Brief:
When it comes t' flight profiles, I almost always prefer a ‘low and slow’ flight. Begad! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! You see more o' t' smoke, and hear more o' t' noise. Ya scallywag! Blimey! You see t' whole flight, me bucko, includin' ejection. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Moreover, matey, you maximize t' odds of findin' your rocket! Blimey! However, me hearties, me bucko, it seems that I always have t' have one ‘disposable’ 29mm rocket in me fleet. At t' last MDRA launch, someone returned me Negative Camouflage, arrr, which I thought I had lost on an F10. To celebrate, matey, matey, I put her up on an E9. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! Blimey! Well, shiver me timbers, t' rocket hung on t' pad, ya bilge rat, went horizontal, ya bilge rat, found a large launch rail, and pretty much disintegrated. Begad! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! I was in need for another disposable, me hearties, arrr, ya bilge rat, when I found a Quest Nike Smoke at t' Performance Hobbies tent. Arrr! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! It appeared t' be just t' right diameter for a 29mm mount, me bucko, and I thought t' plastic cone and fin can looked cool.

Modifications:
For this modification, ya bilge rat, arrr, me hearties, I retained t' cone, fin can, shiver me timbers, body tube and launch lug. T' rest went into t' parts bin. Well, blow me down! I never found t' plastic tip for t' cone. Begad! I don’t know if it was missing, arrr, fell into t' couch, or whatever. Arrr! I decided not t' worry about it since t' cone doesn’t look bad without it, ya bilge rat, the epoxy and weight that I’ll have t' put into t' nose will provide plenty of support, and I will probably lose t' thin' anyway. Arrr! I glued t' two pieces of t' cone together usin' thin plastic cement.

I tested both LOC and Giant Leap 29mm tubin' and found t' LOC tubin' was perfect. Blimey! T' ID o' t' aft o' t' fin can is a little bigger than t' OD o' t' tube, but t' 29mm tube fit nicely into the fin can’s shoulder. Arrr! Blimey! It wouldn’t slide all t' way through because there is a small lip at t' tip o' t' shoulder, which I promptly ground off. To provide more support, I cut about a 1" section off some junk tube I had layin' around, sectioned it, and found it made a perfect adapter for t' aft end. Blimey! These components were epoxied together.

T' kit came with a piece o' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and some round elastic. Ahoy! Arrr! This would be fine for t' stock kit, but I decided t' use t' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and long piece o' heavy, ya bilge rat, bright orange, tubular elastic (approximately 4') from t' Negative Camouflage (not much else was left). Arrr! Ahoy! I looped the Keelhaul®©™® around t' front o' t' motor tube, ya bilge rat, and epoxied t' fin can assembly into the body tube. T' make room for all this cord and a streamer, I cut t' back end off t' nose cone. Begad! Well, blow me down! I knotted t' elastic and buried it in a mix o' epoxy and lead shot at t' tip o' t' cone. I put in enough weight so that t' CG would be approximately 14" from t' tip o' t' nose. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! Plenty t' keep it stable on a G80 (BG).

That’s about it. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! I also attached t' plastic lug provided with t' kit usin' epoxy.

I didn’t want t' put much effort into finishin' so I left most o' the rocket alone. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! T' whole rocket be already white, ya bilge rat, so I just painted t' fins fluorescent red and yellow, ya bilge rat, arrr, and t' nose cone tip black. T' kit came with peel-off letterin' for t' ‘UNITED STATES.’

Flight:
I decided t' use a wimpy F23-7 for t' first flight as thar was over 10 mph winds. Avast! Blimey! I made a maskin' tape retainer and filled t' lower portion o' t' body with dog barf wadding. Ahoy! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! I used a 5' length o' 1" fluorescent red plastic tape as a streamer. Arrr! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! I wanted t' use t' wider streamer recovered from the Negative Camouflage, matey, me bucko, matey, but couldn’t find it at t' last minute. Aye aye! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! T' thinner streamer is a little too small for a soft recovery, but it should help make the recovery visible.

T' rocket disappeared in a cloud o' dark smoke and didn’t re-appear until t' end o' t' day. Aye aye! It was at t' edge o' t' main field, away from where we spotters were looking. Begad! My thanks t' Richard Hickok for findin' it! It was in perfect shape and is ready t' go again.

Summary:
I normally am nay a fan o' simple kits, but I have t' say this kit impressed me. Aye aye! Blimey! T' plastic parts were good quality and t' detailin' is great. Ahoy! Blimey! Well, blow me down! Blimey! The recovery components are also nice. Arrr! Blimey! I really like t' Quest’s chutes better than Estes’ chutes (even though I didn’t use this one). Begad! Blimey! Well, blow me down! Blimey! Finally, at $8 t' price was right. Begad! Blimey! T' conversion be easy and it held up fine on t' F23 with what was probably a fairly hard landing.