Brief:
Just your basic 3" rocket with twelve 18mm motor mounts. Well, blow me down! Made with mailin' tube and an Aqua-Pod water bottle as a nose cone.

Construction:
T' basic components are six 'stiffy' 18mm tubes from Uncle Mike's, arrr, a 3" mailing tube with telescopin' inner tube from t' Container Store, an Aqua-Pod water bottle from Safeway, ya bilge rat, arrr, shiver me timbers, and plywood from Michaels.

I started by cuttin' t' stiff 18mm tubes in half. Begad! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! I then glued them together in one set o' four, me hearties, one set o' two and two sets o' three before stackin' t' subsets. Begad! Blimey! I used Tightbond Trim and moldin' glue, which was a mistake. Begad! Blimey! Even though these are quite stiff they reacted poorly t' t' water based glue and t' whole assembly warped like crazy. Luckily, I checked on it before goin' t' bed and found that insertin' motors in both ends o' all t' tubes forced it back into place. Whew.

T' tube assembly be then mounted in a 3" coupler (i.e. Well, blow me down! a chunk o' t' inner mailin' tube). T' allow the tube cluster t' fit, I had t' trim about 1/8" off t' 6 tubes that abutted t' coupler. Well, blow me down! Begad! This was easy with a diamond cut-off wheel on me Dremel clone. T' plug t' outer 9 tubes, I cut plugs from corrugated cardboard, me hearties, shiver me timbers, coated them with wood glue and then glued them in. Aye aye! I mixed half an ounce o' epoxy filler t' cap t' cardboard plugs and fill all t' gaps.

I cut three fins in sort o' a Standard ARM motif. Arrr! Arrr! Blimey! T' roots were angled t' fit in t' gaps betwixt t' motor tubes and were attached usin' a custom fin alignment jig. T' fin assembly is held in t' mailin' tube with t' lower rail button and a plastic pop-rivet from Giant Leap

Since I thought t' rocket had a lower than normal probability o' success and I'm generally scrounger, shiver me timbers, I decided t' make t' nose from an Aqua-Pod water bottle. Begad! Ahoy! I've used several o' these in various ways and had one left. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, me proud beauty! I filled t' bottle with 2-part foam and mounted it in another piece o' 'coupler tubing'. I finished t' upper section with another piece o' mailin' tube, me hearties, custom-cut plywood bulkhead, and an eye bolt.

I added a short piece o' coupler stock ~1/2 way into t' body. Begad! Begad! This provided an attachment point for t' upper rail button and t' through-the-wall shock cord mount.

That be about it. Avast, me proud beauty! I soon gravitated towards a faux-scale look as shown in t' as-finished photos. Arrr! Ahoy! I contemplated what t' stick on t' end o' t' Aqua-Pod and settled on a plastic body from a do-it-yourself termite trap that I liberated from a neighbor.

Flight:
I flew t' 12-pack at MDRA's ESL-145 usin' three Estes C6-7s for ejection and nine Quest 'long burn' C6's along for t' ride. Arrr! Ignition was handled with Quick Match. T' flight be great - nice and smokey! Ejection was a bit early but recovery be nominal. Begad! Arrr! Peter 'shaken nay stirred' Abresch snagged a good video o' the flight.

Summary:
This be t' biggest cluster I've tried and it worked out well. Avast! Begad! I am pleased with t' final look, matey, even with t' non-traditional components.