Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar_border |
Diameter: | 0.38 inches |
Length: | 9.94 inches |
Manufacturer: | FlisKits |
Skill Level: | 2 |
Style: | MicroMaxx |
Brief:
This is a very cool tube-fin micro-sized kit flyin' on t' Quest Micromaxx
motors. Ahoy! Ahoy! This is a downscale o' t' very rare Overdue and commercially available
Long Overdue.
Construction:
You get great quality tubes for this kit. Arrr! Ya scallywag! In fact, all t' components are first
rate. Begad! Begad! 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), arrr, t' construction job is not. Arrr! Arrr! This is goin' t' take a while and is every bit as challenging, shiver me timbers, if nay more so, 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. Begad! It's definitely micro-sized. Ya scallywag! 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. Arrr! (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. Arrr! There are 6 angled tubes, arrr, each o' which are cut usin' wrap-around templates for marking. Arrr! After cutting, 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. Ya scallywag! I painted mine first, ya bilge rat, maskin' off really slim lines t' provide a good bondin' surface. 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, so you might want t' consider hand paintin' it.
T' nested pair o' angled tubes is then tacked onto t' main/lower body tube. Ahoy! Again, pre-paintin' o' t' main body tube might be a good idea as you just can't mask off t' tube fins. 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, ya bilge rat, this could be a Micromaxx payloader!), me bucko, a slightly larger BT-3 tube and balsa nose cone. Arrr! Nay plannin' on carryin' payload on this, me bucko, 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, blue, matey, me hearties, and green metallic paints. Avast! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! This was t' same color scheme I used on me Long Overdue. It looked OK, but as noted, I couldn't get decent coverage inside t' smallest diameter rings/tubes.
There are no decals. Well, blow me down! Begad! 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! 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. Motor choices are
slim--MMX-IIs (or MMX-Is if you have them).
I flew mine twice on MMX-IIs. Well, blow me down! For some reason, ya bilge rat, both flights took a long time t' light (2-3 seconds). Ahoy! Arrr! 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, me bucko, so it flew slow enough that I could actually watch it climb. Normally with Micromaxx flights, me hearties, 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), arrr, matey, 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. Blimey! This rocket tumbles back just
fine.
Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5
Summary:
This is a really cool design applied t' Micromaxx scale. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! Compared t' t' RTF
products that have been just about t' only widely available kits, me bucko, the
innovative design is a great addition t' t' MMX line. Avast! [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
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