Well, I had become frustrated with my loss of three small rockets in one day in the spring of 1997. I vowed to never again take a rocket under 12" long seriously. But I had all those 13mm mini-engines left. What to do? I needed a mini-engine model that wasn't a guaranteed loss. I was browsing through the Discount Rocketry website one day, and saw the Metrix. It looked like it would fit the bill, and for $5, I simply couldn't pass it up.

Construction is very simple and straightforward, typical of a 3FNC (three fins & a nose cone) rocket. This one is made even simpler by being minimum diameter, and thus requiring just an engine block, and not a full engine mount. About the only trick, and the instructions do point this out explicitly, is that it's very easy to confuse the fin's leading edge with it's root edge. Making such a mistake would require you (assuming you caught it before the glue dries completely) to frantically but carefully pry the fin off the body tube, wipe as much glue as possible from both surfaces, and re-sand that fin, since you rounded the root edge, and left the leading edge square. Hypothetically speaking, of course. ;-)

Flying this rocket for the first time was a bit of a surprise, actually. It definitely went higher and faster than I had expected, especially with the A10-3T engine. That gold mylar streamer did a simply fabulous job of making the rocket trackable. I've launched it several times now, and every flight has been completely trouble-free.

All in all, this is a fine rocket and a fine kit. I can heartily recommend it to anyone who wants a good mini-engine sport flyer. About the only nitpick is that it's not exactly the most awe-inspiring rocket ever made, but how many really are? I rate it a 4 out of 5 for construction, a 4 out of 5 for flight, and an overall, general rating of 4 out of 5.