Brief:
The FlisKits UFFO (Unidentified Flying Foam Object) is a flying saucer oddroc that is built up with foam coffee cups and foamboard fins. It flies on 18mm B and C booster motors and uses tumble/featherweight recovery.

Construction:
The kit came packaged in a plastic bag and included the following parts:

• 14 4oz foam coffee cups
• 1 core tube
• 2 motor blocks
• 2 3/16" launch lugs
• 1 piece foamboard for fins
• 1 piece cardboard for wedges
• 1 pattern sheet
• 1 cup alignment guide
• 1 instruction sheet

The instructions for this kit are among the best I've ever received in a kit. They consist of 18 construction steps and lots of illustrations that take the guesswork out of assembling this very unusual model. There are no templates included in the instructions as they are included on their own seperate sheets.

This kit as rated as a skill level 2 kit but I feel that anyone that has built any skill level 1 or 2 kit can handle this with no problems. I would consider the skill level a high 1 to a low 2.

This kit does require the use of a hot glue gun for construction. FlisKits reccommends the use of high temp glue sticks. Trust me, this stuff gets HOT, about 200+ degrees Farenheight. Use extreme caution.

The construction begins with assembling the core tube. First, it is reccommended that you cut the core tube down to an even 7 inches. When that is done, you take an expended 18mm motor casing, mark it at 1/4 inch from the end, smear some white glue in the tube and take the marked casing and push the first motor block into place. You then apply another thin film of glue at the other end of the tube and insert the second block flush with the end of the tube.

I then marked a line down the tube and then glued the launch lugs into place, each one is placed even with the ends of the tube. I then applied glue fillets to the lugs for additional strength. That completes the assembly of the core tube.

You now cut out the core tube hole pattern from the pattern sheet and cut out the center. You then take two of the cups and trace the out the pattern and carefully cut out the holes for the tube and launch lugs. Be very careful, a sharp knife cuts through this foam very easily.

From this point on a hot glue gun is required. I then applied a thin film of hot glue to one of the cups with the holes in it and glued this assembly together. The core tube assembly is then slid into place until 3/4 of the top of the tube extends out from one of the ends. A rather thick fillet of hot glue is then applied at each end to secure the assembly.

Now it is time to assemble the outer ring of cups. You take the cup alignment guide and lay it on a flat surface. You then take two cups, apply a drop of hot glue to one of them and glue together. You then repeat this until you have half a ring. After the first assembly is dry, carefully remove it from the cup alignment guide, flip it around and continue repeat the previous steps until you have a complete ring assembly.

I then cut out the fin marking guide, marked the fin lines and cut out the fin slots. You then cut out the fin pattern, trace it onto the foamboard fin stock and carefully cut out the fins. It is reccommended that the fins are test fitted prior to assembly. I then glued the fins into place and then applied generous hot glue fillets for extra strength.

This completes the fin can assembly. At this point, it is time to carefully mount the fin can into the cup ring assembly. For proper assembly, the tips of the fins must touch each fourth cup. I then applied fillets to each cup/fin joint.

I then cut out the wedge template, traced it onto the cardboard and cut out all the wedges. There are 12 of them so be prepared to spend a bit of time on this step. These are required to strengthen the cup ring assembly so it will withstand the rigors of flight. You then install one in between each cup until all 12 are installed. At this point, you apply fillets to each /wedge/cup joint for additional strength.

PROs: Easy, quick, and rather fun to build.

CONs: None.

Finishing:
This kit does not require any finishing but you could always use magic markers and/or stickers to give it a personal touch. Painting is not reccommended as most paint solvents will dissolve the foam. The colored side of the wedges also add some color to the kit. Mine were dark green but I have seen light blue also.

PROs: No finishing required.

CONs: Rather plain looking but I don't necessarily consider that a con.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
The reccommended motors for the UFFO are the B6-0 and C6-0. Using a motor with an ejection charge is not reccommended.

To prep this kit for flight, all you need to do is apply a layer of masking tape to the nozzle end of the motor and friction fit it into place.

I have flown my UFFO 4 times now. I used the C6-0 on all flights. On this motor, the model lifts off slowly, goes straight at first and tends to arc a bit but I find this rather interesting. Even with the C6-0, maximum altitude is about 50-60 feet. For this reason, I would not reccommend the B6-0.

If you want this model to last, I definately would not reccommend the use of any 18mm composite motors.

PROs: Very interesting and low altitude flights.

CONs: None.

Recovery:
This model uses featherweight recovery. At motor burnout, the model just falls to the ground for an easy, quick, no nonsense recovery.

PROs: Recovers easily.

CONS: None.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
I really liked building and flying this kit. However, if you are an altitude junkie that's looking for a model that flies hundreds or thousands of feet up in the air, this kit is not for you. On the other hand, if you are looking for a low flying kit with interesting looks and flight characteristics, look no more. Check out the FlisKits UFFO.

If you were lucky enough to place an order for $15 or more with FlisKits before 10/1/05, it was included free during their 3rd anniversary. Now it can be purchased for $9.95. One thing you might consider is saving the instructions and templates so you could rebuild the model from scratch if you needed to. I liked this kit so much that I will eventually build the Espresso and Decaffienator kits too.

Main PROs: Easy and quick assembly, great flights and recoveries.

Main CONs: None that I can think of.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Brief:
This is another one of Jim Flis' unique Styrofoam cup rockets. It's Styrofoam, it's a rocket, it's a UFFO!

Construction:
The rocket consists of 14 Styrofoam coffee cups, cardstock, foam board, and motor mount supplies including a BT-20 tube, two motor blocks and a launch lug.

Construction is a little unique for this rocket. Unlike most rocket builds, here you are instructed to use a hot glue gun. I actually had to go buy one since I didn't have one at home. They are fairly inexpensive and I can see the benefits of having this kind of gluing device available.

I began with the motor mount by gluing on the launch lug and added the motor blocks. What is strange is that FlisKits tells you to put a motor block also at the top of the BT-20. I am assuming this prevents curious dare devils from trying to fly the rocket upside down.

After the motor mount was done, I had to cut holes using a template in the tops of two Styrofoam cups. In addition to this, I had to place a template around one cup to create three spaces for the foam board to attach to the motor mount. After this was done, I cut out three foam board fins using the included template. Next, I glued the motor mount into the two cups (the cups face each other with open mouth to open mouth) using yellow glue. I then added hot glue to the top and bottom and also sealed the two Styrofoam cups together with hot glue.

After the motor mount assembly is done, I added the three fins into the slots created in one of the cups. I glued the fins on using the hot glue gun. Now I was ready to create the 12 cup ring that goes around the motor mount unit. Again, FlisKits provides a template for lining up the cups. The hot glue technique takes some practice (at least for me it did). This is a difficult step because the cups are all placed open mouth down and only a small portion of the cup is glued to its neighbor. If you are not careful, your cups may tend to not remain flat on a single plane. I didn't worry about this too much as I thought that after I had all the cups glued into a ring, I would solve the wobbling of the ring by gluing the motor mount on. Sure enough, this solved the problem adequately.

The last step involves gluing a template to a piece of very strong, firm cardstock and cutting up cardstock wedges that will be glued in between the Styrofoam cup ring. This step is really important because this adds a major amount of strength to the rocket. In the end, the rocket is huge and wide for only being a 2 oz. flying machine.

Construction is pretty straightforward considering the kit is very unusual. If you are looking for something completely different to build, consider the UFFO. The only cons would be getting a hang of the hot glue gun and learning how to glue Styrofoam cups together. I am glue gun challenged and I found that gluing the ring (including the card stock support structures) to be the most time consuming and challenging portion of the build. Also, a suggestion: Do the gluing either outside or when the wife is not around. Then make sure you open the windows to get fresh air into the house and get the hot glue smell out.

Finishing:
Since we are talking Styrofoam, paint is not a good idea. There are no decals but I guess you could finish it with magic markers. I left mine with an "out of the box" look.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I flew the rocket three times all times using a C6-3. Now I know this is a UFO type rocket, and I should only be using a C6-0. That being said, I felt that the C6 would bring it high enough that I would not have any problems with the ejection charge going off near the ground.

All three flights were beautiful. The UFFO has a very slow, majestic lift off. After motor burn out, the rocket arced over and came in nose first for a slow, methodical aerobrake recovery.

Recovery:
About 20 to 30 feet from the ground, I got additional breaking from the 3 second delay ejection charge.

I was very impressed with the flight performance. I don't think I will ever use a B6-0 on this rocket. The C6 is definitely the motor of choice. Also, I would not use a C6-3 again. Besides the safety factor of having the motor eject upon descent, the flames from the motor did a number to the top of my rocket. The top Styrofoam cup now is very crusty and needs to have some kind of reinforcement before it flies again. This is no big deal, but I could have avoided this if I actually had the right motors in my range box.

PROs: Beautiful Flight, beautiful recovery. Easy to prep and turn round again.

CONs: None unless you decide to use a C6-3. Then you would only have yourself to blame.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
If you are looking for something different, this is the rocket for you. If you are looking for something with glass smooth fins and a perfect finish, this is not your rocket. Handling the glue gun will create fillets of "unique" shape. You must learn to love the UFFO for what it is. It's not a pretty bird, but she sure flies nicely.

Overall Rating: 4 ½ out of 5