This kit just looked too interesting and different not to pick up for review. As you can see, it is shaped like a shark, which makes it rather unique. Building this model rocket is pretty easy. There are two sets of fins, which may make this kit a less than ideal choice for the absolute beginner. As you can imagine, painting the rocket is the tricky part. This kit had been sitting in my build pile for quite some time, probably close to a year. The paint-job just seemed too hard to pull off. Turns out it wasn't all that hard. Looking at how great the rocket turned out makes me wish ARC had a full line of fish, or other critters for that matter.

Parts List

- balsa nose cone
- washer weight and eyehook
- body tube
- 7 laser-cut balsa fins
- motor tube with centering rings and motor hook
- decals and shock cord
- ASP parachute kit
- instruction sheet

Construction

The instructions fit on a single sheet (back and front) and are accompanied by colorful illustrations.

First, the motor mount assembly was put together. Next, the nose cone and fins were filled and sanded smooth. The small bag with decals, shock cord and ASP mylar parachute kit are also shown in this picture.

The aft and forward dorsal fins line up while the side fins do not. This makes for an interesting fin arrangement. Attaching the fins correctly is the hardest part of construction and makes the kit a skill level 2 project. This picture also show the washer attached to the nose cone which serves as nose weight.

Finishing

As I don't know of a source for "shark gray" paint, I had to mix my own.

For the bottom half of the shark, white paint was used with a little black mixed it to make it a light gray. For the top half of the rocket, white was mixed with black and two shades of blue to get that shark color.

Getting these colors "just right" was somewhat time consuming. The bottom of the shark was painted first, with some overlap towards the top half. Masking tape was ripped and used to mask off the bottom half of the shark. The rips gives it that raw edge. The top half was then painted. The decals included with the kit include a month and gills. No eyes are included, which strikes me as odd. Adding two dots to one of the decal sheets seems easy to do.

Finally, some clear coat was added and the shark rocket was set aside to dry.

Measurements

The ARC Shark has a length of 16 inches and is BT-60 based (1.6" diameter). The face card lists the empty weight (no motor) as 2.1 oz.

Flight Data

ARC recommends the Estes B6-4 and C6-5 motors for this model rocket. When flown on a C6-5, the Shark appeared marginally stable, at best. It's flight patterns reminded me of a shark hunting for prey. Some extra nose weight will be added for the next flight.

After gluing a couple of 1/4" nuts to the bottom of the nose cone shoulder, it flew as straight as an arrow and deployed the chute near apogee on a C6-5.