My son and I have been flying this rocket for 2 seasons now. I liked how it came prepainted and utilized a (preslotted) fin canister for fin mounting along with a twist on motor retainer. All of these are real time savers for working with small kids who are still learning to build models. The trade off is extra weight, which you will notice immediately if you compare it to a similar size rocket with surface mounted fins, even if they are made out of birch ply.

We replaced the plastic chute with a lightweight nylon version and the elastic shock cord for a non elastic nylon version that was about 2.5 times as long.

The model went together nicely with the exception of one fin that was slightly out of spec for it to fit into the slot, or vice versa but we made it work.

We have flown it on many D12-5's, usually as the first flight to test the winds. Lately my son has been opting for using an Aerotech E20-7W composite motor on days with little wind when we can launch vertical. This little composite motor is perfect for this rocket given it's heft. The 7 second delay puts it right at apogee for ejection. One thing to note is that the motor retainer will not fit over the composite motor nozzle so the motor needs to be friction fitted using masking tape.

Alas, on the last flight, the chute tangled resulting in a hard landing which crumpled the body tube just above the motor mount. We will buy a new Ninja and use the nose cone for building a scratch Der Red Max as the nose cone is identical. The fin assembly will be used in another project as well.

Jamie