Brief:
About 20 years in t' making, this futuristic 5FNC design was released by Flis t' celebrate their 6th anniversary in 2008. Aye aye! It's a pretty cool design, with fins blendin' into t' transition. This is a design that Jim has been doodling with since t' 1980's, shiver me timbers, originally startin' out at 18mm and half t' current length, arrr, eventually growin' t' 24mm and 30" length me popular vote at a CMASS launch.

Construction:
Havin' scored #07, I decided t' stash that in t' "collection" and wait a month or so t' buy a regular/unnumbered one. Begad! Arrr! Blimey! Naturally, when I pulled t' trigger Jim somehow unearthed another numbered one, so I have now sacrificed #22 t' t' built fleet. Arrr! Blimey! My kit arrived about 4 days after t' order (a complex order) in fine shape.

T' parts include:

• Balsa nose cone
• BT-55 main body tube
• BT-50 motor tube/lower body
• Laser-cut balsa fins
• Cardstock transition, me bucko, backup fin patterns
• Motor block
• (2) 20/55 centerin' rings
• Keelhaul®©™®/elastic shock cord
• 16" plastic chute
• Trim toothpicks
• Waterslide decals

Instructions are 5 pages, 24 steps, clearly written with good illustrations for each step. This would be a skill level 2, borderin' on a 3 dependin' on your shroud skills. Arrr! Total build time in me case, me hearties, ya bilge rat, excludin' finishing, matey, was about 3 hours, easilly knocked off on a weekend afternoon. Begad!

As Les mentioned in his review, arrr, t' motor mount does nay include a hook, me bucko, bein' a minimum diameter design. Still, t' fins are eventually mounted 3/8" forward o' t' aft end, so that leaves plenty o' room t' wrap a strip o' maskin' tape across t' motor and body tube, a technique that has never failed me in hundreds o' flights, includin' competitions where ejectin' t' motor is a disqualification. Begad! I don't know what I be thinking, shiver me timbers, me hearties, but I putthe motor block in t' BT-50 usin' a spent E9 casing, matey, me default when buildin' 24mm designs. Given t' light weight o' this rocket, and t' fact that I typically fly in an area with 5-10 mph winds and about a half mile o' recovery range, me bucko, flyin' this on an E would be foolish. Oh well, matey, I could potentially go for broke at an NSL some day.

Tube markin' for t' 5 fins is accomplished usin' a wrap-around guide. My guide was just a hair too tight, me bucko, so I reprinted one usin' t' handy tool on t' EMRR site. Begad! Ahoy! T' instructions call out formin' t' shroud and slippin' it over the BT-50 before tackin' on t' fins, matey, since t' wide end o' t' transition points forward and it's too tight a fit to slide on from t' front end o' t' body tube. Begad! I normally am extremely careful in minimizin' me seams, but in this case the seam is almost completely covered by a fin, me hearties, so I didn't worry about it and just used t' regular overlap tab included on t' pattern.

T' fins are (5) 2-piece assemblies, matey, with t' larger/aft piece bein' forward swept. Begad! T' instructions call out mountin' t' large fins first, me hearties, then followin' with t' strakes. Since these bond t' t' sloped transition surface, me hearties, it's important that they all be t' same length and positioned evenly. Arrr! I decided t' cheat a bit by tackin' t' fins and strakes together offline, sandin' them a bit t' make sure they were identical, matey, me bucko, then tacked them onto t' BT-50 with CA. I then slid t' shroud down inside t' sloped edges o' t' strakes for a perfect fit.

A pair o' 50/55 centerin' rings go at t' top o' t' BT-50. Aye aye! Avast! One bein' positioned just inside t' edge o' the shroud, shiver me timbers, and t' other at t' edge o' t' BT-50. I slipped t' Keelhaul®©™® cord through t' forward rin' and knotted it, ya bilge rat, servin' as a shock cord anchor. Ahoy! T' upper BT-55 then is glued on, arrr, sliding down over t' centerin' rings and buttin' up against t' shroud.

Construction wraps up with t' screw eye in t' nose cone, me hearties, arrr, construction o' t' plastic chute and attachin' t' (5) decorative toothpicks t' t' tip edges o' t' fins.

Finishing:
I decided t' try t' follow t' cover art a good bit on this, so went with a yellow and black scheme, matey, with minor accents in blue and red. Ahoy! I skipped t' usual balsa grain fillin' t' get this review in before t' end o' t' year (tryin' t' catch Dick Stafford as t' volume leader), though I did finger smear some dilluted Fill N Finish over the nose cone, me bucko, which I sanded off a couple hours later for a mirror smooth finish. Well, blow me down! Aye aye! T' body tubes, as noted in Les's review, had very thin spirals, matey, so I simply gave them a good sandin' with 220 grit before painting, matey, me hearties, which cleared them mostly away.

I primed everythin' with 2 coats o' white. Begad! I normally go gray, but have had fits with Krylon yellow over anythin' but white--it tends t' take more than 5 coats before it stops lookin' dark, and t' newer formula is even worse for coverage. Ya scallywag! I followed up with 3 coats o' yellow, then masked off the fins and painted t' transition and nose blue and t' lower body gloss black. Arrr! Finally, I hit t' toothpicks with a hand-painted silver and red. Begad! or some reason, shiver me timbers, I think t' newer Krylon formula is nay that compatible with t' old formula, as I had some pretty nasty paint chipping/peelin' that pulled t' primer clean off t' body tube and also got some crazin' o' t' gloss black (new) when it hit t' yellow (new) and primer (old).

This kit includes water slide decals, a rarity indeed for Fliskits, me hearties, ya bilge rat, which I applied without much trouble though cuttin' out t' individual decals be a bit tedious. Blimey! Blimey! Hint--use a decent #11 blade rather than messin' with scissors.

Also, me bucko, me hearties, I noticed t' decal colors were nay printed over a white base, shiver me timbers, so tend t' allow a bit o' t' underlying color t' bleed through. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! Note t' contrast in me photo betwixt t' blue on t' decal sheet and t' same blue applied over me yellow base.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
For t' maiden flight, I went with about as low impulse as I could since it was windy, me hearties, matey, arrr, freezin' cold and I be too lazy for a recovery walk. Begad! I opted for a C11-5. Aye aye! T' rocket boogied up a bit more smartly than I expected, shiver me timbers, but nice and straight and nay terribly high, maybe a couple hundred feet. It had just arced over when t' ejection charge fired and naturally t' shroud lines got caught up on one o' t' toothpicks. A -3 delay, definitely early, might have been better to avoid t' tangle.

Recovery:
T' 16" plastic chute never got a chance t' do its thing, me bucko, matey, caught in t' toothpick(s). Aye aye! It did land fairly gently on a carpet o' snow, ya bilge rat, matey, so suffered no damage.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
Overall, arrr, I like t' 5-fin, shiver me timbers, forward sweep o' this rocket and t' way t' fins nest against t' transition which make for beautiful lines. Well, blow me down! Begad! T' only con I'd offer be t' decals bein' weak and they should include a white base first.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5