(02/23/08) "This one is like a luxury aircraft, but built for space travel."

So says Dynastar website. The Orion Transport is a neat, futuristic-looking rocket with nice lines and decals to make it stand apart from others.

The rocket includes a single white BT-70 (2.2") body tube that is 18" long. This with its 11" long plastic nose cone and cardstock thrust nozzle make up the total 28.5" length.

It comes with die-cut balsa fins (x" thick), 1/4" launch lugs and a 24mm motor mount. For recovery it comes with a big (32"), yellow Dynastar plastic parachute... sure to be seen in the sky.

CONSTRUCTION:

The instructions are printed on 8 pages with excellent illustrations and easy to read and follow directions.

Dynastar calls this kit a "Skill Level 3: Average Skills Needed". If you have a few skill level 2 kits under your belt, this will not be a challenge for you.

I only ran into one problem during the build. The fin-marking template was too big for the body tube and overlapped too much. The picture shows the problem (out of focus a bit). I was able to make the needed adjustments to have the fins go on symetrically.

The nose cone was not a snug fit and required a little masking tape to snug it up.

I built this rocket some time ago and held off writing a review due to being extremely busy with work and such. The two reviews below capture many of the building aspects that I would cover although I didn't have a missing thrust ring nor a missing fin-marking template.

Again, I found the kit to be easy to build and the instructions excellent.

Overall, for CONSTRUCTION I would rate this kit 4 points. Not sure what happended on the fin-marking template, but if you have experience, then you will be able to work around it. I did report it to Dynastar back in 2005 when I first discovered it, so no doubt it has been corrected.

FLIGHT/RECOVERY:

Dynastar recommends the following motors:

Dynastar indicates that the rocket should weigh 4.76 ounces.

My finished rocket weighed in at 6.5 ounces with a CG at 16.75" from the nose cone.

I decided to fly it for the first time on a D12-5. Nice looking, a bit slower, lift-off. It was straight and true. The rocket hit apogee and was starting to head down at ejection. The large yellow parachute provided a very, very slow descent. Too slow for me. So, I significantly reefed the parachute leaving only 1/3rd the length of the shroud lines to open.

The next couple of flights were on D15-4's. Both nice flights, so you could add that to the recommended motor list.

I flew it a year later at NYPower on a D12-5. Took this picture of the lift-off.

Then I flew it on an E9-6. It really went up there and I didn't see the ejection. But I did see that big yellow parachute.

The rocket looks good and has not suffered damage from these flights.

For FLIGHT/RECOVERY, I would rate this rocket 4 ½ points. Not a 5 because I think the parachute is too large. Some may disagree.

I give the rocket an OVERALL rating of 4 ½ points. It certainly looks good and comes with nice looking decals. The nozzle cone is a nice touch. Overall flights and performance were excellent.