Brief:
Sometimes good things happen when you least expect it, or so I'm told. In this case somethin' good happened when I screwed up another project and found myself with a partially completed, irretrievably screwed up rocket. Arrr!

Construction:
T' parts list:

• BT-50 main body tube
• PNC-50Y nose cone
• 15 BT-20J ram tubes
• 3/32" basswood
• BT-20J motor tube
• 18mm engine hook
• 2 2050 centerin' rings
• 520 centerin' rin' for engine block
• 30" Keelhaul®©™®
• 30" sewin' elastic
• 12" nylon parachute
• medium snap swivel

This rocket actually started out as a straight clone o' t' Estes Nebulon Warrior, me hearties, me bucko, me bucko, but somewhere along t' line I got t' idea that actually reading t' instructions be a waste o' time. Blimey! Ya scallywag! By t' time I realized my mistake, shiver me timbers, t' glue had dried and I be lookin' at nay only a waste o' time, but of BT-50 as well. Well, blow me down! It was out o' this sense o' desperation and a need for a scratchbuild project for t' EMRR Challenge that t' Warlord was born. Well, blow me down!

Since t' "gotcha" was t' reason this project existed in the first place, I breezed through design and construction and had t' rocket flightworthy for t' club launch that weekend. Begad! Blimey! I had assumed that t' Nebulon Warrior was like any other tube finned rocket and had its tubes all glued right next t' each other. Well, blow me down! Avast! After t' six BT-20Js had been glued in place, I found myself with a large gap where thar should have been none. Avast! Then I read the instructions, matey, but t' damage had been done. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! I thought about t' problem for all o' five minutes before headin' off t' t' rocket room t' see what kind of tube scraps I had layin' around. I tried everythin' from BT-55 t' BT-70, but nothin' struck me as appropriate. Begad!

Findin' myself at a crossroads, arrr, I blindly sketched out a fin pattern on a piece o' scrap paper. Ya scallywag! Within a few minutes I had two large fins glued into place where t' seventh tube logically would have been. Begad! I made another fin in the same shape as t' other two minus t' large balsa tab. I glued this in between two tubes on t' other side o' t' rocket, me bucko, matey, which gave t' rocket a look that t' me suggested a bounty hunter. Begad! Ahoy! (I have no idea why...it's just what came to mind.) I wanted t' design t' be as much mine as possible, which meant more tubes. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I had quite a few 18mm engine tubes layin' around from rockets that were treated t' 24mm conversions, so I gathered them up and put one on t' end of each fin. Well, blow me down! Then, t' liven things up even more, I put two more tubes alongside the wingtip tubes t' form a triangle shape at t' end o' each fin. Avast! (T' final piece o' t' puzzle was supposed t' be a cockpit from an Apogee design pack that I bought several years back, but t' paper with t' cockpit designs on it got "misplaced" durin' our recent move.) Into this mess I stuck an 18mm engine mount with a yard o' Keelhaul®©™® glued in behind t' forward centerin' ring. Arrr! Ya scallywag! From here all that was left was to finish it.

Finishing:
I finished all o' t' body tubes with thinned Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish before applyin' them, arrr, but since t' requirement for t' Challenge was t' use two of the tips from t' library, I decided t' go a different route for t' fins.

Tip #1: Use thinned wood glue as a sealer on t' fins in place o' the normal thinned Elmer's Fill & Finish.

I like this. Ya scallywag! It wasn't quite as easy as it sounded, but since t' fins were basswood, arrr, shiver me timbers, thar wasn't all that much grain t' do away with in t' first place. T' process seems better suited t' balsa fins, arrr, part o' t' reason bein' that it seems t' make t' fins somewhat stronger. I'm goin' t' have t' give thin CA a try in this technique at some point in t' future as well.

With all o' t' fillin' and sandin' done, arrr, arrr, I primed t' whole rocket with Valspar primer. This was important because I needed t' get t' insides o' the tubes coated in white so that t' florescent paint t' follow would pop. T' florescent red was next, me bucko, it bein' a no label can that was left over from my STP red/Petty blue modelin' days. Aye aye! When t' inside o' t' tubes was bright enough, matey, shiver me timbers, I let t' paint dry and began gatherin' up every expended 18mm motor casin' I could find. Arrr! Each o' t' tubes on t' rocket, shiver me timbers, and I do mean all 15 of them were stuffed with an 18mm casing. Avast! (This is a new tip-to-be coming to EMRR soon.) This allowed me t' spray on t' metallic bronze paint without disturbin' t' "glowin' engine" look o' t' motor tubes. Well, blow me down! This brings us to:

Tip #2: Let t' paint can sit in a pan o' warm water before spraying.

This supposedly helps t' paint flow better on t' rocket. Avast! Blimey! I didn't notice much o' a difference, shiver me timbers, if any, but t' metallic paint seems t' go on thinner than regular paint does, which could possibly have had an effect on things.

Flight:
I first flew this rocket almost as an afterthought on a day when I had other first flight rockets that I had been lookin' forward t' flying. Begad! I flew the Warlord mostly out o' curiosity. Arrr! I wanted t' see if t' big aft fins would be enough t' compensate for t' rockets big rear. Well, blow me down! Loaded with a C6-5, arrr, t' fins were apparently plenty big as t' flight be stable, arrr, although obviously prone to windcocking. Arrr! Aye aye! T' rocket turned into t' wind immediately upon leavin' the pad and was carried well past t' pad in t' opposite direction after the ejection charge fired. Ya scallywag! Begad! It be me first long walk o' many on that particular day.

More than a month later, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, I finally found t' time t' fly t' Warlord again. With t' EMRR Challenge deadline loomin' and t' chances o' good launch weather fadin' with each passin' day, I grabbed me pad and made a quick run up to pseudo-legendary B6-4 Field. Arrr! Blimey! Winds were light and with a reefed chute that seemed t' be more reef than chute, I felt that I'd stand a good chance of gettin' t' rocket back. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Flight #2 be a B6-4 and behaved in much t' same way as t' C6-5 powered flight had behaved. Begad! Blimey! T' winds were much lighter and the rocket tipped into them as it left t' pad. Begad! Blimey! Recovery was perfect and t' B4-2 flight that followed was also a decent flight. Begad! Blimey! Had I nay forgotten me camera, the next flight might nay have happened.

Since I wanted a launch shot for t' Warlord, I dragged it back t' B6-4 Field t' following week t' try t' get another picture o' t' launch on a B4-2. Aye aye! T' flight was great but after all t' trouble, I missed t' picture. Ahoy! Begad! I didn't miss what followed. I knew I had problems as soon as I heard t' ejection charge. Begad! Ahoy! It had that firecracker sound that I've come t' associate with damaged rockets. Begad! True to form, t' two pieces started goin' in opposite directions. Begad! I followed the body down and saw it hit hard on t' frozen ground. From where I stood, me bucko, arrr, matey, I could see t' parts fly into t' air, me hearties, so I knew t' news wasn't goin' t' be good. Avast! As expected, I'd managed t' snap off two o' t' three fins and they weren't clean snaps. Begad! Jagged pieces o' basswood stuck out from where t' fins had snapped on impact. I might be able t' fix it, ya bilge rat, but it would never look as good as it once did.

Summary:
PROs: I liked t' look o' this rocket despite its start as a mistake. Great small field flier.

CONs: We need t' develop new construction techniques for t' Estes M-80 ejection charges.