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. Aye aye! Ahoy! Paper tubes, basswood fins, Alumilite nose cone and mylar streamer.

Construction:
All t' parts were top shelf. Paper BT-50 body tube, me hearties, BT-20 motor mount. Paper centerin' rings and engine block. Avast! Begad! Fin stock is 1/16" basswood. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! Nose cone is made from t' castin' compound Alumilite. Aye aye! Well, blow me down! I got an extra piece o' basswood with t' kit. Arrr! T' fins are easily laid out on one piece o' t' supplied basswood. Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! 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. Well, blow me down! T' heavy cast nose cone is necessary t' make this little rocket stable. Begad! You don't have to add any more nose weight. Ahoy! Well, blow me down! It also finishes nicely and is very strong.

T' instructions are not Quest quality, obviously set up and printed on a home computer. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! Blimey! However, the innards aren't all that tough, ya bilge rat, so t' simplicity doesn't detract. Well, blow me down! T' steps are logical. Blimey! Motor mount first, then fins, matey, then wrap up t' recovery system. Begad! Blimey! Blimey! The diagrams showin' t' fin placement are clear. Well, blow me down! Arrr! Blimey! T' fin patterns and body wrap are sufficient. Ahoy! Ahoy! Blimey! While t' front wings are easy t' mount, me hearties, matey, t' aft control surfaces are tricky. They set very close t' t' wing, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, me hearties, 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. Avast! Blimey! At t' time I put them on, arrr, I be concerned that t' aft fins would be subject t' breakage. Arrr! Begad! Blimey! Flyin' t' model bore this out. When you put these fins on, give some thought t' extra reinforcement. A good way t' do this is with some gauze, arrr, soaked in glue, shiver me timbers, 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. T' heavy nose cone could give your AA-9 Amos "Estes Dents" if t' shock cord was shorter, so kudos t' Blackhawk R&D for thinkin' this through. Avast, me proud beauty! Ahoy! T' best way t' attach t' recovery system is t' tie the elastic t' t' Keelhaul®©™®, and t' elastic t' t' nose cone. Ahoy! Measure about 6" in along t' Keelhaul®©™® thread from t' body tube, matey, attach t' streamer here. Begad! This will allow t' rocket t' descend as shown in t' diagram. I was in doubt whether t' streamer would be enough, matey, but I was wrong.

T' only thin' I don't like about t' rocket is it uses friction fit for the motor. Aye aye! Arrr! I prefer a motor clip and they're easy t' add. Avast!

Finishing:
Lot'so fins, ya bilge rat, so think about how you want t' finish them. Arrr! I did it with three coats o' sandin' sealer sandin' in betwixt coats. Begad! This did enough. Ahoy! T' spirals on t' body were very subtle so I let me primer fill them. I use Kilz primer, which goes on thick, me hearties, and sands well. Avast, me proud beauty! One coat will fill t' spiral and remainin' grain on t' fins. It's a pain t' sand these fins because o' t' lack of root area on t' aft fins. Ahoy! Still it's a cool lookin' model. Begad! Well, blow me down! There are very, very few picture o' this rocket, and I've never seen a color picture, me bucko, so let your imagination run wild. Arrr! Avast! Most missiles are goin' t' be grey or white in color. 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. Begad! Aye aye! Blimey! I would also add the A10-3 with an adapter. Use a short delay for A motors, medium for B or larger. This rocket has a very heavy nose, arrr, and lots o' fins, so it has a lot o' drag. On t' other hand, it's pretty small. Begad! My flyin' field was a local park with grass underfoot. Aye aye! T' park is a good size baseball field and two soccer fields. T' wind was light, arrr, but I never worried about this rocket leavin' t' field. Boost on a Quest A6-4 was rapid. Ahoy! Blimey! T' delay was about 1.5 seconds too long, matey, so an Estes A8-3 or A10-3 (with adapter) would be spot on. Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! Simulations put the altitude around 175'. Ya scallywag!

T' Boost on a B6-4 was more satisfying. Avast! Arrr! 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. Well, blow me down! Again, the boost was very straight, me bucko, arrr, ya bilge rat, fast and pretty. When I got t' t' C motor, me hearties, I noticed that one o' t' tail fins was loose. I taped t' fin t' t' front wing and it held just fine. Well, blow me down! This is rocket is easy t' field repair too. Blimey! Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! 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. Aye aye! Blimey! T' nose cone weighs 0.8 oz and t' whole rocket is nearly 1.5 oz. Well, blow me down! However, ya bilge rat, I put t' streamer near t' body, and let t' nose cone pull t' rocket t' t' ground. It worked perfectly. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' descent rate was rapid and t' body stuck out sideways. When t' nose hit, arrr, me hearties, t' body could slow those last 18" or so. Begad! One aft fin got knocked loose after t' A motor, ya bilge rat, 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. Blimey! Had I reinforced t' aft fins with gauze or very light fiberglass, they'd handle it fine. Ahoy! T' recovery system is a big plus for this rocket. Well, blow me down! 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. Blimey! Avast! Blimey!

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
I'm excited about this rocket line. Avast! T' prices are amazin' ($9.00 t' $10.00) which makes them some o' t' best values out there. Ya scallywag! This is one o' t' smaller rockets in t' line, shiver me timbers, but it's really unique. I took this rocket in its primer coat t' t' UROC meetin' and it created a lot o' buzz. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! 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, 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