Brief:
Art’s latest product line is the Hourglass. The Hourglass rockets resemble spool rockets. They have top and bottom circular plates with two cones between the plates providing the hourglass shape. They are currently available in 13mm, 18mm, and 24mm sizes with all sizes coming in several colors. This review is for the 24mm versions. The shorter version uses Estes D12 length motors and the longer version uses the E9 length motors. Both will fly on most anything that will fit.

Here are the specs:

Construction:
These use the same paper and foamboard construction like the rest of Art's products. Both sizes include:

• 1 sheet of pre-printed cardstock
• 1 small rectangle of foamboard
• 1 24mm motor tube
• 1 steel motor hook
• 2 pages of instructions

Tools and supplied needed include:

• Scissors
• A new #11 X-Acto blade
• Elmer’s white glue
• Cellophane tape
• Spray-on clear coat

Construction was simple as expected. You cut and form the cones, glue the plate patterns to the foamboard, cut them out when dry, install the motor hook, and glue all the pieces together. That’s it. The only two things to watch out for is to keep the plates parallel to each other and to make sure the launch rod holes are all aligned.

Finishing:
My Hourglasses used colored cardstock so no real finishing is needed. The short version is day-glow orange and long is day-glow green. If you want to paint them, Art recommends sealing the exposed edges of the foamboard with white glue. He also recommends sealing the whole thing with clear enamel to make them moisture proof. I used clear acrylic. The clear coat also gives them a nice shiny finish.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
I flew the short version on a D12-0 and the long on an E9-P. Both had the same flight profile but of course the E9 version went higher. Both tore off the pad like the proverbial bat. After burnout near the top of the flight, it was clear that they were spinning wildly end-over-end. Since the boost was fast and straight, I assume the tumbling started after burn-out, but I can’t be sure since they were so quick. Either way, the crowd loved them!

Recovery:
Both tumbled in nice and slowly.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
These are easy to build (as usual) and if you like Art’s cones, you will probably like the Hourglass series. If you like spool rockets, you will also like them. The flight profile is a little different than a saucer. They don’t slow down as quickly and are totally unstable after burn out. They are however, at a very respectable altitude at this point and keep going it a generally upward direction, so this condition appears to be a feature not a bug.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5