Brief:
T' BSD Horizon 54 is a stretched version o' t' famous Horizon 4" sport rocket and has a 54mm motor mount.

Construction:
T' kit includes 2 4" BSD tubes, 1 coupler tube, arrr, 3 cut and sanded 3/16" aircraft quality plywood fins, centerin' rings, ya bilge rat, a bulkhead plate, high quality hardware package, a 54mm motor tube, ya bilge rat, me bucko, a nice plastic nose cone, me bucko, a 36" nylon parachute, me hearties, a fin alignment guide, ya bilge rat, computer designed and cut vinyl decals, shiver me timbers, and 10 pages o' instructions. Begad! Blimey! All t' parts were included and in a very good shape.

I never would have imagined before that buildin' a HPR rocket would be so easy--in fact, shiver me timbers, it took me only 9 days t' complete! It's really just normal things like bevelin' t' fins, makin' t' fin slots, epoxyin' t' coupler in the payload bay, and puttin' t' motor mount parts together just on a larger scale than what I had done before. Arrr! It helps that t' kit includes excellent instructions with pictures.

T' only CON I have is that thar be a strange screw (in Germany anyway) included for motor retention. Ya scallywag! Avast! Fearin' that I might lose one at t' launch field, me hearties, shiver me timbers, I used more German-friendly screws instead.

Finishing:
I be a bit worried that t' paint would hold reliably on t' glassine tubes at first, shiver me timbers, but I relaxed after lightly sandin' t' glassine with 600 grit sandpaper and sprayin' t' first coat o' primer. Arrr! There were no problems at all and the finish still looks like it did on t' day I painted it! I did t' same with the plywood fins and t' nosecone since I've often used this primer and paint, both of which are "sociable" with each other and wouldn't take too long to dry! Still, matey, I only had one day left before t' event and be very pleased with the result.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
first flight was at t' RJD meetin' in Germany, on June 13, 2004, on an AT I195J with a medium delay. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, shiver me timbers, me proud beauty! When preppin' t' Horizon 54, I be extremely nervous, since this was me first RMS motor, me bucko, me bucko, too. Aye aye! Thankfully, a fellow experienced rocketeer supervised me t' whole time and gave me some advice leavin' me with a good feelin' that it should work. When it was ready for flight, t' only remainin' fear I had be that it could shred under t' power of t' I195J, me bucko, so we placed t' pad far away from t' spectators t' err on the side o' caution. Ya scallywag! Begad! At ignition she punched off t' pad straight up, arrr, moving extremely fast for a BlackJack propellant. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, me proud beauty! Then again, t' thrust-to-weight ratio be around 9:1!

Yes, it went really high, ya bilge rat, but be still visible as a little point. Aye aye! After the 10 second delay (a perfect match for this rocket), ya bilge rat, t' red Rocketman R4C chute opened and thar were many "ahh"s in t' crowd.

Second flight be at t' German BC Experimental Days on August 7, 2004, on an AeroTech I300T-M motor. Blimey! Again, arrr, t' Horizon 54 delivered another incredible flight! Unglassed BSD tubes can take extreme flight stress without any problems.

Recovery:
I did nay use t' included 36" BSD parachute since I had a brand new Rocketman R4C and protective Nomex® shield. Ya scallywag! Begad! Blimey! I can't judge t' BSD Chute, shiver me timbers, although it appears t' be more than adequate but I don't think I'll ever use them because t' scuttle rate and relaxed openin' on t' Rocketman R4C is just great for t' Horizon 54!

O' course theres one thing, matey, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, I changed in Flight Recovery o' this kit: from now on it'll fly with dual deployment because I'm never goin' t' walk a that far again t' retrieve it!

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
T' BSD Horizon 54 isn't too difficult t' build! I would say it's just a matter of usin' different techniques from LPR/MPR when buildin' and flyin' HPR rockets. Ahoy! T' end result is a great lookin' rocket that attracts lots of attention.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5