Brief:
The Tangent is a single staged sport rocket. It is built with traditional methods and materials with a couple of new twists.

Construction:
The Tangent came in a bag with 1 laser cut balsa sheet, one beautifully die cut sheet of centering rings, a balsa nose cone, and a 1/8" fabric shock cord about 2' long. It has a single paper MMT and a single body tube with a smooth white coating. Part quality is first rate.

First, I've got to say that Holverson's instructions are the best I've ever seen in a rocket kit, bar none. Anyone old enough to handle the tools can build this kit by virtue of these terrific instructions. They also include extra activities to acquaint first time builders with parts of a rocket, the Tangent's parts in particular, and what the parts do. There are even ideas on how to expand the use of the rocket once it is built!

Included in the kit is an ingenious alignment jig to hold the fins upright, in place, as the glue dries. Works like a charm, but be SURE it is built correctly. Fin and launch lug marking is by standard wrap around guide.

The balsa nose had an odd hole in the center, and also was a bit larger in diameter than the BT. As a solution, I epoxied a dowel in and sanded it down on a lathe. (anyone could do the same using a hand drill with a hose clamp to hold the trigger on). The OD was then a perfect match. The dowel was cut off flush with the bottom of the nose and drilled to accept the screw eye.

Fins and centering rings (CR) both nearly fall out of their sheets. Fins required very minimal sanding to prepare, CR's none at all.

Motor mount includes a motor mount clip and a thrust ring and is completely conventional.

Overall, this is a very trouble free build. I give it a 5 despite the hole in the NC. This actually gives the builder an opportunity to strongly mount the screw eye using a dowel.

Finishing:
Finishing is a breeze for anyone who has experience building with balsa. As I didn't have any Aerogloss as recommended, I just used thin CA to seal the parts and sanded them smooth. As always, I ran some thin CA into the end of the BT and the MMT; then sanded them, to strengthen them and smooth them up. The entire rocket was then shot with a coat of sandable primer before sanding smooth. I shot it in white with red nose & fins as shown on the package. Very handsome bird with no surprises here!!

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
Holverson recommends A8-3, B4-4, B6-4, and C6-5 motors. This is a big bird, I skipped the A8-3 in favor of a Quest B6-4. It lifted off slowly like a Big Bertha but accelerated more rapidly, probably due to its more streamlined shape. Day was very calm, no weather-cocking was apparent. Ejection appeared to be a whisker after apogee. The chute deployed nicely and the Tangent was recovered about 100 feet from the pad.

Next flight was with a Quest C6-5, again a very slow lift-off and decent acceleration. The bird seemed to reach a considerably higher speed. The flight was arrow straight with ejection a bit before apogee. It gets upstairs on the C6-5 and I had to walk a bit to get it back.

This bird is a LOT of fun to fly on the C, so another one was loaded and the Tangent racked again. Same results except that it cocked a whisker as it left the pad. Consequently it leaned over about 10 degrees from vertical; it was actually moving pretty fast when ejection came. Another long walk was necessary to get it back!! On retrieving it, the only apparent damage was a little soot on the fins. GREAT flyer, 5!!

Recovery:
Shock cord mounting seemed kind of odd to me but I went with the program anyhow. A 1" piece of launch lug is supplied and the shock cord looped around it and knotted. Then it is glued in and filleted. The shock cord itself at 1/8" seemed thin but was quite long and made of rugged stuff.

The chute is pre-made, but I dislike the method used. It has holes punched along the perimeter and shroud lines just threaded through in big loops. The holes in the chute have no reinforcement of any kind. This is begging for a fast ejection to rip the shroud lines though the chute plastic. These received reinforcements of vinyl tape discs and the lines were taped down from the hole to the edge using poly tape. The system ejected and deployed well. The bird was recovered with no damage after 3 flights so the recovery system gets a 4.

Flight Rating: 4 ½ out of 5

Summary:
The Holverson Tangent is a wonderful traditional style kit. Pros- Attractive, easy build, quality components, good flyer, inexpensive, great instructions Cons- Odd-ball method used in pre-built chute.

Overall Rating: 4 ½ out of 5