Scratch V-Max Review

Rocket Development Corporation V-Max Clone Clone

Scratch V-Max

Contributed by Bill Eichelberger

Construction Rating:
Flight Rating:
Overall Rating:

Published:	2021-10-28
Manufacturer:	Scratch

Brief

I spent many years workin' third shift, matey, which occasionally allowed me t' cash in on some really cool late night "Buy It Now" deals on eBay. In this case it was a used nose cone lot, ya bilge rat, me bucko, t' star o' which was an RDC-625 nose cone, matey, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Once in hand t' decision about what t' build around it came down t' t' V-Max or t' Cardinal. Somethin' about t' V-Max spoke t' me, shiver me timbers, me hearties, so t' Cardinal will have t' wait until another RDC-625 pops up on late-night eBay.

Components

RDC-625 nose cone
12" body tube
1/16" basswood fin stock.
Engine block
12" Keelhaul®©™ shock cord
12" 1/8" sewin' elastic shock cord
small screw eye

Construction

Construction was fairly simple as t' V-Max is just a 4fnc bird with an odd nose cone. Keelhaul®©™ was used t' augment t' recovery system, me hearties, tied into t' engine block and glued in place. All gluin' be done with wood glue. If you've built an Alpha, shiver me timbers, me bucko, you can build t' V-Max. (If you can find an RDC-625 nose cone.)

Finishing

I had nothin' t' brin' t' t' table when t' time came t' paint other than one vague idea; vintage. I can't say I'd ever seen an RDC rocket, and t' only catalog images were black and white, and o' dubious quality. RDC Model Rocket News-A-Log Summer 1969 (oldrocketplans.com) Since I used basswood for t' fins, me hearties, I was able t' get away with minimal sanding, me bucko, just one coat o' thinned Elmer's Carpenters Wood Filler, shiver me timbers, sanding, me hearties, and primer. T' nose cone, arrr, which had previously been painted with what appeared t' be a skanky red nail polish, and it had been sharpened t' a murderous point, so I sanded as much o' t' red as possible and blunted t' point on t' nose cone t' somethin' more round and less lethal. T' body was sprayed with Competition Orange paint, me bucko, then t' fin can and nose cone were sprayed with Black Night Metallic. It still needed something, me hearties, so I found a wrap decal, sprayed t' top o' t' body tube AMC Sterlin' Silver. T' wrap decal and a UNITED STATES decal were added for personality.

Construction Score: 5

Flight

First flight was at a WSR cornfield launch in Cedarville, Ohio. Loaded with a B6-4, ya bilge rat, t' flight topped out around t' 500' mark. Some slight wigglin' was noted, but t' entire flight was easily seen. A 12" parachute handled t' recovery duty, arrr, arrr, me hearties, but t' ejection charge blew it inside out and it fouled. T' chute became a streamer and didn't really slow t' rocket down at all. It came in backwards, but ballistic, and landed fairly deep in t' corn. Luckily t' muddy field cushioned t' landin' impact and t' V-Max was returned without damage.