Brief:
This is a good, clean, single staged rocket which uses an 18" plastic parachute for recovery.

Construction:
There is a single body tube, me hearties, with three fins. Aye aye! T' construction is very simple, and t' design is very basic.

T' construction was fairly simple with an overall basic design. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' Estes instructions were very thorough, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, and I was nay confused at any point. Avast! Aye aye! Blimey! T' only problem I had was with t' fit o' t' couplin' betwixt t' body tube and the payload area. Ya scallywag! I had t' cut off one layer o' t' red paper in order t' fit the two pieces together, but otherwise thar were no problems. Avast! Blimey! I didn't use the 'antenna' that were provided, me hearties, as it would just add extra drag.

Finishing:
I just finished this rocket with conventional spray paint. A couple coats of primer, then a few each o' gloss black and white t' their corresponding regions. Aye aye! T' finishin' near t' tail fins be difficult as t' gloss white had to extend partly betwixt t' fins. Begad! I think it might be easier t' paint t' fins first and t' body tube separately and then epoxy them together, t' get the best finish.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
T' recommended motor be a D12-5, me hearties, but Estes has unfortunately discontinued this size. I have t' go t' t' C11-5 and D12-3. Ahoy! Begad! T' C11-5's were great. Avast, me proud beauty! I got many great flights with this size, arrr, which were all visible with a clear sky. When I launched t' D12-3 t' rocket went almost out o' sight, ya bilge rat, me hearties, but I forgot to put waddin' in and t' parachute partially got scorched. Even though thar was almost nothin' slowin' t' rockets decent it was perfectly intact when it landed about 50ft. Avast! away from t' launch site in a pile o' snow. Ya scallywag! Blimey! I decided that the rocket could handle an E9-6, so I launched one o' with that as well. Avast, me proud beauty! I lost site o' it as it passed through some clouds at about 1200 ft, arrr, but then saw it about 20 seconds later passin' through them, safely floatin' down. It landed about 100 ft. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! away from t' launch site (0-5mph o' wind). Begad! Aye aye! All t' flights were perfectly straight and extremely predictable, ya bilge rat, this is a great rocket.

Recovery:
T' only problem is this rocket doesn't need a parachute so large. I cut a 2 inch hole in t' top o' t' parachute t' help it descend faster, but it still took well over 2 minutes on t' D12-3. T' shock cord bent t' body tube at the top on t' D12-3, ya bilge rat, so I didn't use any more D's on it. I think you could almost recover this thin' without any recovery system at all.

Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5

Summary:
This rocket was easy t' build, ya bilge rat, flew great, matey, almost too great, me hearties, as I lost it on my last launch o' t' day. Only con is that thar aren't too many engines you can use standard on this thing, shiver me timbers, and t' D12-3 is nay recommended. Arrr! Avast! I'm goin' t' try an Aerotech E30 on this, matey, I don't know what it will do with almost triple the force o' t' Estes D's. Just don't launch this with a delay time o' less than 3 seconds. Aye aye!

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5