Brief:
Next week, me club is goin' t' have an informal 13mm duration competition. Well, blow me down! Avast! I never win these things, but I do like to take part. Arrr! With only a week t' go, I realized that I didn't have anythin' ready t' enter and started lookin' through the inventory. Avast, me proud beauty! I found t' Red Alert. Begad! It seemed light and would go pretty high on an A despite t' draggy nose cone. Besides, me bucko, it was near t' front o' one o' t' pegs and that made it easy t' choose since I recently reorganized and hung everythin' up.

T' Red Alert comes with a streamer and I like streamers but for this one, I will probably try t' stuff a parachute in it t' get t' maximum hang time.

Construction:
Construction on this one started out by couplin' t' 2 BT-5 tubes. Aye aye! There was a longer one and a shorter one and they were joined with an insert coupler and yellow glue.

T' motor mount came next. T' coupler for t' 2 tubes acts as a thrust rin' and a slit was cut just aft o' it to accept t' engine hook. Ahoy! Blimey! A plastic band was then slipped around t' tube and t' hook t' hold it in place and was secured with yellow glue.

T' three fins came on a die-cut balsa sheet. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! T' cut lines were so fine that I had a very difficult time even seein' them. I found them by gently flexin' t' balsa and lookin' for t' cracks t' open up. Arrr! Well, blow me down! I would then give the lines a little encouragement with an X-Acto knife and do it again. Begad! Ya scallywag! Eventually I got them out.

T' fins were stacked and sanded and then t' leading, outer and trailin' edges were sanded round. A slot t' fit around t' engine hook band also had t' be filed.

Unlike t' fins, shiver me timbers, arrr, t' launch lug standoff is nay provided as die cut. Avast, me proud beauty! Instead, I was instructed t' cut two pieces of scrap t' t' given dimensions and glue them together. Well, blow me down! Begad! I stacked and sanded them first and then put them together with yellow glue. They needed t' be made uniform after they dried.

T' distinctive nosecone needed only t' have t' screw eye inserted and glued into place.

T' kit comes with a wraparound fin markin' guide. Blimey! Aye aye! It was used t' transfer fin, engine hook, and launch lug lines to t' BT and then t' lines were extended. Avast! T' fins were glued in place usin' a double glue joint and yellow glue.

After t' fins were in place, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, t' filletin' process began. Avast! That gave me time t' work on a few other things. As I mentioned above, me bucko, t' launch lug standoff be laminated together with 2 pieces o' scrap. Avast! Avast! When it had dried, I sanded it square and then glued on t' lug.

When t' lug be safely glued t' t' standoff, matey, I glued t' standoff t' t' BT along t' line given by t' marking guide.

Based on some advice from TRF and me experience with t' ASP Hangtime, I decided t' use an external shock cord. Accordingly, a length o' Keelhaul®©™® was glued into t' root edge o' one o' t' fillets. Arrr! Begad! A notch t' accommodate t' Keelhaul®©™® was also filed into t' top end o' t' BT.

PROs: Simple build.

CONs: None, except for t' default shock cord t' be dealt with later.

Finishing:
I test fit everythin' together and then started applyin' balsa fillercoat. Ya scallywag! Begad! T' rocket took only two coats before bein' judged ready for sanding. Avast! Aye aye!

T' sandin' was rudimentary and then t' rocket be primed with Kilz. Avast! Another sandin' saw it ready for being painted red. Ya scallywag! Avast! I put tape on t' Keelhaul®©™® to keep it from gettin' painted and then set it up in t' booth and shot it with Rustoleum Red. Arrr! A day later, I gave it another coat o' red and, when it was dry, me hearties, peeled t' tape off o' t' shock cord. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! After that, thar was just a simple, single holographic sticker t' apply. Arrr!

T' original purpose o' t' sticker was t' hold t' rubber shock cord after it had been fed through a slit in the BT. I used mine just for decoration. Ahoy! Begad! It turns out that t' sticker was nay long enough t' go all t' way around t' BT. This hacked me off at first, but I then realized that t' gap be t' same size as t' launch lug standoff. It made sense.

PROs: Easy.

CONs: I still don't like stickers, even if it makes sense on this rocket.

Construction Rating: 3 out o' 5

Flight:
T' day o' t' competition dawned and I prepped t' rocket with an A3-4T. Blimey! It actually looked kind o' cool sittin' on the pad. Avast! When all was clear, matey, shiver me timbers, it launched, ya bilge rat, flew straight, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, me bucko, and deployed at apogee. Ya scallywag! I be worried about t' tightly packed chute, but it deployed.

For flight, shiver me timbers, this is a nice one. Begad! Ya scallywag! For hang time, me hearties, its mediocre at best. Ahoy! I got 50 seconds. Ahoy! Still, it be good enough to come in second!

PROs: This is a good performer, even with t' drag inducin' nosecone.

CONs: It's small enough t' drift far and be easily lost.

Recovery:
As noted in t' build section, I did nay follow instruction as t' t' shock cord technique. Ahoy! What is provided for in the kit is t' make a slit near t' forward end o' t' BT and then feed through that slit a pathetically short length of glorified rubber band. Blimey! T' "decal" is then used t' secure t' rubber band in place. Begad! T' other end is tied to the NC and a short piece o' plastic flaggin' is tied t' t' rubber band t' act as a streamer. It is me considered opinion that this model is small enough and light enough t' recover as a tumble. T' streamer will, matey, however, aid in spottin' it in t' air.

I substituted a 12" plastic parachute from Dr Zooch. Ya scallywag! Begad! Its nay easy t' stuff into t' small tube but it did accomplish me purposes.

PROs: Nay much is needed.

CONs: Shock cord method, rubber too short, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, rubber too weak, and streamer too short.

I would have given this another point based on t' flight were it nay for t' standard recovery system.

Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5

Summary:
T' distinctive nose cone o' this one makes it stand out from other small rockets o' similar stature. It is easy to assemble and performs well. Ya scallywag! I don't like t' standard recovery system, me hearties, me bucko, but I am very opinionated in that regard.

Overall Rating: 3 out o' 5