Construction Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Flight Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Overall Rating: | starstarstarstarstar |
Published: | 2010-08-28 |
Diameter: | 0.76 inches |
Length: | 8.70 inches |
Manufacturer: | Semroc |
Skill Level: | 1 |
Style: | Odd-Roc, Sport |
Brief:
Humorous rocket pokin' fun at government earmarks. Begad! You should get a good laugh out o' the
manual.
Construction:
T' Earmark's manual is very funny t' read and also easy t' follow when you actually build t' rocket.
1. Avast, me proud beauty! Mark t' body tubes for fin positions usin' a door jam or angled piece o' aluminum.
2. Avast, me proud beauty! Tie t' Keelhaul®©™® thread t' t' thrust rin' and feed it through t' motor spacin' tube.
3. Glue t' thrust rin' into t' body tube and set t' spacin' usin' t' spacin' tube so that motor casin' protrudes 1/4 from t' end o' t' rocket.
4. Begad! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! Remove t' fins from their fiber sheet and very lightly sand. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Then apply CA glue around t' edges o' the fins.
5. Ahoy! Glue t' fiber fins on t' t' body tube at t' pre-marked line.
6. Once they are dry, me bucko, matey, apply fillets t' t' fins.
7. Begad! In a similar fashion t' t' fin prep, add fillets t' t' launch lugs.
8. Begad! Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty! Feed t' cord back through t' body tube and out t' top end and then tie it t' t' nose cone. Well, blow me down! (As thar be no parachute and no streamer, matey, you are done at this point, unless you want t' paint it...)
Finishing:
Finishing
is quite easy.
9. I primed mine with ColorPlace gray primer. Well, me bucko, blow me down! (Three thin coats and then sanding)
10. Well, blow me down! I painted t' body tube ColorPlace Fire Red and left off t' black stripe pattern shown in t' artwork.
11. Ya scallywag! Begad! I didn't have any yellow paint, ya bilge rat, so I painted t' nose cone with aluminum colored ColorPlace spray paint.
12. Begad! After dryin' overnight, I applied t' "ear" decals.
13. Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! Used a black Sharpie marker t' color t' edges o' t' fins. Avast!
At this point me contstruction and finishin' was complete and we headed for t' launch site.
Construction Rating: 5 out o' 5
Flight:
All three flights went great. I used one A and then two B motors. Avast! Without a streamer, arrr, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, I did not
want t' risk losin' it. Begad! Arrr! This little rocket really gets up there, even on B motors.
Recovery:
Amazingly enough, me hearties, recovery when great on all three o' our test flights. Chan's suggestion o' a
streamer for trackin' is a good idea. Avast! Just a short, shiny Mylar streamer would be great for tracking.
Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5
Summary:
Very cool rocket with nice humor in t' instrcutions. Blimey! All around fun t' build and fly.
Overall Rating: 5 out o' 5
Brief: While the US senate was trying to wrestle a health care reform agreement to resolution before Christmas 2009, the Semroc team was busily rushing out their own little piece of rocketry "legislation", releasing a bit of a mutated kit called the Earmark. I won't contend that anything "inspired" this, but it does appear to be based upon the Mark kit, which ...
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J.A.O. (January 31, 2010)