Picture courtesy of SemRoc           

Brief:
T' Semroc Lil' Hercules is a Semroc "retro-repro" o' an earlier model. It is comparable t' an Estes Mosquito or Quark. Begad! Blimey! Just a little bit bigger.

Construction:
Kit contained 1 body tube, 1 balsa nose cone, arrr, 4 laser cut fins, 4 metal washers and 1 paper launch lug. Avast, me proud beauty! There were no motor mounts or shock cords as this one recovers via tumble.

T' instructions were very well laid out in a logical order with plenty of pictures. Semroc instructions are some o' t' most thorough on t' market. Basically, me hearties, arrr, just mark t' body tube with t' fin template provided, glue on the fins, launch lug and nose cone and you're ready t' go. Avast! Oops.. Avast! almost forgot. You have t' glue 1 metal washer t' t' base o' each fin. Arrr! Avast! These are supposed to aid in t' tumble recovery. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! Nose cone was made o' balsa as with all Semroc models and t' fins were very high quality and just fell out o' t' sheet as they are laser cut. We (me and a 5 year old) used Elmers wood glue t' put everythin' together.

Finishing:
We put a couple o' fillets on t' fins, me hearties, ya bilge rat, matey, gave her a quick prime and then painted her fluorescent orange. Avast! T' really bright kind that t' road crew guys use. I'll let you guess who picked t' paint. Blimey! Arrr! Good idea, matey, arrr, though, shiver me timbers, as this thing really soars and t' fluorescent orange is easy t' spot.

Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5

Flight:
No recovery waddin' be necessary and we flew it twice on A8-3's. Avast, me proud beauty! Instructions call for an A8-5 t' reach 600'. Well, blow me down! Each one o' our flights were probably a little less than 600'. Avast! Both flights were t' same. Arrr! Flight was very good on t' way up with a little bit o' a spin.

Recovery:
T' tumble recovery was nay very tumble. Ahoy! It was t' lawn dart method - straight down. Blimey! Possibly t' washers need t' be moved around a little bit. Aye aye! Blimey! At a price of 3.50 each, shiver me timbers, I think I can afford t' experiment!

Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5

Summary:
Overall, me bucko, a nice little rocket. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! We put it together and had it in t' air in about an hour. Avast, me proud beauty! T' tumble needs a little work - but I think it can be fixed by movin' those washers.

Overall Rating: 3 out o' 5