This is how I build my rockets but every one has their own order and technique. You will develop your own with time so for now, keep on building...

Once you have a good kit, you need to find a place to build it. Pick a low (better yet, no) traffic area with lots of light and a clean flat surface. You will need ventilation if painting or using certain glues (read all product warnings before use).

Open up your kit and find the supplies list with the instructions. Check to see you have all the tools you will need and that all the pieces of the model made it and are in good shape. You don't want to run into any missing pieces in the middle of building.

Find your engine mount tube and measure out for your engine hook. The measures you need will be in your instruction sheets (Which are real easy to follow). Not to hard to do. Make a small cut on the line indicated to insert the engine hook (most are about 2.5'' or 64 mm).

Now you will need to put on the engine holder ring or the centering ring to finish the engine mount assembly. The engine holder ring will slide very tightly over the engine tube and secure the engine hook. The centering rings are used with large diameter body tubes and are flat cardboard-wood rings that slide over the engine tube. This allows the mount to be installed in large dia. body tubes. The engine hook may need to be secured with tape wrapped around the engine tube.

Set the engine mount up to dry and grab your balsa fins. If you have plastic fins or fin assembly you will still need to get them ready. For balsa you can cut them from the sheet with a exacto knife (Don't just break them out or you my break the fin). Sand them down evenly but make sure you keep the root edge straight so it will sit up tight against the body tube. I like to shape the edges of my fins so they are more streamline and realistic looking (not the root edge). You can do this by hand or you could use a sanding block or just lay the sand paper on a flat surface securely and move the fin over it. Which ever you do, it is important to go slow, keep the fin from bending and make sure your even all the way around. For plastic fins you should use your knife to remove all the casting ridges and bumps but be careful not to remove any detail from them.

A ) Put a Sharp angle on the trailing edge of the fin. Make it even on both sides B ) Round the front edge of the fin. This is important for the realism of the finished rocket.

Set the fins aside and get your engine mount. Make sure it is mostly dry and get set to insert it into the body tube. I like to get some glue just a little way in the body tube so it will roll up in front of the engine holder ring when you insert it and dry into a solid edge. This prevents the motor from launching up the tube and destroying the rocket. Now slide it in so the engine tube is flush with the body tube (the hook should still be extending out).

The body tub will have slots in it where the fins should go or you will find a fin marking guide to cut out on the instructions somewhere. If you use this guide you will need to tape it in place as per the instructions and mark the fin alignment lines on. Use a door frame to get a strait line drawn on the body tube for the fins and the launch lug.

Once the lines are in place you can get the first fin ready to glue on. I use a flexible tacky glue and find that my fins take more abuse this way because they flex instead of snapping off. Put some glue on the root edge of the fin and press it into place on one of the guide lines or push it into the slot. Once they dry a little you can put the others on and line up them up the same way as before. If your instructions have a alignment guide you should really use it to get your fins strait.

Now let your fins dry. I have an old wine bottle I use to support my rockets (nose down) while I work on them. Make sure your rocket is strait up and down or the fins might sag before they set. Now would be a good time to put on the launch lug so it dries at the same time as the fins. While you wait for these to dry you can find the shock cord mount in the instructions and cut it out.

When you lay the shock cord onto the paper mount, make sure it is angled to prevent it from layering onto itself when you fold it up. Make it as thin as possible.

Mount the cord in the mount and glue and fold it as per the instructions. I like to round it a little while it's still wet so it dries shaped to the inside of the body tube. You'll find that it offers less resistance if it has the curve already on it as opposed to being flat. You can also cut out the decals now and prepare the parachute.

Ok, the fins are dry and ready to finish off. You need to run a glue fillet where the fin meets the body tube all the way around each fin and the launch lug. This is very important as this is what gives the fin its strength.

Use you finger tip to run over the glue to smooth it out evenly. This goes for the launch lug as well. Let this dry and start thinking about paint if you need to paint your rocket. Glue in the shock cord. Remember to put it in far enough so the nose cone can fit in the body tube when your done.

Mask off the nose cone just below the seat or the smaller dia. ring that will set down on the body tube. I like to tape a piece of string in the masked end and hang the nose cone upside down from a popcycle stick. This makes it easy to suspend for painting and easy to move without touching.

A ) String to suspend nose while you paint it and while it dries. B ) Mask off this area of the nose back to the string. C ) Leave a small ring unmasked for painting so the white of the nose doesn't show when it's seated in the rocket.

I like to mask off the business end of the rocket before painting and the engine clip (I keep it metal). Paint. What ever color makes you happy. Make sure you have lots of ventilation and don't over-spray on stuff. EEEEyikes

Wow, Nice paint job. Lets get this thing finished and flying. Get a fishing swivel and string your parachute lines through the eye and attach the clip to the nose cone. The swivel will allow the chute to spin with out twisting up the lines and to be easily removable. Tie the shock cord onto the nose cone (nice if you have another swivel) and that's it. Apply the decals or not if you just can't wait to fly.

One last thing to do and it's the thing I forget to do every time and end up kicking myself for. Take a picture...If you do you'll probably have that rocket for ever in mint condition but if you don't get a photo you can kiss that baby good-bye. Missing in action or mangled in a spectacular crash, gone with no record of it. All you have is the instructions and the bag it came in.... and all the balsa scrapes.......And the plastic trimmings........and well you know.

Read the instructions on how to load the motor and how to put the igniter in, also check How They Work from the menu below. Packing the parachute will be covered in the instructions as well. Good luck, Have fun, and Keep building.