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

At t' event, a lot o' doubt was raised about t' engine cartridge system. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! Blimey! 'Six D ejection charges will blow it out' they said. I also couldn't determine how I was goin' t' ensure that both parachutes deployed. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, ya bilge rat, blow me down! Blimey! In t' end I bought some big shock cord and tied both halves together on t' red & white 'chute. Aye aye! Avast! Blimey! Another hitch, arrr, I had planned to add another set o' clips t' me ignition system, ya bilge rat, but had forgotten ( that last week be 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! Avast! Blimey!

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

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