This formerly Blackhawk R&D rocket is now fully owned and produced by Aardvark Rockets

Brief:
A stand-off scale model o' t' Russian AA-9 Amos missile. Begad! Avast, me proud beauty! Paper tubes, basswood fins, Alumilite nose cone and mylar streamer.

Construction:
All t' parts were top shelf. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! Paper BT-50 body tube, me bucko, BT-20 motor mount. Avast, matey, me proud beauty! Paper centerin' rings and engine block. Begad! Ahoy! Fin stock is 1/16" basswood. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Nose cone is made from t' castin' compound Alumilite. Avast, me proud beauty! I got an extra piece o' basswood with t' kit. T' fins are easily laid out on one piece o' t' supplied basswood. Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! T' recovery system consists o' a Keelhaul®©™® strin' anchored t' t' motor mount, a long length o' 1/8" elastic and a 1 mil mylar streamer. Begad! T' heavy cast nose cone is necessary t' make this little rocket stable. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! You don't have to add any more nose weight. Begad! It also finishes nicely and is very strong.

T' instructions are not Quest quality, arrr, matey, obviously set up and printed on a home computer. Begad! Avast, me proud beauty! However, the innards aren't all that tough, so t' simplicity doesn't detract. Avast! T' steps are logical. Avast, shiver me timbers, me proud beauty! Motor mount first, shiver me timbers, me hearties, then fins, then wrap up t' recovery system. Avast, me proud beauty! The diagrams showin' t' fin placement are clear. Begad! T' fin patterns and body wrap are sufficient. Well, blow me down! While t' front wings are easy t' mount, me hearties, t' aft control surfaces are tricky. They set very close t' t' wing, ya bilge rat, so you must take pains to make sure they're parallel, shiver me timbers, but they have a very small root which is hard to get square. Blimey! Patience is required. At t' time I put them on, arrr, I be concerned that t' aft fins would be subject t' breakage. Aye aye! Flyin' t' model bore this out. When you put these fins on, give some thought t' extra reinforcement. Well, blow me down! Begad! A good way t' do this is with some gauze, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, soaked in glue, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, applied t' t' roots like a fillet.

T' Keelhaul®©™® strin' extends a long way from t' body and t' elastic is nice and long too. T' heavy nose cone could give your AA-9 Amos "Estes Dents" if t' shock cord be shorter, me bucko, me hearties, so kudos t' Blackhawk R&D for thinkin' this through. Well, blow me down! T' best way t' attach t' recovery system is t' tie the elastic t' t' Keelhaul®©™®, and t' elastic t' t' nose cone. Avast! Blimey! Measure about 6" in along t' Keelhaul®©™® thread from t' body tube, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, me bucko, attach t' streamer here. Begad! Begad! This will allow t' rocket t' descend as shown in t' diagram. I was in doubt whether t' streamer would be enough, but I be wrong. Well, blow me down! Avast!

T' only thin' I don't like about t' rocket is it uses friction fit for the motor. I prefer a motor clip and they're easy t' add. Blimey!

Finishing:
Lot'so fins, so think about how you want t' finish them. Aye aye! I did it with three coats o' sandin' sealer sandin' in betwixt coats. This did enough. Avast, me proud beauty! T' spirals on t' body were very subtle so I let me primer fill them. Begad! I use Kilz primer, which goes on thick, and sands well. Begad! One coat will fill t' spiral and remainin' grain on t' fins. Begad! It's a pain t' sand these fins because o' t' lack of root area on t' aft fins. Still it's a cool lookin' model. Well, blow me down! There are very, very few picture o' this rocket, matey, me bucko, and I've never seen a color picture, me bucko, so let your imagination run wild. Blimey! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! Most missiles are goin' t' be grey or white in color. Arrr! Avast! There are no supplied decals due t' t' lack o' existin' scale data. I'll bet you could come up with a very convincin' look by stealin' decals from a 1/72 scale Russian fighter model.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
Recommended motors run t' whole gamut o' 18mm motors. Ahoy! I would also add the A10-3 with an adapter. Begad! Use a short delay for A motors, medium for B or larger. This rocket has a very heavy nose, and lots o' fins, so it has a lot o' drag. On t' other hand, it's pretty small. Ya scallywag! Begad! My flyin' field be a local park with grass underfoot. T' park is a good size baseball field and two soccer fields. T' wind was light, matey, me bucko, but I never worried about this rocket leavin' t' field. Boost on a Quest A6-4 be rapid. Avast! Ya scallywag! T' delay was about 1.5 seconds too long, so an Estes A8-3 or A10-3 (with adapter) would be spot on. Avast! Simulations put the altitude around 175'. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag!

T' Boost on a B6-4 was more satisfying. Ya scallywag! Nice high flight and t' ejection occurred right at apogee. Avast, me proud beauty! Simulation shows t' altitude at about 525'. Ya scallywag!

An Estes C6-5 put t' rocket up about 1070' and it looked all that. Begad! Ya scallywag! Again, the boost be very straight, ya bilge rat, me bucko, fast and pretty. Ya scallywag! When I got t' t' C motor, matey, I noticed that one o' t' tail fins be loose. Begad! I taped t' fin t' t' front wing and it held just fine. Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty! This is rocket is easy t' field repair too. Arrr! Avast! All in all, this is a sweet flier.

Recovery:
I brought a 9" parachute along with me because I doubted that t' mylar streamer would be sufficient. Begad! T' nose cone weighs 0.8 oz and t' whole rocket is nearly 1.5 oz. However, shiver me timbers, I put t' streamer near t' body, ya bilge rat, and let t' nose cone pull t' rocket t' t' ground. It worked perfectly. Arrr! Arrr! T' descent rate was rapid and t' body stuck out sideways. Arrr! When t' nose hit, me hearties, me bucko, t' body could slow those last 18" or so. Begad! One aft fin got knocked loose after t' A motor, me hearties, shiver me timbers, but I think this was t' one aft fin that wasn't on as well as I liked. No other aft fins showed signs o' wear. Avast, me proud beauty! Had I reinforced t' aft fins with gauze or very light fiberglass, arrr, they'd handle it fine. Avast, me proud beauty! T' recovery system is a big plus for this rocket. Well, blow me down! Well, blow me down! It allows you t' fly this small rocket with big motors from a small field. Arrr! I never walked more than 50' t' get this rocket back, me bucko, even after the high C motor flight. Well, blow me down!

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
I'm excited about this rocket line. Arrr! T' prices are amazin' ($9.00 t' $10.00) which makes them some o' t' best values out there. Ahoy! Ahoy! This is one o' t' smaller rockets in t' line, but it's really unique. I took this rocket in its primer coat t' t' UROC meetin' and it created a lot o' buzz. Arrr! I'll tell you what, I'm buyin' a few more o' these rockets. I think that t' soundin' rocket models such as t' Black Brant, Astrobee D or SCUD would be great beginner rockets. T' final plus is that Blackhawk R&D uses PayPal which makes buyin' on line really easy.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5