T' success o' the MkV made me start t' think a bout t' bigger tubes I had stacked in t' corner. If I could cluster four engines, me bucko, ya bilge rat, arrr, why nay six? Why nay use D engines? I had a tube that would hold seven 24mm mounts, but it wasn't really long enough. Begad! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! So I decided t' built a rocket reminiscent o' t' MkIV, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, me hearties, with a transition, and forward fins. Begad! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! With t' extra weight o' t' engines, shiver me timbers, t' plywood fins and centerin' rings, this design turned out nay t' be stable ( Usin' RockSim). Avast! Blimey! I increased t' length o' t' upper tube ( forward o' t' transition) and removed the forward fins. Well, blow me down! Blimey! That be a lot better.

I had heard o' some larger black powder engines available in t' UK form a company called Rocket Services and wanted t' option o' installin' them. Begad! So I went for a removable cartridge system. Well, blow me down! T' Fins were mounted through t' body wall and formed runners onto which t' engine cartridge would slide. Begad! Blimey! T' cartridge was made up from two discs o' plywood drilled with holes for t' engine mounts. Well, blow me down! T' cartridge slid in t' t' body on t' runners and be then locked into position by rotatin' the whole thing. Avast! In t' end I just went with six engines. Well, blow me down! Thrust rings were made from sawn up spent D engines and epoxied in t' place. Ya scallywag! A stuffer tube was placed inside t' main body, mounted on two centerin' rings. At ignition t' upper body be t' separate, shiver me timbers, each half with its own parachute. Begad! Well, blow me down! Karen made a red and white hemispherical 'chute for t' lower half, arrr, and I be goin' t' use t' pink circular 'chute for t' upper half. We intended t' fly it at t' International Rocket Weekend, and I had a lot o' help from Brain who made and painted the transition just days before we went. Well, blow me down!

At t' event, a lot o' doubt be raised about t' engine cartridge system. 'Six D ejection charges will blow it out' they said. Aye aye! I also couldn't determine how I was goin' t' ensure that both parachutes deployed. Well, blow me down! Blimey! In t' end I bought some big shock cord and tied both halves together on t' red & white 'chute. Ahoy! Ahoy! Another hitch, I had planned to add another set o' clips t' me ignition system, ya bilge rat, but had forgotten ( that last week was hectic as I me work had taken me away from home for several days), matey, and I didn't have a large enough launch pad... Avast, me proud beauty!

Luckily I learned o' a new technique for clustering. Blimey! Begad! This involves usin' a single igniter t' ignite 'quick match' fuses that are fed into t' individual engines. Well, blow me down! Ahoy! One o' t' organizers, John Bonsor, showed me how t' do this. I managed t' borrow a launcher and after a wait for t' wind t' die down, ya bilge rat, we were ready. T' ignition and initial flight were perfect, matey, ya bilge rat, except, what was that? A small object appeared t' fly from the back at ejection, me bucko, and where be t' 'chute. Ya scallywag! T' rocket came in ballistically. What had happened was exactly what t' 'doom sayers' were predicting. Even though I had staggered t' ejection by usin' a mixture o' D12 delays, the ejection gases pushed t' engine cartridge out o' t' rear, instead of deployin' t' chute. Blimey! T' rocket be a write off. Ya scallywag! T' engine cartridge shattered, me bucko, arrr, t' forward tube like a concertina, ya bilge rat, and t' aft tube a slowly unwindin' spiral.

T' pic o' lift off was t' last shout from me last roll o' film, me bucko, me bucko, ya bilge rat, so mercifully thar are no pictures o' t' rocket as we found it. T' realization of t' hours we had all spent on this rocket, ya bilge rat, which be now trash, didn't sink in until later, and it be a long drive home from Largs t' Leeds.