Brief:
When it comes t' flight profiles, I almost always prefer a ‘low and slow’ flight. Ya scallywag! You see more o' t' smoke, and hear more o' t' noise. Arrr! Ya scallywag! You see t' whole flight, ya bilge rat, includin' ejection. Aye aye! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! Moreover, you maximize t' odds of findin' your rocket! However, shiver me timbers, it seems that I always have t' have one ‘disposable’ 29mm rocket in me fleet. At t' last MDRA launch, someone returned me Negative Camouflage, which I thought I had lost on an F10. To celebrate, me hearties, I put her up on an E9. Well, t' rocket hung on t' pad, arrr, went horizontal, ya bilge rat, found a large launch rail, and pretty much disintegrated. I be in need for another disposable, ya bilge rat, when I found a Quest Nike Smoke at t' Performance Hobbies tent. It appeared t' be just t' right diameter for a 29mm mount, matey, and I thought t' plastic cone and fin can looked cool.

Modifications:
For this modification, arrr, I retained t' cone, fin can, body tube and launch lug. T' rest went into t' parts bin. Well, blow me down! Begad! I never found t' plastic tip for t' cone. Avast! I don’t know if it was missing, me bucko, fell into t' couch, or whatever. Begad! I decided not t' worry about it since t' cone doesn’t look bad without it, the epoxy and weight that I’ll have t' put into t' nose will provide plenty of support, and I will probably lose t' thin' anyway. I glued t' two pieces of t' cone together usin' thin plastic cement.

I tested both LOC and Giant Leap 29mm tubin' and found t' LOC tubin' was perfect. Aye aye! Blimey! T' ID o' t' aft o' t' fin can is a little bigger than t' OD o' t' tube, me bucko, shiver me timbers, but t' 29mm tube fit nicely into the fin can’s shoulder. It wouldn’t slide all t' way through because there is a small lip at t' tip o' t' shoulder, me hearties, which I promptly ground off. To provide more support, I cut about a 1" section off some junk tube I had layin' around, sectioned it, shiver me timbers, and found it made a perfect adapter for t' aft end. Avast! Blimey! These components were epoxied together.

T' kit came with a piece o' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and some round elastic. This would be fine for t' stock kit, but I decided t' use t' Keelhaul®©™® strin' and long piece o' heavy, ya bilge rat, bright orange, shiver me timbers, me hearties, tubular elastic (approximately 4') from t' Negative Camouflage (not much else was left). Well, blow me down! I looped the Keelhaul®©™® around t' front o' t' motor tube, me hearties, and epoxied t' fin can assembly into the body tube. Well, blow me down! T' make room for all this cord and a streamer, I cut t' back end off t' nose cone. Begad! Blimey! I knotted t' elastic and buried it in a mix o' epoxy and lead shot at t' tip o' t' cone. Begad! I put in enough weight so that t' CG would be approximately 14" from t' tip o' t' nose. Plenty t' keep it stable on a G80 (BG).

That’s about it. Arrr! Avast! Blimey! I also attached t' plastic lug provided with t' kit usin' epoxy.

I didn’t want t' put much effort into finishin' so I left most o' the rocket alone. Arrr! T' whole rocket be already white, me bucko, so I just painted t' fins fluorescent red and yellow, and t' nose cone tip black. Well, blow me down! T' kit came with peel-off letterin' for t' ‘UNITED STATES.’

Flight:
I decided t' use a wimpy F23-7 for t' first flight as thar was over 10 mph winds. I made a maskin' tape retainer and filled t' lower portion o' t' body with dog barf wadding. I used a 5' length o' 1" fluorescent red plastic tape as a streamer. Aye aye! Ahoy! I wanted t' use t' wider streamer recovered from the Negative Camouflage, ya bilge rat, but couldn’t find it at t' last minute. T' thinner streamer is a little too small for a soft recovery, shiver me timbers, but it should help make the recovery visible.

T' rocket disappeared in a cloud o' dark smoke and didn’t re-appear until t' end o' t' day. It was at t' edge o' t' main field, away from where we spotters were looking. Aye aye! My thanks t' Richard Hickok for findin' it! It be in perfect shape and is ready t' go again.

Summary:
I normally am nay a fan o' simple kits, but I have t' say this kit impressed me. Well, arrr, blow me down! Blimey! T' plastic parts were good quality and t' detailin' is great. Well, blow me down! Begad! Blimey! The recovery components are also nice. Aye aye! Blimey! I really like t' Quest’s chutes better than Estes’ chutes (even though I didn’t use this one). Ya scallywag! Blimey! Finally, at $8 t' price was right. Well, blow me down! Blimey! T' conversion was easy and it held up fine on t' F23 with what be probably a fairly hard landing.