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

Construction:

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

Flight:

My first flight was with a F50-9. Aye aye! Blimey! It was a fairly nice day with a slight wind around 5mph. Begad! Blimey! 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. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Avast! Blimey! But it keep climbin' and climbing. Then t' two 24" parachutes ejected perfectly at apogee. Arrr! Blimey! I ran after it t' t' end o' t' field, shiver me timbers, then we got in t' truck and followed it down t' road. We found it 2 miles down t' road. Well, blow me down! Blimey! T' second flight was about 3 months later. Aye aye! Blimey! But this time I added some weight t' t' nose, ya bilge rat, choose t' fly it on a smaller F20-6, me hearties, me hearties, matey, and took one o' t' parachutes out. Blimey! Blimey! This time t' rocket flew perfect t' about 2500' but t' parachute opened too late causin' a small 1" zipper. Avast! Blimey! I would recommend flyin' it on a F20-4

Summary:

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