Brief:

This design is fantastic. A pyramid shaped cone rocket with swept edges that really make it spin. Another great design.

Construction:

The kit contains

• 1 x 49mm motor mount tube
• 3 x square pieces of foamboard
• 1 x 6 " triangular triangle piece of foamboard
• Cardsrock template with the panel shapes & rod guide layout
• 3 page manual on A4" paper , which was very detailed & full of photographs

So it's simple enough although care needs to be taken on the cutting of the panels. Firstly the templates are cut from the cardstock with a sharp xActo and then traced on to each of the three side panels. Once cut the 3 panels have to be bevelled along the joining edges. This requires a very sharp new xActo blade and takes a few passes to get a clean cut. Once this is done they need to be sanded to get a good clean bevel. A bit of care here and all should be fine. Just take your time.

The other template is used to mark the launch rod hole. Once again take your time as it needs to be angled carefully on both side, and the foam picked out using a sharp blade although the instructions recommend a toothpick.

The base triangle is already marked up so just needs cutting out and then sanding. I used a spent 24mm casing with a wrap of fine grit paper to get a nice easy fit.

The instructions say to use woodglue but I found flexible cyano to be a much better choice. Once the 3 sides are joined & the edges sanded to give a nice clean sharp joint the base plate is inserted and glued, again I used flexible medium grade epoxy.

The motor mount is then glued in place with fillets around the mount. I used yellow glue for the fillets. Fillets are also required along the joints between the base plate and sides. The exposed foam edges on the underside of the pyramid need to be sealed with wood glue to prevent any paint dissolving the foam .

Finishing:

The Scimitar needs a good paint scheme. I decided to paint it stock black, but plan to give it a brush coat of Acrylic Interference medium in gold & purple to give it that bit of extra glint in the sun. I did give it a quick coat of primer before using a Krylon gloss coat which initially crazed up, but after a quick rub down with 320 grit and a second coat, it looked pretty cool.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:

Any 24mm single use motor is recommended BUT remember to remove any ejection charge. Due to the current lack of 24 mm Aerotech motors here in the UK, I opted for a D11-P . The baby flew like a dream, spinning as it ascended like a dervish. There was a slight breeze which blew it slightly off vertical but nothing to worry about.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Recovery:

As usual it arced over at apogee, and descended spinning as it came down. Really impressive using Arts Airbraking to slow the descent It hit the ground gently and was recovered with no damage whatsoever.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:

A few people were sceptical it would fly ok. however after the launch they were all impressed. There were also some great comments on the design. Id aim to fly this in less winds to get a more vertical flight. I really need to try this on an E size motor, if only we had access to them here in the UK.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5