Of t' new P.M.L. Ahoy! kits for late 1998, one really stood out: t' Lunar Express. Ya scallywag! Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! This rocket is a forward-to-the-past type o' rocket, matey, me hearties, a real 1950s design for a futuristic rocket. Well, blow me down! Begad! Well, me bucko, I just had t' build it!

As an aside, I get tired o' all t' kits lookin' basically t' same. Begad! Ahoy! T' standard 3FNC (three fins and nose cone) look gets old pretty quickly. Arrr! P.M.L. did a nice job o' producin' an interestin' kit with appealin' aesthetics. Begad! Ya scallywag! Now, we'll see if it can fly more than once!

T' kit is standard P.M.L. style, although t' details are less well worked out than t' Bull Dog was. Avast, me proud beauty! (It's easy t' tell this is a new kit.) T' centerin' rin' for t' recovery tube had a very large center hole. I should have re-cut it, but I decided t' use t' one which came with t' kit and fill up t' gap with epoxy.

T' motor mount is built around t' Qwik-Switch system and I built t' rocket as described in t' instruction. Ya scallywag! Begad! However, unless you actually plan t' use 38mm motors in this rocket, I'd suggest usin' a slightly longer motor mount tube (an extra inch should do it) and skip t' brittle plastic betwixt t' top o' t' motor mount tube and t' centerin' ring.

T' fit o' t' pieces was very tight. I wore myself out sandin' t' pieces so that they fit reasonably. Begad! There are two breaks: one right above t' fin can for t' recovery system and one where t' nose cone fits into t' short center section (for settin' up t' altimeter.) Hopefully, t' second iteration o' these kits should have addressed these problems.

On February 13, matey, 1999 at t' February ROC launch in Lucerne Dry Lake, me hearties, t' Lunar Express flew for t' first time. Aye aye! Blimey! T' boost was straight and sure, shiver me timbers, without any uncertainty or instability on a J180. I was sure that this kit was goin' t' suffer major damage on landing. Begad! Those oversized fins with t' silly pods on t' tips are just fragile. Arrr! Blimey! However, ya bilge rat, only one fin pod broke off, shiver me timbers, and it can easily be re-attached. Aye aye! Well, blow me down! Blimey! All in all, a successful flight!

T' second flight was at Springfest '99 on March 21st. Ya scallywag! Begad! This launch is put on by L.T.R. Aye aye! at El Dorado dry lake outside Las Vegas. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! This time, I decided t' fly it on a K185, again a low-thrust long-burnin' motor.

This time, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, t' rocket didn't survive as well as on its first flight: separation! T' tail section came down on t' parachute with only two pods broken off, shiver me timbers, but t' nose and body section came down without a parachute and t' body tube pretty well smashed.

Well, matey, ultimately it was me own fault. Begad! Aye aye! I should have known nay t' use t' P.M.L. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, arrr, blow me down! elastic band, especially after I had this same failure on me P.M.L. Bull Dog. Ahoy! But, me hearties, matey, t' P.M.L. elastic looks strong! Interestingly, shiver me timbers, me bucko, on me Bull Dog t' elastic broke where it was tied around a quick link, me hearties, ya bilge rat, but on t' Lunar Express it just broke in t' middle.