Brief:

The Sunward Ice Storm is a Spaceplane designed to fly on 18mm B & C motors. This is a very detailed kit , consisting of very high quality parts. It is not a simple kit to build and takes time. But if you do take the time required, your efforts will be rewarded.
In flight this is a beauty, with realistic barrel rolls.

Construction:

The kit contains:-

• Set of illustrated instructions,
• 18" Body tube
• Card "Jet Engine" wraparound & fin reinforcement sheet
• Engine block
• Centering Rings
• Engine Tube
• Engine Hook
• Laser Cut Balas Fin & Wing sheet
• Elastic shock cord
• Plastic Ogive Nose Cone
• Plastic Parachute & shroud lines
• Water Slide decals
• Launch Lug

The instruction sheet was extremely well written and illustrated. All components were in solid condition and of very high quality. I was surprised at the thin elastic shockcord though compared to the rest of the kit. Maybe attention could be taken to replace this with something more substantial

Construction of this model is not easy. But follow the detailed instructions and you shouldn't have too many problems. The Engine mount is pretty standard - 2 centering rings, motor tube & thrust ring and a novel engine hook, which is an L shaped metal bar which screws into the rear centering ring until it's tight against the motor.

The main part of construction is the "Jet Intake" body wrap, formed out of card, which needs very careful cutting, and gluing to get the correct shape without warping. Once this has set it fits around the body tube forming the under side of the plane.

The fins / wings are all laser cut and require sanding especially on the leading edges. These are attached to the jet intakes (on the top) in two halves and reinforced using tabs formed from the card sheet, which need to be carefully curled to fit the profile of the body tube. Once these are in place and set, the Vertical fins are attached and once again reinforced with card tabs cut from the main sheet.

The parachute construction is standard as is the shock cord mount.

The nose cone had a shiny surface which needs to be sanded carefully to allow primer to take before finishing.

Finishing:

Finishing is up to you. I've chosen to Solarfilm cover it (still a work in progress). Although by following the manufacturers scheme I think it would look superb The decals are water slide and include US, Canadian & UK Airforce insignia, so you can customize the final look to your own choice.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:

This is a heavy model. I'd be very wary of launching it in windy conditions, a light breeze being the most I'd recommend (see below). Prepping is easy and standard. I launched it on the recommended B6 motor (I didn't have a B6-2 so a B6-4 was substituted) for the first flight. As I said it is a heavy model so didn't reach much height (maybe 50 ft). But deployed at apogee ok.

For the second flight I chose a C6-7 (oops), Just as I pressed the button a gust of wind caused the plane to weather cock and it shot off across the field at a height of about 30ft..It barrel rolled several times which brought lots of "oohs & ahhs" from the others around, very realistic looking before eventually losing altitude and landing by a hedge BEFORE ejection. It Lawn Darted before the ejection charge. However this plane is built strong and absolutely no damage was sustained. Phew!

Next launch a month later and it flew again twice on C6-7's. First time round it reached apogee - barrel rolling on ascent before a death defying dive which then caused it to almost turn into glide mode slowing it down just before the ejection charge which brought it down so softly it was a sight to behold. Second time round it seemed to gain extra altitude and ejected just at apogee - another fantastic flight.

Summary:

All in all, this is a great looking kit. Built like a tank, but take your time over the build! Don't dare fly this in nothing but the calmest of weather as it will weather cock. But when this baby flies it looks fantastic. Choose your motor carefully. A slightly longer delay can produce some fantastic results.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5