Brief:

It's Estes Mean Machine. Begad! It's a single staged rocket originally it is a 24mm rocket made t' take D motors but I modified it with a home made 29mm motor mount.

Modifications:

Since I was plannin' t' use an F-50 motor I thought it would be a very good idea t' fiberglass it. I fiberglassed it twice with some 1.5oz fiberglass. Avast! I also fiberglassed t' fins (not on t' t' rocket). Now for t' motor mount, that's a whole other project. Begad! Well, blow me down! First I got a 29mm motor and put saran wrap around it then layered some heavy fiberglass (not sure what) around that. Aye aye! Then pulled t' cast off. And wow, what a very strong motor mount. Aye aye! Avast! T' center rings are 1/4" aircraft plywood. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! Other than that everythin' was kept t' same.

Construction:

It comes with 4 body tubes that are pain t' align, shiver me timbers, me hearties, but I got it done with a jig, me hearties, but even after t' tubes are glued together perfect it seemed that t' tubes ever so slightly bent. Avast, me proud beauty! But nothin' significant.

Flight:

My first flight be with a F50-9. Aye aye! It was a fairly nice day with a slight wind around 5mph. Well, blow me down! 5-4-3-2-1- little smoke then it went up very very fast, but after about 1 sec it started t' make large screw like turns in t' sky. But it keep climbin' and climbing. Then t' two 24" parachutes ejected perfectly at apogee. I ran after it t' t' end o' t' field, matey, then we got in t' truck and followed it down t' road. Ahoy! We found it 2 miles down t' road. Avast! T' second flight was about 3 months later. Arrr! But this time I added some weight t' t' nose, choose t' fly it on a smaller F20-6, me bucko, and took one o' t' parachutes out. Ya scallywag! This time t' rocket flew perfect t' about 2500' but t' parachute opened too late causin' a small 1" zipper. Well, blow me down! Arrr! I would recommend flyin' it on a F20-4

Summary:

Pros- very fun t' fly for mid power and yet reach high altitude. Begad! Cons- pain t' align t' tubes.