I was at a launch when Ed with Giant Leap flew his Vertical Assault 3.0 prior to the release of the kit for sale. The picture of him on the Giant Leap website holding the rocket was taken during our TRA-LA club launch last March.
I don't remember which motor he flew it on, I think it was either an "I" or "J" motor and I don't know the altitude achieved but it boosted straight, flew well and recovered without damage.
As I was checking out his rocket before it's flight I noticed that it was an easy building, rugged, good looking and fairly high performance rocket that would be a great kit for a rocketeer that wants to certify L1 or L2. If you don't have a tracker then you'll want one when your ready to fly a "K" motor in it because it will simply scream off the pad.
Ed was going to launch his VL 3.0 with a "K" motor at our last club launch but the wind was up around 12 to 15 mph and he didn't want to chance losing it. We were chasing rockets all over the place that day and with those conditions I can't blame him for not sending it up since he would have been approaching Mach speeds and hitting around 9,000' in altitude. That would have been a cool flight to watch!!!
As far as other kits from Giant Leap I have built and flown the GLR Thunderbolt 38 (phenolic tubing) and the Firestorm 54 (fiberglass with DD) and love them both.
The first thing I noticed about each of these kits was how tough and well designed they are and I like the fact that they can handle a wide range of motors which makes them flyable at any high power launch I go to regardless of the wind or field size.
Andrew Grippo