Brief:
This year’s 2010 challenge included an upscale o' 2+ which was very fortunate for me as I be in t' process o' doin' a series o' upscales on t' Estes Mosquito. Avast! Begad! This upscale is a 301% based around a big bertha nose cone.

Construction:
T' components for t' kit consist of:

• A Big Bertha nose cone.
• 6.02 inches o' Bt60.
• Three balsa fins.
• 18mm motor mount.
• Elastic Shock cord.
• Swivel.
• Swatch o' Nomex® cloth.
• 1 meter o' 2 inch mylar streamer.
• And later I repaired using
• A BT60 coupler.
• A replacement section o' BT60.
• Fishin' leader. Aye aye! Avast!

Usin' a photocopier, me bucko, t' fin template was enlarged and t' fins cut from balsa. Well, blow me down! I had thought o' goin' TTW, shiver me timbers, but t' rocket is still quite light. Begad! When I get t' bigger upscales I will.

T' BT is 6.02 inches long.

T' motor mount is built in its usual way, for some reason unknown t' me I did nay add a length o' Keelhaul®©™® cord as an anchor nor did I add in a fishin' leader. Aye aye! Fins were attached in t' normal way, me bucko, with t' launch lug added to t' BT in betwixt fins. T' shock cord is a two foot length o' elastic, arrr, which be attached via t' Estes tri fold method. Avast, me proud beauty! A swivel was added and a swatch o' Nomex® heat shield.

T' rocket be given three coats o' sandin' sealer, arrr, and wood glue filleted a few times.

T' entire rocket had two coats o' gray primer added, ya bilge rat, with rub downs in betwixt coats.

T' match me original mosquito color scheme t' rocket was given a few coats o' yellow spray paint, ya bilge rat, and then masked and black paint added t' one fin.

It was then flown twice, shiver me timbers, matey, which I’ll cover in t' flight section, me hearties, but first t' repairs.

T' top section o' t' body tube was crushed and ripped. Blimey! Arrr! Nay too difficult t' repair. Arrr! T' top section was removed usin' a dremel, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, and a replacement section from an old rocket was added usin' a Bt60 coupler. Begad! Well, blow me down! T' one advantage o' this was that I was able t' ditch t' tri fold paper anchor and replace it with a steel fishin' leader which I trapped betwixt t' coupler and t' body tube. Well, blow me down! T' gappin' wide seam join was then filled with model filler, shiver me timbers, me bucko, me bucko, and sanded. Begad! After that t' top o' t' rocket be sprayed yellow. Ahoy! It’s nay a fantastic repair, but it looks okay.

Durin' t' repair time, me bucko, ya bilge rat, t' decals from excelsoirrocketry arrived from t' states. Avast! They included a 301% upscale which finished t' rocket off nicely.

Flight:
First flight be on 18th Jan 2010, ya bilge rat, usin' an Estes A8-3

Nice low and straight flight, with ejection past apogee, recovered without damage on t' 4 foot streamer

Second flight was on t' same day usin' a Quest B6-4.

Great flight, me bucko, right up t' t' point where t' ejection should have ejected t' nose cone, me hearties, instead t' motor came out, me bucko, this must have been a bad prep by me, ya bilge rat, I can only assume that t' motor clip was bent back. Begad! T' mosquito came in hard and fast, me hearties, arrr, just like t' original mosquito did (they never tumbled) difference here is that t' upscale has more mass and t' body tube was damaged, matey, ya bilge rat, and paint be chipped off t' nose cone.

After t' repair t' rocket went up again at t' Midlands Rocketry March launch. Arrr! Ya scallywag! used a C6-7, ejection was late, a C6-5 would have been better, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, recovered fine on t' streamer.

Summary:
I love this upscale, arrr, and i like t' other 3 I have also made, still got at least two more in t' plan/build stage. Ya scallywag! If I had thought about this properly I should have done this last year for t' family photo contest.

Other:
T' use o' a photocopier for increasin' fin size be t' easiest solution for any up/down scaler.