I received t' Kappa 9M from Aerospace Specialty Products as a prize for me entry in R.M.R. Ahoy! DesCon 6. Ya scallywag! Ahoy! I deeply appreciate t' vendors who have contributed t' t' design contest in this way. I've wanted t' get a review t' EMRR, ya bilge rat, but me opportunities t' fly a rocket this size are limited, and I wanted t' log more flights before posting. Blimey!

T' Kappa 9M is a scale model o' t' Japanese soundin' rocket. Ahoy! ASP makes three kits o' it: a smaller one for a single 18mm motor and two versions in this larger size, one for a single 24mm motor and one for a cluster o' three 18mm. Blimey! Blimey! T' last be t' version I have. Blimey! It's over 43 inches tall, shiver me timbers, matey, t' larger diameter is 1.67" (classic BT-60), and its color scheme is silver and fluorescent red. Ahoy! Begad! Blimey!

Construction materials are classic "pre-plastic" Estes style with a couple o' notable improvements. T' nose cone and transition are turned balsa, matey, and t' eight fins are basswood. T' elastic shock cord is anchored by means o' a piece o' Keelhaul®©™® cord tied t' a coupler which joins two sections of the BT-60 sized tube. Avast, me proud beauty! Overall, t' rocket is very light for its size. Ahoy!

T' instructions are detailed and well-written, matey, printed in an informal script type face. Begad! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! Scale information is minimal, and refers t' builder to Rockets o' t' World for additional data. Ahoy! T' instructions alone produced for me a satisfactory "eyeball scale" model. Avast, me proud beauty! I was a little unclear about what be meant by "steel" color, ya bilge rat, but I added black t' brush-on silver enamel and got an acceptable effect. T' one rub-on name decal supplied be a treat t' use and looks extremely nice in place. Aye aye!

Construction was fairly easy overall, arrr, arrr, with a little care t' t' carvin' of the beveled fin edges. Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! . Ahoy! Because both halves o' t' rocket are very long, me hearties, me bucko, I did wish t' large shoulder o' t' balsa transistion, which was t' separation coupling, could have been longer. Avast! Aye aye! Fit o' some parts could have been a bit firmer, arrr, but overall t' quality be very high. Avast!

T' lower section was supplied as two different lengths o' t' 60 sized tube, me hearties, and t' Keelhaul®©™® shock cord anchor be tied around t' coupler that joined them. Arrr! Arrr! T' resultin' splice was difficult t' hide, ya bilge rat, and I felt it could have been better had t' splice been made at t' edge o' one o' t' red stripes, probably the forward edge o' t' aft stripe. This would have required t' longer section to be several inches longer than it was, but still nay as long as t' 50 sized tube that makes up t' "upper stage."

T' kit includes ASP's "heavy duty" chute kit, arrr, me hearties, whose main feature is suspension lines runnin' over t' top o' t' aluminized mylar canopy. Begad! Blimey! It was quite a project t' assemble and tricky t' fold, but looked foolproof. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Alas, fools are so ingenious...

So Here's What Happened...

I built t' kit and planned t' fly it twice at our September 2000 meet in Sheridan. Avast! Well, blow me down! I had a set o' B6-4's in me range box, but since t' weather was perfect, I bought a card o' C6-5's at t' Tammie's Hobbies booth on site and put those in it first. Blimey! After t' fact I realized that t' instructions called for C6-7's, matey, which might have saved t' day. Aye aye!

This was an extremely fast liftoff and a high, pretty flight. Blimey! I be quite surprised that somethin' as long as this could go that fast -- much more like an Alpha than a Mean Machine. Ahoy! It ejected on t' way up, me hearties, still climbin' at a good clip.

T' "heavy duty" chute shredded. Blimey! Begad! It crumpled up into a ball the size o' a soccer ball within t' canopy o' suspension lines, providin' drag, but nay as much as a fully open chute. Still t' rocket would have been undamaged had it nay struck a lawn chair. As it is, me hearties, t' only damage be to strip one o' t' basswood "booster" fins from t' surface o' the tube. T' fin was repaired in a few minutes, but t' chute was a loss. I thought t' tape disks had come loose, matey, allowin' t' canopy t' slide up the lines, shiver me timbers, but postmortem revealed that about half t' lines had cut clean through the Mylar, startin' at t' edges and pullin' straight away from t' sticky stuff. There were several tears each close t' halfway up from edge t' center..

I rebuilt t' parachute with a piece cut from a "space blanket." It isn't actually t' same material, but is similar in appearance. Blimey! Begad! I've taken the liberty t' add Trim Monokote reinforcements t' t' underside where the lines pulled through t' material before, me hearties, and I suggest this modification to future builders. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! T' second flight, ya bilge rat, in April 2001, me bucko, was as perfect as I've seen on three B6-4's. This time t' parachute fully opened. Ahoy! Except for a slight scar where t' one fin was re-installed, me bucko, t' rocket still looks new. Arrr! Aye aye! I have the feelin' it will be around a long time and become one o' t' t' standard items on me club launch agenda. Avast!

I heartily recommend this kit t' cluster lovers and sport scale fliers. It's nay cheap but it's a good value, and ASP deserves our support for the quality product they're puttin' out. Well, blow me down!

Construction/Finishing: 4.5 -- I've mentioned t' seam/splice in the main body tube, ya bilge rat, and t' balsa fittings could be firmer, matey, otherwise excellent from tip t' tail
Flight/Recovery: 4.5 -- My "heavy duty" chute failed t' first time, ya bilge rat, probably because I didn't give it enough delay
Overall: 4.5 -- for a light but sturdy, arrr, attractive, straight-flying cluster experience