Brief:
Scale kit of the Swedish Missile.

Construction:
This rocket is a single tube equal to and/or surpassing other tubes on the market.

The kit came standard with 8 premium quality Baltic Birch High Ply count fins and 3 (yes 3) awesome centering rings out of the same material. One ring was already pre-drilled for the lower shock cord mounting eye-bolt. The motor mount tube was thick wall 29mm motor mount tube that was equally superior in quality to the airframe. It was more than adequate in length to clear the fin roots in the front of the forward fins and still allow for much space for a parachute. The nosecone is made of custom turned hard balsa. Nice touch and great quality. The nose weight was taken care of with a beefy screw-in eyescrew that was epoxied into a small pre-drilled hole. Not too big, but big enough to ensure that the nosecone did not split. The kit came packaged very well. Thick plastic with a nice header. All of the parts had been sealed in separate compartments inside of another piece of the same packaging. You could easily see the entire contents. Far superior to other manufacturers!

The instructions were on a total of 5 pages. I am an experienced builder, but enjoyed the instruction detail to ascertain what Aardvark had in mind during construction. The wording was precise and little confusion was possible, even for my 13 year old son that helped on the project. There were illustrations where clarification was needed and not simply thrown in to make the instructions longer or to account for poor wording. The assembly order was extremely well thought out and there was even a revision date at the bottom of each page. I thought that this was a nice touch. Since my tube came pre-slotted, there was no need for templates.

The only gotcha that I could find during construction was the lower shock cord mount that is through the upper centering ring. The wording was complex although it seemed as though I should understand it easily. I called Dr. Kenneth Johnson of Aardvark and he emailed me a clarification drawing that is now included in the new instruction set. This was a definite plus and made perfect sense when coupled with the text instructions.

The shockcord, i believe, is made of a Mule Tape like product that is flat braided Kevlar ® .. I am most impressed with this addition to the kit. Coupled with a decent 36" chute, it was VERY reasonable to add this to the kit price.

The fins were not beveled (unfortunately). This is not such a bad thing though, as those that I have had in the past from other manufacturers were miserable failures. I prefer to bevel myself anyway. The fin slots were decent and cut accurately enough. The fin tabs were the perfect length and the tabs were well thought out to assist in hiding the slots.

There was enough "warnings" and thought provoking statements in the instruction set to make even an experienced builder like me consider simple modifications for such things as motor retention. These were well placed and worded in the instructions.

I still have to state, once again, that the fins in this kit were most awesome! With only minor sanding and finishing, they came out like an automotive paint job that only the finest quality materials can provide.

All tools and materials needed to complete the kit were clearly indicated in the second page of the instruction kit. I did choose to add a slim line retainer.

Finishing:
The tubes did not require any filling and were only roughly sanded. The fin fillets were accomplished with a call to Aardvark, once again. Dr. Johnson would not specifically recommend any single name brand but I inferred that the "true" recommendation was Evercoat Formula 27 filler. Kinda like Bondo. I was impressed with this product. Went on smooth and sanded easily. Took the primer and stuck to everything without any sags. There were no decals included with this kit although Dr. Johnson offered to send me out a "SAAB" logo if I was stuck on it.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
My first flight was a test of the kit. I put it up on an H97 for the first flight. It was probably one of the better flights of my summer. Straight as an arrow and really fast! I don't like screamers, but this was most enjoyable on the blackjack motor. I have now flown it twice on G80s and even on a G33. This is now one of my favorites. Not to mention that it gets looks and many a question from onlookers. I used the proverbial "dog barf" wadding without any problems.

Recovery:
The shock cord quality makes me trust it that much more. It is far and above the quality of anything I have seen and was longer that I needed and typically use. There is even a recommendation on re-use of parachutes from rocket to rocket. Nice touch again. I would only like to see welded or cast eyebolts, but there is no way to add those without additional cost to an already quite affordable kit.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
It is really nice to deal with a company that does what it can to help the little guys out. The initial shipment was damaged by UPS and Aardvark sent me out a new airframe almost immediately. They even asked me to measure my fin roots to ensure that the slots were identical. Now, THAT is a nice touch. To my surprise, along with the new airframe came a decal sheet with compliments and an apology for my trouble. Not any trouble here!

I think that we will be seeing many more of these kits out on the flight line. If you want to purchase a really top quality kit, you should really look into Aardvark!

I will post my article about the new exotic kit once it arrives. I guess that when you purchase another kit from the same source before the first one is even completed, it says a lot about how I feel!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5