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

At t' event, a lot o' doubt was raised about t' engine cartridge system. Arrr! Blimey! 'Six D ejection charges will blow it out' they said. Well, blow me down! I also couldn't determine how I be goin' t' ensure that both parachutes deployed. In t' end I bought some big shock cord and tied both halves together on t' red & white 'chute. Another hitch, I had planned to add another set o' clips t' me ignition system, matey, 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... Begad!

Luckily I learned o' a new technique for clustering. Aye aye! This involves usin' a single igniter t' ignite 'quick match' fuses that are fed into t' individual engines. Avast! One o' t' organizers, John Bonsor, ya bilge rat, showed me how t' do this. Aye aye! I managed t' borrow a launcher and after a wait for t' wind t' die down, arrr, we were ready. T' ignition and initial flight were perfect, except, shiver me timbers, what was that? A small object appeared t' fly from the back at ejection, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, and where be t' 'chute. T' rocket came in ballistically. What had happened was exactly what t' 'doom sayers' were predicting. Begad! Even though I had staggered t' ejection by usin' a mixture o' D12 delays, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, the ejection gases pushed t' engine cartridge out o' t' rear, ya bilge rat, me hearties, instead of deployin' t' chute. Ahoy! T' rocket be a write off. Aye aye! T' engine cartridge shattered, t' forward tube like a concertina, arrr, arrr, 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. Begad! T' realization of t' hours we had all spent on this rocket, me bucko, arrr, which was now trash, me hearties, didn't sink in until later, and it was a long drive home from Largs t' Leeds.