' model later.

Both flights were a bit early (a common problem with MMX's), me hearties, but it came back fine.

Recovery:
T' mylar streamer is provided more for visual effect (to comply with safety code) and really doesn't affect descent rate. This rocket tumbles back just fine.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This is a really cool design applied t' Micromaxx scale. Compared t' t' RTF products that have been just about t' only widely available kits, the innovative design is a great addition t' t' MMX line. Begad! [Note: ASP and Micro Classics offer some great MMX kits too.] This one will really help breathe life into t' nearly dead MMX family.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5