Brief:
Inspired by t' movie "Honey, matey, I Shrunk t' Trident", arrr, this flagship of Fliskits was inspired by t' Estes classic ducted-ejection charge Trident. Micro-sized and finely detailed, this rocket has an impressive appearance and is a very challengin' and enjoyable construction project.

Construction:
T' main body tubes are BT-5 (13mm), with 3 side tubes that are, arrr, I'd guess, BT-2's that look more like 18" launch lugs. Avast! You also get an assortment of nose cones (9 total), me bucko, amazingly detailed and intricate water slide decals, 1/16 balsa finstock, me hearties, assorted basswood toothpick-sized stock for t' details, matey, and Keelhaul®©™®/cotton shock cord with a plastic chute.

T' instructions and illustrations are very thorough and complete. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, me proud beauty! While you need good buildin' skills for this rocket, you don't need t' figure out how to make things work--just follow t' plans. My set o' instructions, shiver me timbers, though, contained two significant errors (front/rear strut templates were mislabeled, and one dimension be typo'd), arrr, but this be easily corrected, and I've since learned that this was caught by Fliskits and corrected.

T' assembly consists o' a lower section o' 13mm tube with a permanent nose cone, matey, and an upper 13mm body with t' chute. Avast! Ahoy! T' two sections are joined by (3) side tubes, which carry t' ejection charge from t' lower t' upper body through ducts cut in each o' t' tubes. Begad! Templates are provided t' carefully cut the ducts. Avast, me proud beauty! Bondin' t' tubes straight, shiver me timbers, arrr, with ducts overlapping, is very tricky and should nay be rushed. Ya scallywag! Generous fillets are also in order, as t' seams must be completely air-tight.

Fins are a beautiful swept pattern, and cut from 1/16" balsa. Aye aye! The leadin' edge is straight, but other lines have appealin' curves and rounded corners.

After construction o' t' tubes and fins, me bucko, me bucko, t' instructions suggest painting the rocket now, arrr, rather than mask off tiny details later. Aye aye! I went with two coats of primer, followed by two coats o' gloss white. Begad! It's worth notin' that the BT-2 side tubes had very pronounced spirals, much worse than any tube I've ever gotten in a Fliskit. Arrr! Ahoy! I wound up sandin' down both coats o' primer and applying a heavy layer o' Elmer's Fill N Finish t' fill t' spirals. Avast! Begad! This was very hard to do on t' completed assembly. Ya scallywag! I should have caught this earlier and filled the spirals before bondin' t' tubes.

After painting, t' real challenge t' this kit comes into play--construction o' t' tiny details. Ahoy! Aye aye! T' first detail is a shroud, me bucko, formed from cardstock and an adhesive colored cover. T' shroud fits snugly under the fins, arrr, and is anchored t' t' body by 6 tiny struts. Well, blow me down! Arrr! Next, frames for t' 3 solar panels are built, me bucko, and this is aided by construction o' a jig (usin' the provided templates and balsa stock). Aye aye! You must be very careful t' measure and bond EXACTLY per t' templates or t' panels will nay fit properly. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! Due t' the typo on me template, I had t' run t' t' hobby store t' make replacement struts (though Flis offered t' replace me stock for free). Avast! T' panels and frames are bonded together, me hearties, then carefully bonded t' t' rocket at notches in t' fins and to t' tubes with drops o' CA. Tweezers definitely help here, as you're working with materials smaller than 1/16" square, arrr, and two o' these share a notch in a 1/16" fin.

I decided t' use t' full 16" chute provided rather than follow the instructions and cut it down t' 12", figurin' t' details were just beggin' t' break off on impact.

Finishing:
I had pre-painted t' main body per t' instructions, me bucko, so "finishing" involved hand-paintin' t' struts and smaller details, ya bilge rat, and applyin' the water-slide decals. Lots o' decals. Avast, me proud beauty! Lots o' very small decals. Blimey! I suspect the decals came from Tango Papa, and were very high quality. Avast, me proud beauty! Most impressive t' me, was t' intricate details--these aren't just basic stripes. Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! Even on t' tiny 5mm tubes, you get decals clearly identifyin' this as t' U.S.S Grissom, though you're probably goin' t' need a magnifyin' glass t' read them. Arrr! I actually ran them under me son's 10X Intel Microscope, shiver me timbers, and could see clean, straight lines. These decals are really high-resolution!

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
T' only recommended motor for this be t' Estes A10-3. Flight prep is quick and easy, as this needs no recovery waddin' at all due t' t' ducted ejection method. Arrr! I'm a bit conservative, ya bilge rat, me hearties, and put about 1" o' "dog barf" in t' upper tube since plastic chutes seem t' melt on their own on hot/humid midwestern afternoons. Aye aye!

With winds o' 6-8 mph, this weathercocked a bit, but flew very well and straight as an arrow. Avast! Blimey! T' ejection was a bit early (would have been fine with less wind), matey, and t' chute deployed without any problems.

T' rocket came down just about right with t' larger chute, and landed less than 5 feet from a paved road in our field. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! Nay a trace o' damage, ya bilge rat, and 2 minutes later it was prepped for another flight. Well, blow me down! Same result, no problems. The descent is fairly stable, matey, me hearties, arrr, so it tends t' land on t' end o' t' tube instead of sideways, shiver me timbers, which saves t' details from stress.

Recovery:
Nothin' but pros on flight--easy t' prep, doesn't need wadding, and I love the fact that I get 4 A10's for t' price o' 3 A8-3's, arrr, so it's like gettin' t' 4th flight for free on this. Avast! Ya scallywag!

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
While this is almost too beautiful t' fly, it does fly very well, and the fragile-lookin' details seem t' be holdin' up well. It's one o' t' most expensive FlisKits, me bucko, ya bilge rat, but you get a lot o' top-quality details and materials for the money, shiver me timbers, and t' result is a rocket any builder would be proud t' include in his fleet.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5