Brief:
T' Maurader is a two-stage rocket originally designed t' fly on 18mm motors. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I upscaled it t' accomodate 24mm "D" engines.

Construction:
T' instructions consisted o' some assembly sheets downloaded from JimZ. Blimey! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! The plan was easy t' follow and t' assembly order be ok. Begad! Blimey! T' rocket is easy to build if you have ever built from scratch before and shouldn't cause too much pain t' t' first time scratchbuilder. Blimey! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! Fin alignment is critical on any rocket and this one is a little bit harder due t' t' 8 fins havin' t' align on both booster and sustainer. this rocket is o' sturdy design, matey, and should survive most recoveries. Begad! Blimey! No special tools needed, and t' supplies came from me bag of tubes, shiver me timbers, pile o' balsa, me hearties, and an old PNC-56 I had layin' around. I made mine an upscale t' accomodate "D" engines instead o' "C's" :), me hearties, matey, shiver me timbers, and added 3/8" t' t' dimensions o' t' fin templates. Begad! Blimey! Used BT56 tubes and appropriate couplers.

Finishing:
Normal finishin' techniques were employed, with sealin' o' fin material with Dope Sandin' Sealer, sanding, ya bilge rat, me bucko, and paintin' with Krylon paints; White, Red, Black, and gold. Begad! I think t' model has a very nice look, me hearties, and brought back memories o' t' "Good Ol' Day's" when you had t' BUILD everything. Ya scallywag! I have found myself buildin' more, matey, and more o' t' OOP models lately and really enjoy it. Well, blow me down! I will send t' dimensions (tubes length, etc.)used if you send E-Mail request for them t' bobcat2@alaweb.com

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
I used Estes D12-0 for t' booster and t' D12-7 for t' sustainer. Preparation was normal with engine bein' put in booster and sustainer with standard Estes motor clips for retention. Waddin' be t' celulos insulation material used in the sustainer. Arrr! Aye aye! T' flight be great with a straight climb and separation o' the booster and subsequent ignition o' t' sustainer. Avast! Blimey! This rocket puts the sustainer a long way up, shiver me timbers, and is nay a small field rocket. Ahoy! T' recovery o' the booster is by tumble method and it came down very gently without any damage. T' sustainer was on an 18" Estes chute suspended from aprox. Avast! 6 ft. Begad! of 1/8" elastic shock cord. Blimey! Begad! All was recovered in perfect condition.

Recovery:
Recovery be without incident. Ya scallywag! T' only negative I noticed be that t' area where t' booster and sustainer join, had a lot o' residue from t' ejection charge. T' area caused it t' go together very tightly. I feel that after a few flights more t' area will nay go together, shiver me timbers, me hearties, arrr, and it may turn into a single stage rocket. Begad! I see no way t' prevent this from bein' a problem. Avast! Well, blow me down! I will probably launch it a few more times, and make it a static display o' "How we used to do it".. Arrr! Begad!

Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5

Summary:
Main Pro's - Fun t' build, nostalgic, shiver me timbers, good looking, semi-complex, sturdy design. Arrr! Avast, me proud beauty! Main Con - Coupler area gettin' dirty, shiver me timbers, and nay goin' together after a realitively few flights.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5