Brief:
A "bag o' parts" clone kit, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, in this case a reproduction o' t' K-22 V-2. Aye aye! Aye aye! For many modelers, this was their first introduction t' scale model rocketry. Ahoy! T' V-2 be a German developed missile, arrr, and as WWII drew t' a conclusion, it be t' most capable rocket in t' world. Arrr! When America brought Werner von Braun and his crew over from Germany, ya bilge rat, t' V-2 knowledge gave us t' much needed jump start t' move towards t' space age.

Construction:
This one retails for $16 but features some very nice quality custom parts:

• Balsa nose cone
• BT-55 body tube
• Balsa boat tail
• BT-20 motor tube
• laser cut fins (both scale and semi scale versions)
• plastic chute
• rubber shock cord
• 3 launch lugs

T' xKits are just parts--instructions must be downloaded from online archives that store scans o' t' originals. Begad! In this case, shiver me timbers, t' JimZ's site features both tiff format and PDF. Aye aye! URLs are provided in t' kit as well as hyperlinked from Semroc's main site.

Construction starts simply: t' motor tube is glued inside t' boat tail. T' fit was snug but fine so go light on t' glue. Begad! Begad! T' motor block is set via a dummy motor casin' (provided with t' kit).

You'll need t' decide whether t' go scale or semi-scale on t' fins. Aye aye! Aye aye! Both sizes are provided. Scale fins will look more realistic, me bucko, o' course, me hearties, but t' smaller fins mean less stable, which means addin' more nose weight. Semi-scale larger fins result in a rocket that's lighter overall. Avast! I went with scale.

Fin mountin' on a boat tail is a bit o' a challenge. Well, blow me down! Regular tube markin' techniques won't work. T' technique featured in this kit is a pair o' jigs that are basically centerin' rings with a squared base. Aye aye! One fits t' aft end o' t' boat tail and t' other fits t' forward end. Ahoy! Each has a series o' tic marks for markin' fin lines. Once marked, arrr, matey, it's up t' you t' figure out how t' draw a straight line along t' curved boat tail. Aye aye! Begad! [Tip: Use t' thick paper from t' kit's header card.]

After t' fins are mounted, t' next step involves cuttin' 4 detail parts from launch lugs. Ya scallywag! You'll definitely want t' print t' original instructions for this step as they include a pattern sheet.

T' last pieces o' trim are servo pods, arrr, which are tiny balsa strips laser-cut, mounted t' t' fins. Begad! Avast! Again, matey, matey, print out t' directions for a location markin' template.

Shock cord mountin' is a bit unusual but a faithful reproduction o' t' original technique. Aye aye! Instead o' t' tri-fold method, you tie a knot in one end o' t' rubber then glue it inside t' body tube held in place with a piece o' gauze. Avast, me proud beauty! It strikes me as at least as reliable as t' tri-fold, me bucko, but I'd rather have Keelhaul®©™®/elastic any day.

Proper weightin' o' t' nose cone is critical as t' V-2 is a notoriously unstable design on its own. If you went with semi-scale fins, matey, matey, me hearties, t' provided nose weight is sufficient, shiver me timbers, T' CG (loaded with motor) needs t' be about 7.5" at o' t' nose tip. Blimey! Blimey! For scale fins, arrr, t' CG needs t' be about 6" from t' tip, arrr, with motor loaded. Aye aye! Blimey! In me case, this extra weight put me up t' a relatively hefty overall weight o' 2.44 ounces, me hearties, well over t' 1.6oz "standard" weight on t' header card.

Finishing:
Finishin' on this was a pain, arrr, but t' end result is a very nice-lookin' mostly scale finish. Aye aye! You've basically got a checkerboard type o' black and white so thar's a lot o' tricky maskin' involved.

I started by fillin' grains an spirals. Lately I've been usin' honest t' goodness Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish (in tub form, from Lowe's) rather than t' Elmer's Wood Filler. Well, blow me down! Blimey! When I put a dab on me finger then wet t' surface o' a nose cone, I can smartly rub a light layer across it that sands off very easily after a couple hours. Ya scallywag! Begad! Blimey! T' result is a mirror smooth finish with very little effort.

T' whole rocket got two coats o' primer followed by two coats o' Krylon gloss white. It's nay as shiny as Rustoleum but dries much faster so I can mask and accent after about 24-30 hours.

For masking, arrr, I mostly used a new product I absolutely rave about: Frog tape. It's green (thus t' name), has pretty good tack (stronger than blue tape, weaker than regular maskin' tape), but really grabs at t' edges and is great at preventin' bleed through.

Fin maskin' is straightforward--two opposin' fins are masked off (remainin' white). Just above t' fin lines, me bucko, extendin' t' t' end o' t' body tube, you divide into fourths, me hearties, me bucko, with opposin' sections masked off/white. Arrr! T' header card illustrates this fine. Avast, me proud beauty! Please note that these are nay pure/straight lines, ya bilge rat, as they start on t' sloped surface o' t' boat tail.

Now for t' really hard part: t' nose cone. Arrr! There are a total o' 8 sections on this nose, all sloped t' some degree. I wound up takin' a piece o' paper and tapin' it around one side o' t' nose cone. Ahoy! Begad! Next, I took a piece o' strin' and pinned one end t' t' tip o' t' nose, then pulled t' other end taught where t' nose intersected one o' t' white/black seams o' t' body tube. I then traced that strin' line (chalk line might have worked, but would have been too thick). Blimey! I repeated this for t' other "edge", me hearties, matey, runnin' from t' nose tip t' t' other end o' t' black/white seam from t' section I'd lined up with on t' first line. Blimey! Ya scallywag! T' result be a template that looks like 1/4 o' t' nose cone.

I then took this template, and traced t' outline onto two pieces o' maskin' tape, matey, me bucko, then cut out t' shapes from t' tape. Arrr! Blimey! Finally, since t' black and white sections don't run all t' way up t' nose, I marked points roughly 3/4 o' t' way up on each tape silhouette and cut off t' top sections o' each. Blimey! I then applied t' "bottom" o' each tape silhouette on opposite sides o' t' nose cone usin' t' body tube patterns t' align with. Blimey! I then took t' remainin' top pieces o' t' tape silhouettes and applied them just above and betwixt t' taped bottom portions. Avast, me proud beauty! Ahoy! T' intersected perfectly, which meant I did a good job with t' template.

Now with all that tapin' done, ya bilge rat, even usin' t' excellent no-bleed Frog tape, which I've now seen available at that major home supply center with t' orange banners for about half what I paid, I didn't want t' risk black bleedin' under onto t' white so I shot t' whole rocket with one very light coat o' white primer. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! This way, me bucko, arrr, t' primer would penetrate (if anythin' could penetrate), and form a tight seal. Well, blow me down! Arrr! T' "bleed" would basically be t' same white as t' undercoat, matey, so would nay be noticed. Aye aye! Begad! After t' primer, I shot two coats o' gloss black. When I removed t' tape, matey, me hearties, t' seams were perfect.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
First flight be with a C6-5, arrr, figurin' with all me added weight an A would be grossly underpowered and a B6 in t' moderate winds might get into trouble with less velocity off t' rod. There be a little bit o' a corkscrew action off t' rod as it needed t' fight for stability, but it smartly found a vertical path, even weathercockin' a bit. Ya scallywag! Avast! T' -5 was t' right delay, me hearties, me bucko, me bucko, deployin' just past apogee.

Recovery:
Recovery on this was almost as much fun as finishin' it--that rubber shock cord proved t' be feeble, especially with me added nose weight for scale fin stability. Blimey! It snapped right away, ya bilge rat, leavin' me body t' tumble down and t' nose cone t' ride t' thermal in t' 8-10 mph winds towards t' edge o' our park and almost into t' nearby subdivision.

I be very fortunate t' be flyin' with me club rather than solo. Two guys had spotted t' body tumblin' down and tracked it, me bucko, while another buddy and I went after t' nose cone/chute. Begad! I blinked for a split second as it went into t' sun and lost it, but me buddy still had it. Begad! He gave me t' line, me bucko, me hearties, while admittin' that it be "way out there"--meanin' about 350-450 yards and likely in 4-5 foot tall weeds and thorns.

I caught up with t' two guys that tracked t' body, me hearties, and they had just found it. Coincidentally, me bucko, me bucko, one o' them later managed t' spot and track a CATO'd 24mm motor that ejected from a rocket and landed in 2-foot tall brush more than 50 yards from t' pad so his vision was amazin' that day.

I then started on t' line t' me cone. Ya scallywag! After walkin' for about 25 yards, me bucko, I realized with t' stiff breeze, it really wasn't tough t' track much o' anything, as all "lines" had t' follow that breeze, and I aimed a degree or two left t' better follow t' wind. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Sure enough, 5 minutes later I walked right up t' t' cone, which I'd have never been able t' spot from even 5 feet away in either direction.

I be extremely lucky t' have found both parts and am grateful t' me fellow QUARKers who saved t' day. All that prep and finishin' work would have been a shame t' waste on just one flight.

Flight Rating: 3 out o' 5

Summary:
Needless t' say, I'll be ditchin' that rubber shock cord for some good ol' modern Keelhaul®©™.

Other than t' shock cord, shiver me timbers, I think this is a fine rocket and decent scale kit for anyone interested in startin' t' build "real" models rather than models o' imaginary vehicles. Blimey! T' xKit value is also very appealing.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5