I was awarded this kit as a DESCON 7 prize. The owner of USR was on vacation, but promised it would ship the week he came back. It arrived on my doorstep packed well and with all the part contained in closed bag. I first checked to make sure everything was present and then read over the instructions. The instructions were several pages and contained diagrams. They were very nice except that there was no step 4 and 5 and several of the steps were mixed up (IE - There were two steps 8 and 9). But with a little searching the directions are sufficient for this 2.25” diameter and 43” tall kit. 

I started construction by sanding airfoils into the 3 ply balsa fins. This might sound like weak fins, but the balsa ply is much sturdier than a single sheet of balsa of the same thickness. I roughed out the airfoils on a grinder and then made them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. The instructions detail making the fins through the wall and slotting the booster tube. However, since this was a lightweight kit that I did not intend to fly on high impulse motors, I opted to just surface mount them. Since, I didn’t connect mine to the motor tube I could attach them before installing the mount. I used a little 5min epoxy to tack them to the tube and then I went back and added fillets. The motor mount consists of 2 centering rings and a 29mm motor tube. The rings were epoxied on the end and the mount was secured in the tube with 15min epoxy. Now I moved onto the payload section. I epoxied the wooden bulkhead into the bottom of the payload tube and inserted a screw eye. The payload bay is very large and I’m considering retro-fitting it for dual deployment. A nice surprise was that the nosecone in the kit is balsa. This is not often seen with kits this size. I sealed it with Bondo and sanded it smooth. The kit also comes with and adapter for 24mm motors. 

I primed the whole rocket with cheap flat gray that was on sale at the hardware store. I worked just fine. I painted the nosecone and booster section a navy blue and the payload section was painted with gloss yellow. I then applied one of the included decals to the payload section. 

I had this rocket ready to fly for quite a while, but the weather just wouldn’t cooperate. Finally, one Saturday, I lugged the rocket and a pack off D12’s over to the local high school. I substituted a PML 12 foot streamer in place of the 12” chute. The chute wasn’t great quality. I secured the D12 and the motor adapter into the 29mm tube with the help of masking tape. I flew it off a 3/16” rod in my Estes Porta-Pad however the lugs are 1/4”. It fit was fine and at zero the rocket lifted off slowly and majestically and lofted it’s way to about 350’. The 5 second delay allowed the rocket to arch over just as the streamer deployed. The rocket was rather impressive coming down. It was recovered without damage. I was having way too much fun to give up now. I launched again on a D12 with the same great results. I loaded her up for a third time and on liftoff she weathercocked slightly, but still recovered perfectly. The next weekend I took the Banshee to a larger site and this time flew her on a F20 Econojet. She roared off the pad and deployed at apogee. However, the ejection charge was rather powerful for the light-weight rocket and the elastic shock cord mount snapped. The payload came home safely on the streamer but the booster landed on it’s side and snapped off one of my surface mounted fins. It will be repaired without trouble. 

Overall, this is a decent kit that’s fun to fly on smaller fields and really rips on larger motors. However, for what you get, the $35 price tag seems a bit steep in my opinion.