Brief:
This is a new 2002 kit by Estes. Aye aye! Arrr! It's a four finned, two stage rocket designed and named for t' new 24mm Estes C motors. Ahoy! Avast, me proud beauty! Flies on either t' C or D motors with a maximum altitude o' 1,700 feet.

Construction:
T' kit consists o' two body tubes, shiver me timbers, me hearties, one for t' sustainer section, and a shorter tube for t' booster section. Begad! Both o' these seem t' be o' better quality, and are stiffer than t' other 40 or so Estes kits I've built. Blimey! 8 balsa wood fins, 4 for t' booster and again 4 for t' sustainer. Nose cone was typical plastic, me hearties, plastic parachute, matey, paper centerin' rings, motor blocks, and shock chord mount.

T' motor mount be t' typical Estes friction design. Aye aye! Arrr! Blimey! Consistin' o' an engine block, and two centerin' rings for t' upper motor, and again an engine block and two centerin' rings for t' booster section. Motors are then installed usin' maskin' tape for a friction fit. Each tube gets 4 balsa fins, matey, a little care needs t' be taken when mountin' t' fins t' insure alignment throughout. Aye aye! Aye aye! Blimey! T' nose cone was in good condition and required little work t' prepare it for finishing. I did deviate from t' directions on t' shock chord attachment. I installed a length o' Pratt Hobbies Keelhaul®©™ safety chord, me hearties, wrapped around t' motor mount and underneath t' upper centerin' ring, long enough t' extend out t' top o' t' body tube, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, here I attached t' Estes shock chord. Ahoy! Blimey! T' other end was attached t' t' nose cone, with a snap swivel installed a couple inches below t' nose cone for attachin' parachutes. (kit comes with an 18" chute, although I typically switch these out in favor o' nylon chutes) Assembly was fairly simple and I felt t' Skill level two designation be appropriate. Arrr! Overall t' directions and illustrations were excellent, on par with t' typical Estes directions.

Finishing:
I liked t' rockets stock paint scheme and decided t' duplicate it when finishin' mine. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! I applied 2 coats o' Krylon gray primer t' t' entire rocket, arrr, sandin' betwixt coats. Well, blow me down! This be enough t' fill in t' spirals on t' body tube. Avast, me proud beauty! T' upper body tube was painted dark red, me hearties, shiver me timbers, t' lower body tube black. Avast, me proud beauty! Upper body tube fins were then painted black, matey, and t' lower body tube fins painted red. Begad! Ya scallywag! T' nose cone is finished in black. All paintin' was done with Krylon paints. Blimey! With this stock paint scheme, maskin' off fins and other sections is fairly simple, shiver me timbers, yet gives a very nice lookin' finish. Avast! Decals are o' t' peel and stick variety so a little care needs t' be taken when applyin' them. Blimey! I liked t' decals, as thar weren't too many t' make it busy, but enough t' give it a little contrast. Begad! After decals are applied you have a Red and Black rocket with Yellow highlights.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
T' recommended motors on this kit are t' C11-5 and D12-5 for single staged flights. Blimey! Two stage flights take a C11-0 or D12-0 for t' booster, followed by a C11-5, me bucko, C11-7, or D12-7 for t' sustainer. Aye aye! On our first flight we deviated from t' recommended, as I thought this bird just looked fast, we went with a little longer delay and loaded it up with a D12-7. Ahoy! Motor's are a friction fit, and require a wrap o' maskin' tape t' fit them into t' motor tube. This was easily accomplished on this rocket. Begad! We launched t' rocket and got a very quick, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, me hearties, and straight liftoff, me bucko, and t' rocket screamed up, me hearties, we lost sight o' it for a moment but regained sight when we heard t' parachute pop open. For t' maiden flight I did use t' stock plastic 18" chute. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! After waitin' what seemed like 5 minutes she finally touched down with no damage. Aye aye! Avast! Overall a great flight, me hearties, shiver me timbers, fortunately we had light winds or it could have been a long recovery. Blimey! Some other option may need t' be explored for t' parachute. Avast, me proud beauty! Our second flight, again single stage, D12-7 went t' same as t' first, ya bilge rat, only this time t' Estes 7 second delay occurred in about 1 second, after a violent deployment, t' rocket drifted down and we inspected it. Well, arrr, blow me down! A very, ya bilge rat, very slight 1/8" zipper in t' top o' t' body tube was t' only damage, I believe this was in part a result o' t' stiffer body tubes that came with this kit. We hope t' soon get it up under full power with two stages, but don't foresee any problems.

Recovery:
T' second flight, ya bilge rat, with a bilge-suckin' (short) delay did cause an 1/8" zipper in t' upper body tube, I did deviate from stock by usin' t' Keelhaul®©™ safety line and this did extend out t' top o' t' tube. Avast, me proud beauty! With t' stock elastic shock chord I don't believe thar would have been any zipperin' at all.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
Pro's: Relatively easy construction, me hearties, great lookin' finish, and what seemed t' be better quality body tubes. Ahoy! Blimey! Great flight, shiver me timbers, and strong enough t' take a violent recovery system deployment. Con's: None.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5