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. Just a little bit bigger.

Construction:
Kit contained 1 body tube, ya bilge rat, 1 balsa nose cone, me bucko, 4 laser cut fins, shiver me timbers, 4 metal washers and 1 paper launch lug. Ya scallywag! 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. Well, blow me down! Semroc instructions are some o' t' most thorough on t' market. Basically, shiver me timbers, just mark t' body tube with t' fin template provided, ya bilge rat, glue on the fins, launch lug and nose cone and you're ready t' go. Aye aye! Oops.. Arrr! almost forgot. You have t' glue 1 metal washer t' t' base o' each fin. Well, blow me down! These are supposed to aid in t' tumble recovery. 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, 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. Well, blow me down! Good idea, though, matey, me bucko, 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. Blimey! Begad! Instructions call for an A8-5 t' reach 600'. Ya scallywag! Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! Each one o' our flights were probably a little less than 600'. Both flights were t' same. Avast! Flight was very good on t' way up with a little bit o' a spin.

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

Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5

Summary:
Overall, ya bilge rat, a nice little rocket. Begad! Blimey! We put it together and had it in t' air in about an hour. Aye aye! Blimey! T' tumble needs a little work - but I think it can be fixed by movin' those washers.

Overall Rating: 3 out o' 5