Photos courtesy of DG&A  

Brief:
Anyone heard of BSD? Well this kit is equal to the quality of that now popular company. Danny Cantu, the owner, has designed a line somewhat challenging to build and extremely fun to fly kits, from the 29mm Predator up to the special edition limited production Armageddon and Sonic Blast (3 K1100's no problem). This kit is designed for a 38mm I161-J570. It has standard parachute deployment on the main body and the sustainer section as well. This is a solid kit with clearly illustrated directions with pictures and the most important thing of all, Danny's phone number if you have problems. I have opted to make a few modifications in the kit from normal, but really does not effect the overall design.

Construction:
This is a 4 inch kit that comes with a parts list of the main components. They are the 34" booster tube, 24" airframe tube, 10" payload bay, and 34" 38 mm motor tube. I extended the motor mount due to my recovery design. It has a 4 inch nose cone. It also comes with the main fins, upper canard fins, 4 centering rings, 1 bulkhead, 8 nozzle fins and 8 wing supports. All are 1/4 inch plywood, very beefy. This kit has a shock cord strap which you attach the shock cord to, and has the hardware for the standard eyebolt attachments. It also comes with 1/2" launch lugs, but I have opted to use rail guides instead, since I have a rail.

The instructions are very easy to follow with pictures. The only gotcha I found was the parachute attachment method. I did not quite understand the directions. I am incorporating Stu Barrets' anti-zipper design, so I have my own plans. Go to InfoCentral at ROL under construction and you will see Stu's article on this. I also added tubular nylon for the shock cord, about 18 feet of it. All I had to add to the kit for this was 1 extra coupler and 1 extra 12" payload section I got with the kit from Danny. The assembly directions are straight forward. Lots of sanding on those huge wings. Danny includes pre-marked tubes for the fins and alignment guides, plus a wrap around wing guide for the nozzle. This kit is extremely sturdy and constructed of high grade components. I opted only to fiberglass the payload section, just for a little added strength. I used the basic 30 minute epoxy from my hobby store. You can use 5 minute epoxy on a few steps, but I prefer the stronger 30 minute.

Finishing:
The fins require some filling in the grain, and since they are so big, I used Duplicolor auto paint. Epoxy primer would be better, but I don't have a spray gun. Kilz also works good too. Those fins have over 16' of fillets, go slow and get them right. Makes PML's Pterodactyl look like a baby on fillets. I chose to bevel the fins somewhat. This kit should fly great even in a little wind with those big fillets. Very nice looking rocket! This kit comes with its own decals. This kit has a basic 2 color paint scheme but you can design your own if you wish.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
This kit goes great on I161's. I estimate about 1200-1500 feet. I use 1 chute with the long shock cord. I use my PML 55 inch chute I have, works great, settles it down softly. Danny's 2 parachutes that are included in the kit will work great also. I added blind nuts to the rear centering ring, just in front of the nozzle. I use extra long screws to screw into them, and cover the screw with a pre-cut launch lug so I know how far the screw needs to go in. Do this before you glue the motor mount into the main tube. Positive motor retention works.

Recovery:
I used medium delays for the lower flights, and plan to use long delay's on the J350 or J570 flights. The fins are plywood, but a little layer of glass on the edges may help. If it needs that, I will make the edges a different color to set it off. Wind does not effect those big fins.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
PRO-strong kit, good for the middle experience modeler, people who have not had to cut tubes for fin placement may get a little lost, but the great directions will tell you how to do it right. Nice big fins, great futuristic looking rocket. CON-I would switch to birch plywood to increase the ease of finishing the fins.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5