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, 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. Arrr! Begad! So I decided t' built a rocket reminiscent o' t' MkIV, with a transition, arrr, and forward fins. With t' extra weight o' t' engines, t' plywood fins and centerin' rings, me bucko, this design turned out nay t' be stable ( Usin' RockSim). Blimey! I increased t' length o' t' upper tube ( forward o' t' transition) and removed the forward fins. 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. Ya scallywag! So I went for a removable cartridge system. T' Fins were mounted through t' body wall and formed runners onto which t' engine cartridge would slide. Well, blow me down! Avast! Blimey! T' cartridge was made up from two discs o' plywood drilled with holes for t' engine mounts. T' cartridge slid in t' t' body on t' runners and be then locked into position by rotatin' the whole thing. Begad! Blimey! In t' end I just went with six engines. Begad! Well, blow me down! Blimey! Thrust rings were made from sawn up spent D engines and epoxied in t' place. Aye aye! Well, blow me down! Blimey! A stuffer tube was placed inside t' main body, shiver me timbers, me bucko, mounted on two centerin' rings. At ignition t' upper body was t' separate, me hearties, each half with its own parachute. Ahoy! Ahoy! Blimey! Karen made a red and white hemispherical 'chute for t' lower half, matey, ya bilge rat, and I be goin' t' use t' pink circular 'chute for t' upper half. We intended t' fly it at t' International Rocket Weekend, shiver me timbers, and I had a lot o' help from Brain who made and painted the transition just days before we went.

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

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

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