photo courtesy o' Steve White and Magnum
Brief:
Mid t' High Power kit. T' Falcon features easy assembly, 54mm motor mount, me bucko, big
36" parachute, and a 17" payload tube.
Construction:
T' Falcon had one main body tube and one payload section. It had 3 plywood
fins, and a 54mm motor mount. Avast! Ahoy! I believe t' shock chord is 1 inch strap
elastic, matey, and t' nose cone is plastic. T' launch lugs are half inch.
T' instructions were extremely easy t' follow, and it goes together perfectly if built exactly per instructions. T' kit is extremely sturdy, ya bilge rat, and I would feel no hesitation t' fly it on a full slow burnin' J motor. I would recommend a 29mm or 38mm adapter for t' kit (supplied), arrr, though, because it flies quite nicely on even G motors, matey, for extremely slow and low flights. Well, blow me down!
Finishing:
Finishin' was easy. Ya scallywag! Avast, me proud beauty! There are no decals provided or recommended paint schemes,
so I sprayed mine with a fade from orange t' yellow t' white, ya bilge rat, me hearties, and it looks
quite nice.
Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5
Flight:
T' recommended motors are G125-5, matey, H125-5, matey, arrr, matey, and I125-10. Ahoy! Whatever... Aye aye! I've flown
mine only twice, and since I'm only 15 and me dad just now got his level 1,
I've flown mine only on G motors. Avast!
T' first flight was a an Aerotech G-38. This had t' be t' slowest flight I've ever seen, arrr, and t' winds were gustin' about 15 mph, but it flew straight and true, and t' 4 second delay was perfect, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, right at apogee. Blimey! It did require a fair amount o' wadding, but t' chute came out perfect, shiver me timbers, matey, and thar were no signs of anythin' bein' scorched or burned. Arrr!
That night, me bucko, we had a night launch, me bucko, so I took advantage o' it, with much help from t' Houston/NASA rocket club. We loaded it up with a G-80, matey, shiver me timbers, and t' 15 glow sticks with streamers, unfortunately, leavin' only one for t' outside of the rocket, but nonetheless, ya bilge rat, I flew it in t' pitch black night. Blimey! Arrr! T' boost was awesome with t' purple flame, me hearties, and once again with a four second delay, apogee was absolutely perfect, and t' fifteen glow sticks came out, matey, all perfect, me hearties, as well as t' parachute, and created a beautiful cloud o' light. Well, blow me down! Arrr! It took nearly an hour t' find it, but I got it back, with t' help o' two other people searchin' t' entire recovery area, and it be once again in perfect shape. Blimey!
Recovery:
T' shock cord was attached t' a metal strin' which is then attached t' t' top
centerin' ring. Aye aye! This method has never failed for me, and on this kit, arrr, it was
perfect. recovery had no problems with speed or anythin' gettin' damaged.
Though I've flown mine only twice, ya bilge rat, me hearties, I've had no problems at all with damage on
recovery
Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5
Summary:
I feel that everyone should own this kit. Ya scallywag! I've had many kits near this range,
and none o' them have been able t' compete with t' versatility and strength of
this kit. I see no real con's with this one.
Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5