At first glance, you ask yourself "Is this a rocket kit?" But upon further examination, you're certain that it's something very strange.

The C.A.R.D.E. 4443 isn't your typical three fins and a nosecone rocket kit and the finished product isn't your typical rocket. In fact, there isn't a traditional nosecone or fins. It is something different. It is the intersection of high tech composites and high-powered rocketry in an affordable package.

The kit comes in two parts. One has the four quarters of the airframe stacked on each other, while the other contains the motor mount and recovery system. The airframe is composed 100% of molded non-woven fiberglass and stands about 4 feet tall. It is almost paint-ready, as received, but will require some minor touch up work on small bubbles and other mold imperfections. Personally, I prefer to leave it in its original translucent state. The composite airframe is sturdy, but very light. That allows for maximum flexibility when choosing motors. The rocket is reportedly capable of being flown on motors from E - L with only minor modifications. That is quite a power range for any rocket to handle.

The motor mount and recovery system is well thought out and executed. The motor mount assembly consists of a 7.25" long 29mm LOC motor tube and two machine-cut precise G10 fiberglass centering rings which fit perfectly inside of a LOC 2.14"recovery/motor mount housing tube. The LOC 2.14" tube also comes with a precision cut G-10 solid bulkhead, since the rocket is designed for rear parachute ejection. Notice the flat edge on the centering ring on the far right. It is designed that way to allow the shock cord to pass from inside to outside without binding.

Construction:
The construction of the motor mount/recovery system is very straightforward.. The instructions are included in the form of a schematic drawing. While this is easy for an experienced builder to follow, it may be more difficult for a novice. The steps are the same as any standard motor mount assembly: measure the location on the motor tube and attach the centering rings.

For the motor mount/recovery housing, the construction is very simple. You epoxy the bulkhead into the end of the tube, leaving enough room to build up a good ridge of epoxy on the outside. It is important to not build up a fillet on the inside of the tube because that will cause the motor mount assembly to not slide freely all the way to the bulkhead.

It is important that the motor mount butt up against the bulkhead plate since there is no thrust ring to hold the motor mount assembly in place.

Next comes the marrying of the motor mount to its holder. To accomplish this, I used a piece of 3/8" Kevlar® and epoxied it to the outside of the bulkhead and attached the supplied _" Nylon elastic to it.

The shock cord was tied around the motor tube and then attached to the Kevlar® loop. The parachute was then attached to the motor tube as well.

Next came the tricky part. The four quarter sections of airframe had to be assembled and the motor mount/recovery system installed. I found that it was easier to join two sections of the airframe together first and then attaching the completed halves together.

I used 2" wide duct tape folded over the seams to hold the airframe in place. After all four sections were in place, the motor mount/recovery system was inserted and held in place using a thrust ring made from layers of 2" wide masking tape.

The launch lugs were then cut to length and epoxied into place per the instructions to complete the building process.

The finished rocket looks like this.

Flight Report:
To Date, I have flown the C.A.R.D.E. 4443 a half dozen times. Four of those flights were on G80-7's and two were on G35-6's. On a G80, the rocket comes off the pad surprisingly slowly considering the weight is well under two pounds.. I like slow take-offs, but on windy days, this leads to pronounced weathercocking. During windy conditions, you may want to go to a motor with a higher average thrust. On a G35, the rocket lumbers off the pad, but does so stably. It makes for an interesting flight profile.

I plan on flying this rocket on higher-powered motors up to and including K motors.

With a larger motor mount/recovery system (which can easily be replaced in this rocket), all that would be needed is some balsa to reinforce the fins internally. Because they are molded into the airframe, they may suffer from flutter if the rocket approaches near mach speeds.

General comments:
The C.A.R.D.E. 4443 is quickly becoming a workhorse in my fleet. Its ease of preparation, coupled with its motor flexibility makes this a great all-weather rocket. Its small chute and rugged construction allows for a quick descent without long walks to retrieve it. I recently found another positive attribute that I hadn't considered. During my last attempted flight, an Ellis G35 catoed in the rocket and destroyed the motor tube. Because the motor mount/recovery system isn't permanently bonded to the airframe, it was easily removed for repair.

The Carde airframes are available from: - Taras at Advanced Rocketry Group in Toronto, - Ross at Magnum Rockets in Ohio.