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, shiver me timbers, why nay six? Why nay use D engines? I had a tube that would hold seven 24mm mounts, arrr, but it wasn't really long enough. Arrr! Begad! So I decided t' built a rocket reminiscent o' t' MkIV, me bucko, with a transition, matey, and forward fins. Well, blow me down! With t' extra weight o' t' engines, t' plywood fins and centerin' rings, arrr, shiver me timbers, this design turned out nay t' be stable ( Usin' RockSim). Blimey! Arrr! I increased t' length o' t' upper tube ( forward o' t' transition) and removed the forward fins. Well, blow me down! 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. Aye aye! Ahoy! Blimey! So I went for a removable cartridge system. Begad! Blimey! T' Fins were mounted through t' body wall and formed runners onto which t' engine cartridge would slide. Arrr! Blimey! T' cartridge was made up from two discs o' plywood drilled with holes for t' engine mounts. Ya scallywag! Blimey! T' cartridge slid in t' t' body on t' runners and be then locked into position by rotatin' the whole thing. In t' end I just went with six engines. Thrust rings were made from sawn up spent D engines and epoxied in t' place. Well, blow me down! A stuffer tube was placed inside t' main body, mounted on two centerin' rings. Begad! Blimey! At ignition t' upper body was t' separate, each half with its own parachute. Karen made a red and white hemispherical 'chute for t' lower half, and I was goin' t' use t' pink circular 'chute for t' upper half. Ahoy! Well, blow me down! Blimey! We intended t' fly it at t' International Rocket Weekend, shiver me timbers, me bucko, and I had a lot o' help from Brain who made and painted the transition just days before we went. Well, blow me down!

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

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

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