Brief:  This is a three finned egglofter designed for NAR egglofting competitions.

Construction: Everything arrived undamaged and all the parts were there. The fins are precut balsa. The fins are precut balsa. The body tube is spiral wound paper as is the motor tube and two sets of centering rings.   There is a balsa launch lug offset, as the nose cone is much wider than the body. The launch lug is 1/8 inch, thin plastic, like a drinking straw. The parachute is 24 inches in diameter and is thin black plastic. Its six shroud lines are nylon thread and are affixed to the chute via adhesive paper donut shaped reinforcements. The nose cone is thin hollow plastic with a groove in the middle to allow cutting, to open it and place in cargo. The nose cone fits into the body tube with two centering rings around its neck. One of the rings also serves to anchor the shock cord and chute.

Finishing: There were no decals, so I finished it with green Monokote and silver craft paper available from many hobby stores.   The nose cone is black, and I left it unpainted. I spray painted the fins and balsa offset yellow. It looks unusual to say the least.   There are two complete aft ends with fins and engine mounts and blocks.   They have the same fin design each, only the one with 3 engines uses wedge fin attachment like my LOC 4-29SS does. With couplers and tape, the ends are interchangeable and will stay in place.  

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight: I flew the rocket first with the 18mm choice, and used an Estes A8-3 and no payload. It flew straight and recovered smoothly, but unloaded, it nearly drifted out of reach, coming to rest in a tree. I had to climb up and get it.  

Apogee recommends this engine as well as the A6-4, B4-4, B6-4, C4-5, C6-3, and C10-4 for loaded use, but unloaded use a C6-5, C10-7, and D3-5.   For the cluster mount, use three 1/2A2-2, A2-3, and B2-3 loaded, and unloaded, use B2-5 and B2-7. I haven't flown it loaded yet, but suspect that the weight will make recovery shorter and not treeward! 

I used a couple pinches of worm bed wadding. If you don't know what this is, it's dry recycled newspaper cellulose puffs that are great to breed nightcrawlers in, hence its name. This stuff is better than paper sheets in protecting plastic chutes. The chute here is unburnt.   Tape bands are sufficient to retain the engines. I use black electrical tape to close the nose cone because it matches the color and looks good.

Recovery: The shock cord is 18 inches of Kevlar® threading, affixed inside the body tube with a folded paper mount. It was easy to assemble.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary: Unusual looks, easy to assemble, choice of using one or three engines.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5