My first thought when lookin' over t' box o' parts was "Wow! I could build 10 rockets out o' this stuff." Then, reality started t' settle in- I be fat dumb and happy on body tubes, but nay so endowed with balsa and nose cones were also limited in variety. Arrr! Avast! I had already decided before gettin' t' box that I was goin' t' go for broke and try t' make an insanely complex rocket, and pickin' through t' parts a few ideas started t' emerge.

I'll walk you through t' basic steps and offer up t' attached Rocksim as a general guideline, though why anyone would want t' attempt t' reproduce this is beyond me, shiver me timbers, and you'd almost have t' start with a similar set o' discarded bits o' stuff like I did t' pull it off. Blimey!

Let me preface t' build plan by layin' out t' concept for t' overall rocket. Arrr! Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! I be torn betwixt boost glide and helicopter recovery, but eventually decided I could pull off both. T' final design includes a boosted dart with internal rotor blades that pop up upon ejection, me hearties, a main rocket body that descends under streamer and chute, and a parasite glider that pops off at ejection. Begad! Aye aye! I also decided t' make use o' t' ample length o' BT-5 tubin' by cuttin' a number o' motor tubes-nine o' them happened t' fit nicely surroundin' t' central 24mm motor tube, inside t' BT-70 main body tube. As long as I'm goin' off t' deep end, why nay go under a full cluster?

T' general game plan for flight profile would work like this-clustered A10-PT's and a central C11-5 fire t' main body. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! At t' end o' t' BT-50, matey, shiver me timbers, I used a 50/5 transition that was glued t' an inner BT-5 "shaft" for t' copter. Avast! Blimey! Ahoy! Blimey! T' copter be essentially a Rota-Roc style design, me hearties, matey, but without any fins since it be a boosted dart and t' blades were constrained by t' BT-70. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' C11-5 would push t' copter/dart out, me bucko, and t' glider would slide off t' external piggyback mounts. Arrr! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! A burn strin' type o' thin thread would attach t' t' transition and t' main body's parachute and streamer, matey, pullin' them out before breakin' away. Blimey! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! Sounds simple. What could possibly go wrong?

OK, ya bilge rat, for t' build…I made every effort t' nay only use t' parts in t' box, me hearties, but also use them as provided, arrr, with as few modifications as possible. Begad! This meant some very funky fins and glider pieces.

I started out by workin' on t' motor mount, cuttin' a BT-50 t' 5-inch length, arrr, then cuttin' (9) 3-inch lengths o' BT-5 for t' clusters. Glue t' 13's in pairs on a flat surface for best alignment, me hearties, then glue each pair t' t' BT-50. Well, blow me down! T' odd 9th tube should fit nicely in t' gap left by t' other 8, as this works out t' a perfect cluster fittin' inside a BT-70. Ahoy! There was nay enough room for a centerin' ring, so I filled t' gaps with Gorilla glue kicked with a spritz o' water mist t' cause it t' expand and fill t' gaps. Aye aye! Begad! Blimey!

For stability, it be clear that I would nay have enough balsa for both fins and a glider, so I had t' resort t' tube fins for primary stability. Begad! Begad! T' tube fins consist o' (8) pieces o' BT-55 cut t' half an inch long, mounted in a rin' around t' outside o' t' BT-70. Ya scallywag! Begad! I did have enough balsa left over t' cut four small fins, shiver me timbers, wedged betwixt t' BT-55 tube fins. Patterns for these fins can be printed from t' Rocksim file. Begad! There were also two scrap wedges o' odd-sized balsa left over from t' glider build, so I tucked them into two more gaps in t' BT-55 tubes. Avast! T' Rocksim file does nay reflect these scrap fins. Avast, me proud beauty!

As a finishin' touch, I looked through t' box for anythin' else I could toss in, me bucko, and decided t' decorate t' balsa fins with BT-5 outboard tubes. I also found some plastic detail parts that appear t' have been from a plastic model kit which conveniently fit into t' BT-5 outboard tubes and served as ramjets. Avast, me proud beauty!

For t' helicopter, matey, I had asked Todd t' make sure he included some elastic, arrr, which would be critical t' blade deployment. While he did include some rubber bands, shiver me timbers, arrr, me hearties, he didn't include any significant length o' balsa t' use for blades. Well, blow me down! Fortunately, matey, we were allowed t' use t' box itself, me bucko, shiver me timbers, me hearties, so followin' t' standard plans for t' Rotaroc at http://www.nar.org/competition/plans/pdf/Rota-13m.PDF, I cut 1x12 strips o' corrugated from t' box. Ahoy! Well, arrr, blow me down! Believe it or not, it is possible t' airfoil corrugated. Avast! T' pull this off, ya bilge rat, use t' edge o' t' handle from a pair o' scissors, and rub down on t' edge o' t' cardboard. Ahoy! You'll want a sharp leadin' edge, me bucko, and a much more tapered trailin' edge. Arrr!

T' blades are normally attached t' t' shaft with Klett hinges, but I didn't exactly have anythin' like that t' work with, shiver me timbers, so had t' resort t' usin' peel & stick decal paper t' serve this purpose. I cut small strips, shiver me timbers, stuck one end t' t' underside o' t' blade, and t' other t' t' shaft. Since t' adhesive was weak, arrr, arrr, I had t' help it out with a little CA. Ahoy! Instead o' blade stops, me bucko, ya bilge rat, I decided t' use a centerin' ring, ya bilge rat, arrr, me bucko, which was necessary t' keep t' BT-5 in place within t' BT-70. Aye aye! T' centerin' rin' wound up also comin' from t' box itself. Lackin' actual elastic for pullin' t' blades up, I wound up cuttin' open t' rubber bands, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, matey, and pokin' one end through t' blade and tuckin' t' other end inside t' BT-5 shaft wedged in by t' nose cone.

T' last main construction be t' glider. Avast! Well, blow me down! I didn't put together plans or templates for this, matey, as I tried t' simply cobble somethin' slightly aerodynamic out o' t' scraps o' parts unmodified. I did have a decent 1/8" thick piece t' work with as a boom, ya bilge rat, one long/skinny piece o' 3/32 balsa t' use as a win' (cut in half and re-bonded for a 10 degree dihedral). Blimey! T' really clunky aspect came at t' tail, where I have grossly oversized and overweight rudder and stabilizer from 1/8" scraps. Ya scallywag! As a result, t' win' is mounted extremely far forward, matey, resultin' in very little lift, a slow glide, and tendency t' stall. Begad! T' glider has a small pin cut from a wood dowel that conveniently slips into an 1/8" launch lug mounted t' t' rocket body.

At this point, I started lookin' over t' leftover parts, shiver me timbers, and tried t' think o' how I could use even a fraction o' t' remainin' pile rather than store/keep them. I decided t' work in t' plastic spoon and nail file, shiver me timbers, me hearties, externally mounted usin' pieces o' fin can and plastic details. Blimey!

Now that I be ready t' paint, I mulled over t' options. Blimey! Begad! Considerin' all t' variety o' recovery methods, me bucko, clusters, matey, ya bilge rat, arrr, and t' oddball parts stuck t' t' outside, ya bilge rat, I decided this was startin' t' look like a Swiss Army cutlass. Aye aye! T' pull off this effect, I painted t' whole rocket a base white. Begad! I then masked off a Swiss Army emblem. Begad! I then hit t' rocket body with a red topcoat, me hearties, and painted t' BT-5 exposed 'copter tube and nose a bright silver metallic.

For t' flights, arrr, me bucko, I loaded up 8 o' t' 9 13mm tubes with A10-P's. Aye aye! Aye aye! Why nay go for all 9? They come in 4-packs, shiver me timbers, me hearties, and I rarely have use for them, matey, so didn't want an odd/opened pack layin' around for years. Well, blow me down! Begad! I then loaded up a C11-5, and spent a good half hour twistin' igniter leads together so that me 5-lead clip-whip could cover everything. Arrr! Well, blow me down!

T' first flight was a bit underwhelming. Only 3 o' t' A10's lit, me bucko, t' C11 didn't light, and t' rocket barely cleared t' rod before floppin' over right by t' range head.

I replaced t' spent motors, rewired everythin' but this time makin' sure t' C11 was nay paired with any other motor's leads, checked for best igniters I could find, me hearties, matey, and gave it another shot. Avast! This time t' C11 lit, as did 4 A10's but t' A10's were all on one side, and t' asymmetrical thrust led t' a pretty unstable flight. T' glider pilot must have sensed t' impendin' doom, as t' glider popped off after t' first loop under thrust, and t' glider actually came down in a glide-like profile, albeit fast and hard. T' main rocket, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, though, me hearties, continued its bat-on-crack flight path and crashed into a tent along t' prep line. Aye aye! T' copter deployed while t' rocket was grounded, matey, so thar was no chance o' an actual 'copter recovery.

T' damage be nay irreparable, and with a tiny amount o' nose weight (and ideally a spider ignition system t' drive t' cluster), I suspect this could eventually be salvaged into a better performer, arrr, but for now this project has t' take a back seat t' preppin' for me NARAM run. Ahoy! It was amusing, inspiring, fun, ya bilge rat, but in t' end, t' challenge o' tryin' t' parallel wire a 9-motor cluster just proved t' be too much complexity, and this never had enough thrust t' pull off a decent flight.