I'm the aforementioned Richard "Itchy Richie" Hickok & built 2 of the original size A-10 & the upscaled E & F powered one. All three had turned in impressive flights at times & less spectacular flights at other times.
My experiences include some of the things already mentioned:
The boom/ stick on booster pod is better replaced with spruce. The boom snapped on landing on the smaller one. The spruce boom on the big one started to erode E & F exhaust blast......I put tape on both sides & filled the void with epoxy & even that started to wear away after awhile. I've been wondering about a carbon fiber repalcement.
I've seen some painted & decaled ones that looked great, but I left mine unpainted except for shark's teeth & flourescent orange tips on wings & stabs. Otherwise, that nekkid balsa blends in with the dry grass colors.
Lately, my biggest problem has been the right delay. The big one will arc over & start heading down before separating if the delay's too long. I usually fly it on an E18-4, with the delay drilled out some. Even with drilling, sometimes it's still too long a delay. Then I'll drill the next one more, & it'll pop too soon. I want to try an altimeter.
A few weeks ago, at Red Glare 6, I tried the big one on an F24-4 for the first time, hoping to get more altitude in case delay seemed to long. When it left the pad, it veered to the right, cutting down on altitude, not getting that much glide & when it usually just smoothly glides to a landing, this time it came in at a greater angle & cart-wheeled a couple times on the ground. When I went retrive it, I found the fuselage broken apart just behind the canopy. One vertical stabilizer & part the horizontal one were broken off.....I looked for a couple minutes & gave up. When I went back out to the B rack to fly my next rocket, I notice some fluorecsent orange on the ground.....it's the missing stabilizer section.....it had ripped off on launch, prolly caught on the lead wires for igniters. Missing that stabilizer is likely why it veered so much to the right. It usually boosts straight as an arrow.
If you're thinking about building one, you should. They're cool looking & get a lot of admiration from the crowd & built & trimmed right, they give a good, realistic looking glide.
I'll see if I can dig up & get some club pics on.
-- Richard Hickok
