This formerly Blackhawk R&D rocket is now fully owned and produced by Aardvark Rockets

Brief:
A stand-off scale model o' t' Russian AA-9 Amos missile. Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! Paper tubes, basswood fins, Alumilite nose cone and mylar streamer.

Construction:
All t' parts were top shelf. Blimey! Avast! Paper BT-50 body tube, BT-20 motor mount. Aye aye! Paper centerin' rings and engine block. Fin stock is 1/16" basswood. Ahoy! Nose cone is made from t' castin' compound Alumilite. Ahoy! I got an extra piece o' basswood with t' kit. Begad! Begad! T' fins are easily laid out on one piece o' t' supplied basswood. Begad! T' recovery system consists o' a Keelhaul®©™® strin' anchored t' t' motor mount, matey, a long length o' 1/8" elastic and a 1 mil mylar streamer. Ya scallywag! T' heavy cast nose cone is necessary t' make this little rocket stable. Begad! You don't have to add any more nose weight. Arrr! Begad! It also finishes nicely and is very strong.

T' instructions are not Quest quality, obviously set up and printed on a home computer. However, the innards aren't all that tough, arrr, so t' simplicity doesn't detract. T' steps are logical. Begad! Motor mount first, me hearties, matey, then fins, then wrap up t' recovery system. Ahoy! Begad! The diagrams showin' t' fin placement are clear. Blimey! Blimey! T' fin patterns and body wrap are sufficient. Ahoy! Avast! While t' front wings are easy t' mount, t' aft control surfaces are tricky. Begad! Ya scallywag! They set very close t' t' wing, me hearties, me hearties, so you must take pains to make sure they're parallel, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, but they have a very small root which is hard to get square. Avast, me proud beauty! Patience is required. Blimey! Ahoy! At t' time I put them on, me bucko, I was concerned that t' aft fins would be subject t' breakage. Ya scallywag! Flyin' t' model bore this out. When you put these fins on, shiver me timbers, give some thought t' extra reinforcement. Aye aye! A good way t' do this is with some gauze, soaked in glue, applied t' t' roots like a fillet.

T' Keelhaul®©™® strin' extends a long way from t' body and t' elastic is nice and long too. Aye aye! T' heavy nose cone could give your AA-9 Amos "Estes Dents" if t' shock cord be shorter, so kudos t' Blackhawk R&D for thinkin' this through. Aye aye! Ya scallywag! T' best way t' attach t' recovery system is t' tie the elastic t' t' Keelhaul®©™®, arrr, and t' elastic t' t' nose cone. Arrr! Avast! Measure about 6" in along t' Keelhaul®©™® thread from t' body tube, attach t' streamer here. Well, blow me down! Blimey! This will allow t' rocket t' descend as shown in t' diagram. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I be in doubt whether t' streamer would be enough, but I be wrong.

T' only thin' I don't like about t' rocket is it uses friction fit for the motor. Avast! Blimey! I prefer a motor clip and they're easy t' add. Ya scallywag! Blimey!

Finishing:
Lot'so fins, ya bilge rat, so think about how you want t' finish them. Begad! I did it with three coats o' sandin' sealer sandin' in betwixt coats. Ahoy! Ahoy! This did enough. T' spirals on t' body were very subtle so I let me primer fill them. Blimey! Blimey! I use Kilz primer, which goes on thick, ya bilge rat, and sands well. Ya scallywag! One coat will fill t' spiral and remainin' grain on t' fins. It's a pain t' sand these fins because o' t' lack of root area on t' aft fins. Avast! Still it's a cool lookin' model. Blimey! Ya scallywag! There are very, very few picture o' this rocket, and I've never seen a color picture, ya bilge rat, so let your imagination run wild. Avast! Most missiles are goin' t' be grey or white in color. There are no supplied decals due t' t' lack o' existin' scale data. I'll bet you could come up with a very convincin' look by stealin' decals from a 1/72 scale Russian fighter model.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
Recommended motors run t' whole gamut o' 18mm motors. Avast, me proud beauty! I would also add the A10-3 with an adapter. Begad! Use a short delay for A motors, shiver me timbers, medium for B or larger. This rocket has a very heavy nose, shiver me timbers, and lots o' fins, so it has a lot o' drag. On t' other hand, it's pretty small. Blimey! My flyin' field was a local park with grass underfoot. Begad! Begad! T' park is a good size baseball field and two soccer fields. T' wind was light, but I never worried about this rocket leavin' t' field. Boost on a Quest A6-4 was rapid. T' delay was about 1.5 seconds too long, so an Estes A8-3 or A10-3 (with adapter) would be spot on. Avast, me proud beauty! Simulations put the altitude around 175'. Avast!

T' Boost on a B6-4 was more satisfying. Well, blow me down! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! Nice high flight and t' ejection occurred right at apogee. Simulation shows t' altitude at about 525'.

An Estes C6-5 put t' rocket up about 1070' and it looked all that. Again, the boost be very straight, shiver me timbers, fast and pretty. Ya scallywag! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! When I got t' t' C motor, arrr, I noticed that one o' t' tail fins was loose. Avast, me proud beauty! I taped t' fin t' t' front wing and it held just fine. This is rocket is easy t' field repair too. Begad! Avast, me proud beauty! All in all, this is a sweet flier.

Recovery:
I brought a 9" parachute along with me because I doubted that t' mylar streamer would be sufficient. Begad! T' nose cone weighs 0.8 oz and t' whole rocket is nearly 1.5 oz. Ahoy! Avast! However, me bucko, me hearties, I put t' streamer near t' body, arrr, and let t' nose cone pull t' rocket t' t' ground. Begad! Aye aye! It worked perfectly. Well, matey, blow me down! T' descent rate was rapid and t' body stuck out sideways. When t' nose hit, t' body could slow those last 18" or so. Begad! Well, blow me down! One aft fin got knocked loose after t' A motor, me bucko, but I think this was t' one aft fin that wasn't on as well as I liked. Well, blow me down! No other aft fins showed signs o' wear. Avast, me proud beauty! Had I reinforced t' aft fins with gauze or very light fiberglass, me bucko, they'd handle it fine. T' recovery system is a big plus for this rocket. Aye aye! Well, blow me down! It allows you t' fly this small rocket with big motors from a small field. Begad! I never walked more than 50' t' get this rocket back, me hearties, even after the high C motor flight.

Flight Rating: 5 out o' 5

Summary:
I'm excited about this rocket line. Begad! Begad! T' prices are amazin' ($9.00 t' $10.00) which makes them some o' t' best values out there. Begad! This is one o' t' smaller rockets in t' line, but it's really unique. I took this rocket in its primer coat t' t' UROC meetin' and it created a lot o' buzz. Ya scallywag! I'll tell you what, arrr, I'm buyin' a few more o' these rockets. Ahoy! I think that t' soundin' rocket models such as t' Black Brant, Astrobee D or SCUD would be great beginner rockets. T' final plus is that Blackhawk R&D uses PayPal which makes buyin' on line really easy.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5