For value in boost gliders you'll be hard pressed t' beat AstronMike's saucer tripak. T' tripak comes with three sizes o' saucer style boost gliders. Well, blow me down! These sport boost gliders are unique in that that work by ejectin' weight other than t' an engine pod. Well, blow me down! T' key be t' payload section (PS) which, me hearties, via a tube coupler, me hearties, fits into t' rest o' t' glider's main engine tube section. Arrr! Aye aye! This PS has weight installed in t' form o' a permanently glued in spent engine casing. Aye aye! Ahoy! It's this weight that gives each saucer a boost CG forward o' t' saucer section's leadin' edge. Arrr! Once t' ejection charge goes off, t' motor stays and the PS ejects recoverin' via streamer. It's this lost weight that shifts t' CG aft and induces a glide. Arrr!

Unpackin' t' saucers reveals their components. T' three saucer sections are precut from an art and crafts material called ArtCor. Avast! This is a lightweight style foam board that has slick plastic sides sandwichin' t' foam. Avast, me proud beauty! There is no attempt made t' cut these as 'perfect circles'. Avast! Avast! Blimey! It's all rough cut. Aye aye! If you require symmetry in your life, you'll have to clean up t' edges yourself. Aye aye! Aye aye! Blimey! T' saucer's dihedrals were prebent by NA. Avast! NA also sets t' maskin' taped gluin' surfaces on each. Well, blow me down! Well, arrr, blow me down! Blimey! My tripak also came with engine tube standoffs and launch lugs preglued on. Aye aye! Blimey! T' engine tubes are rough hacked as are t' payload tubes. Begad! Begad! Blimey! Cleanin' up t' edges on t' payload tubes is made more difficult because t' "tube couplers" are already glued in.

T' instructions are bare bones and appear t' be written in Windows 95 Wordpad. Arrr! There are no diagrams in t' instructions. Blimey! They are concise but assume prior kit buildin' experience and IMO, shiver me timbers, prior B/G experience. Roundin' out the tripak parts are t' red plastic streamer material, plastic and wood nose cones for t' payload sections, and a long strip o' chrome heatin' duct tape. 

Because NA did so much o' t' work for me, it took less than a few hours t' put together t' saucers. Ahoy! Most o' that time is spent waitin' for glue t' dry. Begad! You glue on t' fixed engine tubes t' the standoffs on t' saucers. Blimey! Then you glue t' rudders t' t' masked area on the bottoms, and attach t' streamers t' t' payload section couplers. Next you reinforce t' rudder t' saucer joint with t' supplied chrome tape. I also put a strip over t' entire saucer, me hearties, standoff, engine tube joint. Well, blow me down! Avast! Finally you place a strip o' t' tape on t' top aft section o' t' saucer t' keep t' engine flame from meltin' t' saucer. Well, blow me down! I be so impressed with t' holdin' power o' the tape I went out t' Home Depot and bought a roll for me own use! You could put together whole B/G's or R/G's with this stuff! 

Now it's time t' trim t' glider sections. I installed burnt engine casings and balanced t' saucers about where NA marked them on t' saucers. Avast, matey, me proud beauty! I used flatten lead fishin' sinkers and taped them t' t' forward engine tube edges as needed. Begad! T' CG is marked about a third o' t' way back from t' leadin' edge of the saucers. Avast, me proud beauty! I gave them a toss. Ya scallywag! Now you learn a drawback t' this design. If the glider stalls or dives, shiver me timbers, me bucko, it hits t' ground on t' engine tube. Aye aye! Guess what crumples? Yup. Ahoy! T' tubing. Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! It happened on both t' two larger saucers. I wound up replacin' both tubes. Begad! Arrr! I gave up tryin' t' trim them this way. Avast! Instead I made sure t' boost C/G's were at or ahead o' t' leadin' edges and trimmed them by observin' t' glides durin' actual launches. Arrr! This proved a better tactic though one or two stalls near t' ground can still crumple t' tubing, and did. These were repaired with split sections o' tubin' glued over t' original. O' course this adds weight which means re-trimmin' t' gliders! (lather rinse and repeat)

Once trimmed t' flight characteristics of these sport gliders are nothin' less than superb. Unlike most boost gliders they boost like rockets nay like drunken airplanes. They attain much more height than most gliders. They are very reliable and have never red-baroned (glider gets caught in t' payload section's (or pod's) recovery system). Blimey! Blimey! Their glide is smooth and quite good once trimmed. Ahoy! Blimey! So far my best time has been close t' 40 seconds in dead air with t' smallest saucer on a 1/2A. Well, blow me down! Blimey! In good thermal conditions thar be little doubt you can lose them. Begad! Blimey! And best o' all they are crowd pleasers! Blimey! You'll be a big hit at launches as they always draw stares! Blimey!

I had seen messages from Astron Mike about his flyin' saucers on RMR, arrr, ya bilge rat, arrr, but I couldn't quite visualize what he was describin' with text. Ya scallywag! Then, he offered a tri-pack o' his saucers for a reasonable price and, since I love boost gliders, ya bilge rat, me bucko, I decided to try them out. 

I placed me order with Mike durin' t' week before Christmas and me order appeared within t' week - arrivin' on Monday. Begad! Unfortunately, ya bilge rat, t' Post Awful was nay kind t' t' package. Aye aye! T' saucers were pretty much OK, arrr, although the 13.0" one had some crimps in t' ArtCor material, but several o' t' body tubes were crushed. Ya scallywag! Fortunately, me bucko, I had some spare BT-20 available t' replace the damaged tubing.

T' kit consists o' three saucer wings (7-1/2", 10-1/2" and 13" diameters) with balsa body-tube stand-offs, matey, three booster body tubes (one BT-5 for t' 7-1/2" saucer and two BT-20 for t' 10-1/2" and 13" saucers) and two payload sections (one BT-5 and one BT-20 for t' two larger saucers). Aye aye! Avast, me proud beauty! T' payload sections are pre-built and use an expended motor for t' joiner with a piece o' Keelhaul®©™® line attached so that it comes out the center o' t' casin' for attachin' a streamer for recovery.

Mike does nay include engine hooks with this kit. Begad! Well, blow me down! He recommends friction fittin' t' motor with maskin' tape, shiver me timbers, but I prefer more positive retention and added retainin' hooks. Ya scallywag!

T' dihedral o' t' saucer wings had gotten pretty well flattened out and when I re-creased t' win' center, t' body-tube stand-off popped off. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! They had been glued with yellow glue t' maskin' tape attached t' t' ArtCor and t' glue did nay hold t' t' maskin' tape. Aye aye! Arrr! I e-mailed Mike and he told me he had attached them that way t' try t' save us (the buyer) some construction time. Since t' joint did nay hold, he advised me t' attach t' stand-off with some epoxy, me hearties, me bucko, ya bilge rat, which seems t' have made a much better connection. Begad!

Mike included some metal (chrome?) tape with t' kit which I used for attachin' t' rudder and weightin' t' nose o' t' body tube. Ya scallywag! One o' t' other early purchaser's reported some charrin' o' t' saucer wings on launch, matey, arrr, me bucko, so I bought a roll o' t' metal tape at t' hardware store and I'm usin' a strip down t' centerline t' protect t' saucer surface. Ya scallywag! Arrr!

Remember t' adjust t' balance and re-test t' glide AFTER you have completed buildin' t' saucer. Aye aye! Arrr! ;-) So far, I've got t' 7-1/2" and the 10-1/2" saucers adjusted and ready for initial launch. Avast! See t' launch reports for how they fly. 

I have only one other minor nit t' pick, me hearties, which I found on me first launch. T' streamer got pushed up into t' motor-casin' joiner at t' base o' the payload section and could nay deploy. Blimey! I'll mix some tissue and glue t' fill this in so it won't happen again.