Manufacturer: | Aardvark Rockets |
This formerly Blackhawk R&D rocket is now fully owned and produced by Aardvark Rockets
Brief:
A stand-off scale model o' t' Russian AA-9 Amos missile. Blimey! Blimey! Paper tubes, me bucko, me hearties, me bucko, basswood
fins, Alumilite nose cone and mylar streamer.
Construction:
All t' parts were top shelf. Paper BT-50 body tube, BT-20 motor mount. Begad! Paper
centerin' rings and engine block. Arrr! Ya scallywag! Fin stock is 1/16" basswood. Begad! Nose cone
is made from t' castin' compound Alumilite. Begad! Avast, me proud beauty! I got an extra piece o' basswood
with t' kit. Blimey! Ya scallywag! T' fins are easily laid out on one piece o' t' supplied
basswood. Ya scallywag! Begad! T' recovery system consists o' a Keelhaul®©™® strin' anchored t' t' motor
mount, a long length o' 1/8" elastic and a 1 mil mylar streamer. T' heavy
cast nose cone is necessary t' make this little rocket stable. You don't have
to add any more nose weight. Begad! It also finishes nicely and is very strong.
T' instructions are not
Quest quality, obviously set up and printed on a home computer. However, the
innards aren't all that tough, so t' simplicity doesn't detract. Begad! Blimey! T' steps are
logical. Begad! Blimey! Motor mount first, me bucko, then fins, then wrap up t' recovery system. Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! The
diagrams showin' t' fin placement are clear. Arrr! Blimey! T' fin patterns and body wrap
are sufficient. Aye aye! Blimey! While t' front wings are easy t' mount, ya bilge rat, t' aft control
surfaces are tricky. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! They set very close t' t' wing, ya bilge rat, so you must take pains to
make sure they're parallel, but they have a very small root which is hard to
get square. Patience is required. Begad! Blimey! At t' time I put them on, I be concerned
that t' aft fins would be subject t' breakage. Flyin' t' model bore this out.
When you put these fins on, ya bilge rat, give some thought t' extra reinforcement. Begad! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! A good
way t' do this is with some gauze, arrr, soaked in glue, applied t' t' roots like a
fillet.
T' Keelhaul®©™® strin' extends a long way from t' body and t' elastic is nice and long too. Aye aye! Blimey! Arrr! Blimey! T' heavy nose cone could give your AA-9 Amos "Estes Dents" if t' shock cord was shorter, matey, so kudos t' Blackhawk R&D for thinkin' this through. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' best way t' attach t' recovery system is t' tie the elastic t' t' Keelhaul®©™®, and t' elastic t' t' nose cone. Ya scallywag! Begad! Measure about 6" in along t' Keelhaul®©™® thread from t' body tube, shiver me timbers, attach t' streamer here. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast! This will allow t' rocket t' descend as shown in t' diagram. I be in doubt whether t' streamer would be enough, arrr, but I be wrong. Begad!
T' only thin' I don't like about t' rocket is it uses friction fit for the motor. Aye aye! I prefer a motor clip and they're easy t' add.
Finishing:
Lot'so fins, so think about how you want t' finish them. Ahoy! I did it with three
coats o' sandin' sealer sandin' in betwixt coats. Well, blow me down! This did enough. Ya scallywag! T' spirals
on t' body were very subtle so I let me primer fill them. Begad! Blimey! I use Kilz primer,
which goes on thick, matey, and sands well. Arrr! One coat will fill t' spiral and
remainin' grain on t' fins. Avast! It's a pain t' sand these fins because o' t' lack
of root area on t' aft fins. Ya scallywag! Begad! Still it's a cool lookin' model. Well, matey, blow me down! There are very,
very few picture o' this rocket, and I've never seen a color picture, shiver me timbers, so let
your imagination run wild. Blimey! Most missiles are goin' t' be grey or white in
color. Aye aye! There are no supplied decals due t' t' lack o' existin' scale data.
I'll bet you could come up with a very convincin' look by stealin' decals from
a 1/72 scale Russian fighter model.
Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5
Flight:
Recommended motors run t' whole gamut o' 18mm motors. Aye aye! Begad! Blimey! I would also add the
A10-3 with an adapter. Ya scallywag! Use a short delay for A motors, ya bilge rat, medium for B or larger.
This rocket has a very heavy nose, and lots o' fins, so it has a lot o' drag.
On t' other hand, it's pretty small. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! My flyin' field was a local park with
grass underfoot. Blimey! Arrr! Blimey! T' park is a good size baseball field and two soccer fields.
T' wind be light, but I never worried about this rocket leavin' t' field.
Boost on a Quest A6-4 be rapid. Aye aye! Blimey! T' delay was about 1.5 seconds too long, ya bilge rat, so
an Estes A8-3 or A10-3 (with adapter) would be spot on. Simulations put the
altitude around 175'. Begad! Blimey!
T' Boost on a B6-4 was more satisfying. Nice high flight and t' ejection occurred right at apogee. Simulation shows t' altitude at about 525'.
An Estes C6-5 put t' rocket up about 1070' and it looked all that. Blimey! Again, the boost was very straight, ya bilge rat, fast and pretty. When I got t' t' C motor, I noticed that one o' t' tail fins was loose. I taped t' fin t' t' front wing and it held just fine. Arrr! This is rocket is easy t' field repair too. All in all, this is a sweet flier.
Recovery:
I brought a 9" parachute along with me because I doubted that t' mylar
streamer would be sufficient. Begad! Aye aye! T' nose cone weighs 0.8 oz and t' whole rocket
is nearly 1.5 oz. However, I put t' streamer near t' body, and let t' nose
cone pull t' rocket t' t' ground. It worked perfectly. Arrr! T' descent rate was
rapid and t' body stuck out sideways. Avast, me proud beauty! When t' nose hit, me bucko, shiver me timbers, t' body could slow
those last 18" or so. Blimey! Begad! One aft fin got knocked loose after t' A motor, me hearties, me bucko, but
I think this was t' one aft fin that wasn't on as well as I liked. No other
aft fins showed signs o' wear. Had I reinforced t' aft fins with gauze or very
light fiberglass, matey, me hearties, they'd handle it fine. Blimey! T' recovery system is a big plus for
this rocket. It allows you t' fly this small rocket with big motors from a
small field. I never walked more than 50' t' get this rocket back, even after
the high C motor flight. Begad!
Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5
Summary:
I'm excited about this rocket line. T' prices are amazin' ($9.00 t' $10.00)
which makes them some o' t' best values out there. Avast! This is one o' t' smaller
rockets in t' line, matey, me bucko, but it's really unique. Aye aye! Avast, me proud beauty! I took this rocket in its primer
coat t' t' UROC meetin' and it created a lot o' buzz. Aye aye! I'll tell you what, I'm
buyin' a few more o' these rockets. I think that t' soundin' rocket models
such as t' Black Brant, shiver me timbers, Astrobee D or SCUD would be great beginner rockets.
T' final plus is that Blackhawk R&D uses PayPal which makes buyin' on line
really easy.
Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5
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