Brief:
I built the V2 rocket as part of the 2006 EMRR Challenge last year. It was an interesting rocket but was rather heavy for a 18mm mount. This is the same kit but built to take a 24mm motor. I also changed a few things with the recovery-–it splits in two lower down the length of the rocket.

Construction:
The plastic kit comes in three sprues with detailed instructions. The kit itself is for a V2 rocket that sits on a launch pad. This means that you can get rid of most of the parts straight away.

The parts of the kit you need are:

• 2 B1 upper body tube halves
• 2 B2 lower body tube halves
• 2 B3 middle body tube halves
• 4 B6 fins
• 1 A6 lower nose cone
• 1 A9 nose cone tip
• 1 A4 vent ring

An addition to this you will need:

• 1 launch lug
• 2 Estes SCM- 50 shock cord mount
• 1 parachutes (Estes 18 inch)
• 1 3 foot lengths of knicker elastic
• Snap swivel (optional)
• 1 spent 24mm motor
• 1 24mm engine block
• 1 D motor spacer

To build the kit I used:

• CA gel glue
• 90 second epoxy
• Model knife
• Aluminum oxide sandpaper

All the plastic parts snap off the sprues easily and contain a lot of detail. The panels of the V2 are marked and the vent ring is there, which is a nice touch as it is absent from some kits.

The A5 part used in the previous rocket is omitted and the rear of the motor tube is held in with a thrust ring.

Glue the body tube halves then the two nose cone parts together. CA gel works best as it bonds quickly but does not run like normal CA glue.

Glue the fins to the lower body tube.

Glue the nose cone and upper body tubes together.

Glue the vent ring (A4) to the lower body tube.

The V2 is nearly complete now, with the exception of the motor mount and recovery system.

The recovery is as before, except a 24mm spent motor is epoxied into place.

The V2 is nearly complete. The top of the nose has yet to be glued on, as the model needs lead weights adding to the top to raise the CG higher. With the previous V2 it was marginal at times so with this V2 I crammed in as much lead as it could take.

Finishing:
Like the previous V2, I opted for a camouflage pattern. Last time I did this for ease but several people commented on how well it looked. The only difference this is the camouflage is a lighter shade this time.

Flight and Recovery:
The swing test worked and I headed out to launch with a D12-3. Prepping the rocket for flight was difficult, as the parachute had to be packed between the stuffer tube and rocket body--this proved to be the down fall of this upgrade.

The flight was really good. With the old 18mm, the V2 had a slow realistic take off, but with a D motor, the V2 takes off from the pad with speed and it grabs height easily. The flight path was straight with no wobble. Perfect.

Ejection was early. I should use a 5 delay in future. The parachute failed to deploy and the V2 came down faster than I would have liked. The ground was soft, but the stuffer tube was destroyed completely.

The repair was simple. I got rid of the stuffer tube and replaced it with a standard 24mm motor mount with an engine block.

The two halves of the V2 then had to be joined by adding a shoulder to the bottom half. The second flight used a D12-5. The launch was at a slight angle as I was trying to avoid the V2 landing near some non-rocket loving people that were on the flying field. A used a 12 inch chute and the flight was good. The 12 inch chute does bring it down a little fast but this is a strong rocket-–it's made of plastic!