Brief:
This is a clone of the Estes WASP #1930, which was available from 1984 to 1985. It is a single stage, low power, streamer recovery, three fins and nose cone design.

Construction:
The parts consist of one BT-55 body tube 11 15/16" long, one BT-50 motor mount tube 2.75" long, two AR-5055 motor mount centering rings, one motor mount block, three laser cut balsa fins, one BNC-55D balsa nose cone and screw eye, one motor mount hook, one sheet waterslide decals, one pattern sheet with tri-fold paper shock cord mount and body tube marking guide, 1/4" x 48" shock cord, 2" x 60" mylar streamer, one 3/16" x 2" launch lug, and about 36" Kevlar® line.

Assembly is very straightforward using the excellent instructions. The kit has a very strong body tube and grade of balsa for fins is of high quality. The laser cutting is super clean with the fins having been cut completely out of the sheet stock(no perforated laser cut like Estes). The parts in this kit, motor mount, fins, decals, recovery gear, all get they're own individual bags, which I like instead of the components just stuffed into the main kit bag. Decals were great and the instructions give the builder the option of going with the original tri-fold paper shock cord mount or the Kevlar® line attached to the motor mount method. A very generous length of sewing elastic is included for use as shock cord material which is nice. The only "gotcha" was the motor mount assembly instructions were 1/8" off in regards to the motor hook placement, however, Ray at InFlight quickly dispatched me an email with updated instructions before I even realized I assembled the motor mount was "wrong". I won't sweat it and just install the mount in the body tube 1/8" aft of what the instructions indicate.

Finishing:
Elmer's Glue All (white glue) was used to build this bird including motor mount assembly and fin fillets. Elmer's Carpenters Wood Filler was used for filling grain on the nose and fins. I airbrushed this rocket with Tamiya acrylic paints and applied two coats of Future floor polish before applying the decals. I gave the decals a coat of Micro Scale Liquid Decal Film and they went down super smooth with no setting solution needed. These were just really great decals! I then gave the rocket a final coat of Future. Finally, the beautiful chrome, adhesive-backed mylar wrap was applied. Just take your time to avoid air bubbles and wrinkles. The finished rocket looks great!

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
For the first flight I installed an Estes B6-4 motor using an 18mm adapter and used about 4 sheets of Estes wadding. The flight was perfectly straight and the WASP achieved about 200 feet of altitude. The second flight was powered by an Estes A8-3 motor and the rocket topped out at about 100 feet, maybe slightly under. Third flight was also on an Estes B6-4. All three flights were nice and straight. I went with the old tri-fold style of shock cord mount and had no problems with nose cone snap back or nose cone dents, thanks InFlight for including a nice, long shock cord in the kit!

Recovery:
The two flights on A8-3s were recovered about 80 feet from the pad and the supplied mylar streamer worked great. There was no burning or scorching on the streamer. For the B6-4 powered flight, I switched out the streamer and used a 12 inch parachute which worked great and brought the rocket down a little slower and about 150 feet away from the pad. No damage at all was sustained on any of the flights! Both A8-3 flights seemed to eject the streamer right at apogee, and the B6-4 ejected its chute just slightly past apogee.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
I really enjoyed this build. InFlight cares about your building experience too. During the build, Ray at InFlight emailed me updated instructions and even offered to send me another motor mount kit to replace the one I had already built per the flawed instructions. I told him not to worry about it as I felt I should have compared the kit instructions to the original Estes plans and I was probably a little careless what with the motor mount building procedures and measurements being pretty standard for motor hook installation on a 2.75" BT-50 tube. (After all the model rocket kits I've built I should have noticed something was off.) Also, in the build thread, I mentioned that I was thinking of going with an 18mm mount because I felt 24mm power was a bit much for this bird (I fly at small launch sites) and Ray sent me a free of charge 18mm adapter kit! The thought that must have went into this kit is very refreshing, like the decals getting they're own bag, 4 feet of shock cord, and really great instructions as opposed to just reprinting the old Estes plans or telling you to download them from JimZ. The kit is beautifully packaged, price is very reasonable, and shipping is fast! You really need to check out inflightrockets.com if you like clones of old Estes birds. I was just about to build the WASP myself after ordering a nose cone and downloading plans but decided I'd rather have a complete kit after finding out about InFlight on TRF.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Other:
The WASP is a 24mm powered bird and the recommended motors are C11s and D12s, however, due to the small dimensions of my launch site, I decided to use 18mm motors. This bird turned in nice, straight, fast flights on 18mm power so it must really scream on 24mm motors!