Brief:
Since its inception, arrr, FlisKits has had a policy that if an order ever shipped late, me bucko, they would provide a free rocket called "OverDue". Blimey! Blimey! I've ordered quite a few products from them and t' me knowledge, only pre-order customers o' t' Grissom and/or Nomad have ever been fortunate enough t' get their orders late, me hearties, and therefore accompanied by t' ever-elusive OverDue. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Now, arrr, Jim Flis has released a "stretch" version o' t' OverDue, me hearties, for regular commercial sale, arrr, ya bilge rat, called t' "Long OverDue". Arrr! Blimey! Same great tube-fin design, me bucko, but even more o' it t' love.

Construction:
Inside t' bag, you'll find plenty o' tubes--a BT-50 upper body tube, a BT-20 lower body tube, arrr, and a BT-60 and BT-20 for cuttin' makin' into tube fins. Arrr! Also included is a nice balsa nose cone, matey, arrr, a card stock pattern sheet, and a recovery package o' elastic and a plastic chute.

FlisKits instructions are always well written and contain sufficient illustrations; this is no exception. Bein' a minimum diameter design, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, thar's no motor tube assembly, just a centerin' rin' block. Next, t' BT-20 must be carefully marked for alignin' t' tube fins.

T' transition from t' lower BT-20 t' upper BT-50 consists o' a cardstock shroud, supported by a centerin' ring. My shroud be slightly oversized, easily corrected by trimmin' it down. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! Blimey! If it feels like you're doin' this upside down or backwards, relax--you are. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! This design is an inverted small lower tube topped by a larger upper tube. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! Blimey! Remember, ya bilge rat, these are t' guys that brought you t' ACME Spitfire!

T' good news about fin construction is that thar's no balsa t' cut, sand, fill and seal. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! T' bilge-suckin' news is that t' tube fins aren't your basic Totally Tubular design. Ya scallywag! T' Long OverDue has a set o' three BT-60's, arrr, shiver me timbers, each o' which has a BT-20 nested inside, and all 6 tubes have 45-degree sloped cuts at t' top. Aye aye! T' tubes are easily marked and cut usin' t' included pattern, me bucko, then marked with centerlines for mounting. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! Pay careful attention t' t' directions for this step, arrr, as thar be very little extra tubing, and if you don't nest t' cuts just right, you won't have enough t' complete all t' tubes.

T' shock cord is attached by a paper tri-fold, shiver me timbers, then secured t' t' nose cone by a screw eye.

Overall, arrr, this would be about a skill level 3 kit due t' t' complexity o' angled tube cuts.

Finishing:
I filled t' seams in t' body tubes before bondin' them, shiver me timbers, thinkin' this clever step would make finishin' go much more smoothly. Aye aye! Unfortunately, I filled t' OUTSIDE o' t' tubes, and for t' tube fins thar's a lot o' t' inside exposed. Blimey! Try sandin' and fillin' t' inside o' a BT-20 with adult fingers! I made a feeble effort usin' a 13mm motor casin' glued t' a dowel, me bucko, but decided I'd just have t' live with a few spirals.

I opted for a metallic finish, usin' red for t' top, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, blue for t' bottom, and green and silver for t' tube fins (paintin' t' tube fins before bonding, then substitutin' CA for yellow glue makes t' multi-color effect easy t' achieve).

T' finished product is a very eye-catchin' design. Aye aye! I only wish FlisKits would include decals with more o' their kits, although this is a lot o' kit for t' loot and I suspect water slides would be a bit over budget.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
After several club launches were blown/snowed-out this winter, matey, matey, me cabin fever was burnin' badly enough that I trekked out in 10 degree weather t' fly in clear skies and near zero wind conditions.

For its first flight, I went with t' max--a C6-5. T' flight be perfect--straight up, nay even a trace o' spin, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, matey, and deployment right at apogee. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! FlisKits chutes offer three different sizes on t' pattern sheet, and I went with t' largest, ya bilge rat, resultin' in a very slow descent, me hearties, landin' only about 20-30 yards from t' pad. Ya scallywag! Blimey! A 12" chute would suffice on a more windy day.

Recovery:
Excellent flight; best one o' t' day.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
Another great design from Jim Flis. Aye aye! Blimey! This one will be one o' me most frequent flyers.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5