T' success o' the MkV made me start t' think a bout t' bigger tubes I had stacked in t' corner. If I could cluster four engines, why nay six? Why nay use D engines? I had a tube that would hold seven 24mm mounts, ya bilge rat, but it wasn't really long enough. Avast, me proud beauty! So I decided t' built a rocket reminiscent o' t' MkIV, arrr, me hearties, me bucko, with a transition, and forward fins. Blimey! With t' extra weight o' t' engines, me bucko, ya bilge rat, t' plywood fins and centerin' rings, shiver me timbers, this design turned out nay t' be stable ( Usin' RockSim). I increased t' length o' t' upper tube ( forward o' t' transition) and removed the forward fins. That be a lot better.

I had heard o' some larger black powder engines available in t' UK form a company called Rocket Services and wanted t' option o' installin' them. Avast, me proud beauty! So I went for a removable cartridge system. Avast! T' Fins were mounted through t' body wall and formed runners onto which t' engine cartridge would slide. Avast! T' cartridge was made up from two discs o' plywood drilled with holes for t' engine mounts. T' cartridge slid in t' t' body on t' runners and was then locked into position by rotatin' the whole thing. Ya scallywag! In t' end I just went with six engines. Blimey! Thrust rings were made from sawn up spent D engines and epoxied in t' place. Well, blow me down! A stuffer tube be placed inside t' main body, mounted on two centerin' rings. Ya scallywag! Begad! At ignition t' upper body was t' separate, each half with its own parachute. Begad! Karen made a red and white hemispherical 'chute for t' lower half, matey, and I was goin' t' use t' pink circular 'chute for t' upper half. Begad! We intended t' fly it at t' International Rocket Weekend, and I had a lot o' help from Brain who made and painted the transition just days before we went.

At t' event, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, matey, a lot o' doubt was raised about t' engine cartridge system. 'Six D ejection charges will blow it out' they said. Avast! I also couldn't determine how I be goin' t' ensure that both parachutes deployed. Begad! In t' end I bought some big shock cord and tied both halves together on t' red & white 'chute. Avast, me proud beauty! Another hitch, me bucko, matey, I had planned to add another set o' clips t' me ignition system, ya bilge rat, but had forgotten ( that last week was hectic as I me work had taken me away from home for several days), me bucko, and I didn't have a large enough launch pad... Ahoy!

Luckily I learned o' a new technique for clustering. Ahoy! This involves usin' a single igniter t' ignite 'quick match' fuses that are fed into t' individual engines. Begad! One o' t' organizers, John Bonsor, showed me how t' do this. Avast, me proud beauty! I managed t' borrow a launcher and after a wait for t' wind t' die down, we were ready. T' ignition and initial flight were perfect, me hearties, except, what was that? A small object appeared t' fly from the back at ejection, arrr, matey, arrr, and where was t' 'chute. Ya scallywag! T' rocket came in ballistically. What had happened was exactly what t' 'doom sayers' were predicting. Ya scallywag! Even though I had staggered t' ejection by usin' a mixture o' D12 delays, arrr, ya bilge rat, the ejection gases pushed t' engine cartridge out o' t' rear, matey, instead of deployin' t' chute. T' rocket be a write off. T' engine cartridge shattered, arrr, t' forward tube like a concertina, shiver me timbers, and t' aft tube a slowly unwindin' spiral.

T' pic o' lift off be t' last shout from me last roll o' film, so mercifully thar are no pictures o' t' rocket as we found it. T' realization of t' hours we had all spent on this rocket, ya bilge rat, which was now trash, me hearties, didn't sink in until later, me bucko, and it was a long drive home from Largs t' Leeds.