Brief:
Kit bash of Estes Omloid and Eliminator into a single rocket

Modifications:
There are a million rockets lurking in spare parts boxes. This is the story of one of them.

I'd purchased a collection of parts which included most, but not all, of an Omloid egg lofter. I had nothing else of that size until I happened to purchase an Eliminator kit. When I realized these were the same diameter, perversity set in.

I started with the building the Eliminator fin can and engine mount. Rather than put the second piece in place, I put the lower section of the Omloid followed by the next section of the Eliminator and so on. In the top section, I placed the shock cord mount as per Estes instructions.

Even the nose got the treatment. I cut the base and shoulder off the Eliminator nose and glued the rest to the top of the Omloid's 'egg crate'.

Construction:
All parts come from 1 Estes Omloid kit and 1 Estes Eliminator kit

Finishing:
Finishing was predetermined--both kits came prefinished. The colors, gaudy to begin with, clashed terribly. The yellow ogive on the orange egg crate was particularly funny. I took the Eliminator's decal and cut the "inator" off, sticking that on the finished rocket just after the "Omloid" sticker, making it read (in mismatched letters) "Omloidinator".

Flight:
The maiden flight was on an E9-6. Being so long and probably over stable, I counted on weather cocking to keep the recovery area out of a swamp downwind. Launch and early boost were flawless and quite pretty--fast enough to impress but slow enough to watch the whole way. Inexplicably, rather than weathercocking, it did the opposite and arced slowly downwind around 10 to 15 degrees. Coast was normal and ejection was just prior to apogee. Chute deployment was instantaneous, which turned out to be unfortunate.

Recovery:
Already well downwind and with the chute out at max altitude, the Omloidinator made clear its intention to float as far as possible towards the swamp. Not just a mushy mud swamp but a thickly overgrown with brambles and bushes and vines and quite possibly hidden snake swamp. It descended beautifully but obstinately right into the dreaded swamp. I tried to crawl through the bush-barrier but gave up after 15 feet in as many minutes.

Summary:
Building this was great fun and the loss can't detract from that or from the very pretty flight. Flown where a swamp (or trees or power lines) can't reach it, this would make an impressive rocket, with the additional humor factor.