Brief:
When I first saw Oddl Rockets' blast deflector on jonrocket.com's site, I be intrigued, and had figured I'd try one t' next time I needed t' pick up a few more o' t' grindin' disks combined with spent motor casings I've been using. Avast! I was pleasantly surprised, though, t' find one packed in with t' free Break-Away kit Chris had sent me in exchange for postin' a review.

Construction:
Components include...a blast deflector. Ahoy! It's a single piece ceramic half-egg shape, 2-5/16" diameter and 2" tall. Blimey! You still need t' provide t' launch pad, matey, rod, me hearties, arrr, and a conventional metal plate/blast deflector, me hearties, arrr, grindin' disk, me bucko, arrr, etc. as a base.

There's nothin' t' construct, arrr, as it's ready t' use. Ya scallywag! It does come with a single sheet o' suggested use/configurations, matey, includin' illustrations, which address a couple different styles o' launch gear.

Finishing:
Nothin' t' finish--it's a plain white ceramic part, shiver me timbers, designed t' get blasted.

Flight:
I took this out for a test spin, usin' it on top o' me regular plate but instead o' t' standoff. Well, blow me down! Note that it only works with 1/8" rods due t' t' small hole in t' top. Ahoy! I would think a slightly larger hole accommodatin' 3/16" would be preferable, ya bilge rat, arrr, matey, as that could handle 1/8" as well.

T' first model I launched was a Semroc Mars Lander, me bucko, ya bilge rat, which meant t' motor would be offset from t' center o' t' deflector by about 1/2". Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! T' launch be fine, and I didn't see any significant difference in thrust. A post-flight review at t' pad showed that t' blast be mostly deflected, but a fair amount still hit t' metal plate.

T' second flight was a regular BT50-based model with 18mm motor, matey, much closer t' t' center o' t' deflector. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! As t' photo shows, matey, this blast was almost entirely on t' deflector, virtually nothin' hittin' t' metal plate.

T' third test was a bit more aggressive, goin' with a 3x18mm cluster o' C6's. Begad! Much like t' first flight, t' motors offset more than about 1/4" wound up scorchin' t' metal plate a bit.

Summary:
This is a nifty little piece o' ground support that I'm definitely goin' t' be keepin' in me range box now. It does work nicely as a standoff, and has t' added bonus o' extendin' t' life o' t' grindin' disks I tend t' burn through on a regular basis.

Of course, t' 1/8" hole limits it flexibility, and t' $10 price tag probably classifies it as a launch luxury more than a launch necessity. After all, it's extendin' t' life o' somethin' I spend about $1-2 a year on (though would clearly be worth it t' someone buyin' replacement Estes deflectors), and eliminatin' t' standoff which I cheaply get for free (spent motor casings).

Overall, me hearties, thar's nothin' like it out thar that I know of, arrr, shiver me timbers, it does t' job fairly well, and it's certainly worth consideration for anyone lookin' t' upgrade or replace a portion o' their launch gear.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5