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. Ahoy! I fiberglassed it twice with some 1.5oz fiberglass. I also fiberglassed t' fins (not on t' t' rocket). Arrr! Aye aye! Now for t' motor mount, me bucko, me hearties, that's a whole other project. 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. Ya scallywag! Then pulled t' cast off. And wow, me bucko, what a very strong motor mount. Blimey! T' center rings are 1/4" aircraft plywood. Well, blow me down! 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, arrr, but even after t' tubes are glued together perfect it seemed that t' tubes ever so slightly bent. Avast, matey, me proud beauty! But nothin' significant.

Flight:

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

Summary:

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