Brief:
I am partial to ring fin rockets. The Sprite was the first rocket I built at 11 years old. This kit will not disappoint with its fine materials, classic form, and good looks but has a little higher price than that Sprite I built. Supposed to be a tumble recovery but more on that later.

Construction:
The kit includes a small body tube, balsa nose cone, balsa sheet, extended engine hook, and ring. All parts were above average quality, sturdy, and fit well.

The instructions were right on. I used three fillets on both ends of the fins where they attach to the BT and the ring. I recommend a magnifying glass or reading glasses as the parts are small. I used a Dremel tool to fine tune the fins and outer piece attach to the outside of the ring can. I deliberately cut the parts a little larger and trimmed them down carefully to the lines. Tweezers helped too. I used all yellow wood glue for construction.

Finishing:
I used a water based sanding sealer, which I did not like but still used it. I will go back to the smelly sealer in the future. I taped of the nose cone and the ring can with 3M blue painter's tape. Having a sharp X-Acto blade is a must here. Gave it three coats of Gloss orange. I had to spray some into a old cool whip bowl and use a small calligraphy brush to touch up the corners. I then taped the BT and the fins and left the ring can covered.

Three coats of gloss white were then sprayed on the nose cone. I let everything dry 24 hours before next coat. I then taped the nose cone and uncovered the ring can and the small outer detail parts outside the ring and fin connection. I then painted it a gloss bright yellow. All paint adhered pretty well. The finished rocket looks pretty at least to me.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I only did one flight because I put too many hours into it to lose it. I used a 1/4A3-2T on a calm day. 5-4-3-2-1 and it took off and reached about 80 feet. There was a nice small smoke trail that was easy to follow even with the rocket's small size.

Recovery:
It dropped more than tumbled into some long tall hay grass and I found it right away 20 yards from the pad. I did notice that the engine had ejected from the rocket completely although it was supposed to slide back and be held by the extra long engine hook. This must have thrown off the balance need for proper tumbling. I thought it was a successful flight. There was no damage and now it is ready for the retired shelf.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
PROs: Nice little clone of the Sprite. Good quality parts. Cute, cute, cute!

CONs: The engine hook allowed the motor to exit the rocket on ejection.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5