Brief:
T' Binder Design Raptor is a single stage 4 inch diameter kit. Arrr! Well, blow me down! It has a 54mm motor mount and comes with high quality paper body tubes and laser cut fins. Aye aye! Ahoy!

Construction:
T' Raptor came with two 36" body tubes and an Ace nose cone. Well, blow me down! T' body tubes are paper and BSD style with a glassine coating. Begad! Avast! It comes with one paper coupler, one bulkhead, 3 plywood centerin' rings, two eyebolts, me hearties, 2 quick links, 18 feet o' tubular nylon, arrr, and a 45" Top Flight parachute. Well, arrr, blow me down! It had three sets o' four fins. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! T' fins are 3/16" aircraft plywood and come laser cut and sanded. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! It came with one nice white vinyl decal that said 'Raptor'. Ahoy!

One definite pro t' this kit be t' extensive instructions, which included directions on how t' make it dual deploy and adapt it for use with Hypertek hybrid motors. Aye aye! It had good drawings that showed exactly what t' do and left nothin' t' chance. Arrr! Another thin' that was good about this kit be t' you had to slot t' tubes yourself, matey, me bucko, which be actually rather easy with a Dremel. Begad! It is also easily done with a sharp X-Acto knife. One thin' we did in this kit is fiberglass fillets on t' fins t' allow for a hard landing. Avast, me proud beauty! T' only downside was that it be hard t' finish. Avast! Everythin' fit together perfectly with almost no need for sanding. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! T' put it together, arrr, we just marked and slotted t' tubes, tacked t' fins in place with 5 minute epoxy, ya bilge rat, and then applied fiberglass fillets. One tip t' align t' fins is t' use two clamps and a strip o' wood attached t' both set o' fins. This will insure that they are perfectly lined up. Blimey! T' only con be that t' directions did nay include t' rocket's CP, me hearties, so when it came time for flight some assumptions had t' be made. It really isn't that big o' a deal as I had simmed it on RockSim and knew approximately where it was, arrr, ya bilge rat, but that is just one minor detail.

Finishing:
T' kit is pretty easy t' finish. Arrr! T' only thin' for us be that we used fiberglass fillets, me hearties, so it took a little Kilz primer and Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish to get it t' look presentable. Begad! We painted ours yellow and blue. Arrr! T' decal is computer cut vinyl and says 'Raptor' in a pretty cool font o' white letters. We were nay able t' apply ours as we peeled off t' wrong side and t' letters were messed up in t' process. Begad! This kit looks pretty sharp once it is finished no matter what paint scheme you use. Well, blow me down!

Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5

Flight:
We have only flown it once for a successful level 1 certification and it be a beautiful flight. Ahoy! Blimey! We used a Pro38 I285 with a 6 second delay. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! We also attached a Boostervision camera and got a nice video o' t' flight. Well, blow me down! Blimey! One cool thin' about the flight be that t' split fin design caused a whistle after motor burnout. RockSim said about 2800 feet on that motor but we built it heavy so I would estimate about 2200-2400' for us.

Recovery:
One cool thin' about this kit be t' 18 feet o' tubular nylon t' manufacturer provides. I thought it be a nice touch. Ahoy! We used t' supplied 45" parachute with main at apogee. Avast, me proud beauty! T' chute got tangle on t' way down because the nosecone somehow got looped through a shroud line. Avast! T' rocket be tough enough that it be fine though. I would say that chute is about perfect for this rocket.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
This rocket be t' pride o' our fleet right now. Ahoy! It is very sharp lookin' and pretty big at 7 feet tall. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! T' construction was fairly straightforward and the directions were wonderful. Blimey! This kit can be easily modified for dual deploy with an electronics bay that can be bought from Binder Design. Begad! Arrr! I would definitely recommend this rocket t' anyone who is lookin' for somethin' they can fly on a high range o' motors. It can be launched on anythin' from a high thrust H t' a K. Avast! Well, matey, blow me down! Two thumbs up.

Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5