Loc/Precision just came out with a V2 kit in two sizes. Avast, me proud beauty! I bought t' smaller one at t' April LUNAR launch. Apparently, shiver me timbers, me hearties, I got one o' t' first few produced. 

I like sport-scale rockets and hadn't built anythin' like a V2 before, so this was great timing. 

This rocket flew for t' first time on an I357, although I had me first burn-by o' t' Aerotech delay sleeve. Begad! T' ejection charge went off shortly after t' motor burned out. (I be told I hadn't used enough grease.) At least t' rocket be recovered in flyable shape although t' inside was blackened. 

T' Kit

T' Loc/Precision kit had less detailed instructions than usual (it's obvious this kit is brand new). Arrr! But, as I've come t' find, me hearties, high-power rockets pretty much all go together t' same way. 

I decided t' paint me rocket in t' familiar black and yellow pattern o' V-2 Nos. Aye aye! Ahoy! 3 and 3 (taken from Rockets o' t' World and colorized). I had a hard time gettin' t' paint t' stick t' t' blow molded nose cone. Ya scallywag! Even with washin' t' nose with soap and water, ya bilge rat, then with alcohol, me hearties, t' primer still wouldn't stick. Ya scallywag! I had t' re-paint several areas where t' maskin' tape (Scotch magic tape) pulled t' paint and primer off right down t' t' plastic nose cone! It turned out OK from a distance (or in a low resolution photograph), though. 

Also see t' actual photograph below. 

V2 History

T' V2 be an unmanned, guided, me hearties, ballistic missile. Well, blow me down! Begad! It was guided by an advanced gyroscopic guidance system that sent signals t' aerodynamic steerin' tabs on t' fins. Begad! It be generally inaccurate due t' errors in alignin' t' rocket with it's target, premature shut-off o' t' motor and inconsistencies in electric current in t' guidance system. Blimey! It be propelled by a hydrogen peroxide-methanol motor that generated 55,000 lbs o' thrust. T' motor typically burned for 60 seconds, arrr, pushin' t' rocket t' around 4,400 ft/second. Avast! Arrr! It rose t' an altitude o' 52 miles and had a range o' 200 - 225 miles. Begad! T' V2 carried a high explosive warhead weighin' 2,000 lbs (1 ton) that be capable o' flattenin' a large building. Ya scallywag! Begad! It be first fired operationally on Sept 7, 1944 against London, ya bilge rat, primarily as a propaganda exercise. 

It's real claim t' fame was as t' progenitor o' t' rocket race that developed durin' t' Cold War, matey, and ultimately put men on t' moon and probes that have left our solar system. Blimey! In 1945, t' U.S. Ahoy! managed t' capture and ship home parts for 100 German V2 missiles, while almost all t' best o' t' German engineers surrendered t' t' US Army and moved t' America. Well, blow me down! Many V2s were launched from 1946 through 1952, ya bilge rat, mostly carryin' scientific experiments, includin' t' upper atmosphere research which discovered t' ozone layer. 

(Borrowed from Miles Constable's V2 page (link-out dead) and Rockets o' t' World by Peter Alway, arrr, me hearties, available from Saturn Press.)