Brief:
An "Ant Scale" version of the Titan IIIC SLV5.

Construction:
Opening The Box:

There are a lot of centering rings. Six CR2050P rings and four CR205P rings.

The two TVC Tanks are interesting. There is a slight difference in ends of the two lathed dowels, an easy fix.

The longer Core Nose Cone is pre-weighted. The ribbon-like Kevlar® is used in this kit.

The instructions and Wrap Sheets were rolled. I ironed them flat and scanned the Wrap Sheets just to be sure.

Three main tubes are all based on the BT-50 format.

I found the instructions very easy to follow and entertaining.

There were no real "gotchas"

While the DR. Zooch kits have you apply White Glue to just the outside edges of a body wrap, I have better luck using Spray Adhesive. I feel it gives me a little more time to make adjustments, I never seem to get it right the first time.

The Core Stage Body Wrap is fairly long. I decided to cut it into three pieces to make the wrapping easier. I’ll spray adhesive to the top third and wrap it using the top of the tube as a guide. The middle wrap will butt-up against the bottom of the top wrap. And, the same with the third.

You are directed to cut thin bands from the brown and gray colored rectangle on the wrap sheet. I have done this before on the Ares Stick kit. On the Titan kit though, these are about half that width, very thin.

There are six "Flame Fins. Three fins on each BT-5 tube. All are arranged out of the way of the engine flame. There isn’t a marking guide for the Flame Fins. You are directed to glue them at “90 degrees apart.” I have marking guides, but supplying one with the kite would have made it more convenient.

The Shock Cord Mount is to be glued in place 2" from the top of the Core Tube. This seemed a little deep, but I glued it there anyway.

I switched out for a larger Screw Eye. The supplied Eye was small and the screw threads were not deep. I was afraid it could pull out of the Nose Cone.

The Elastic Shock Cord is tied to the Kevlar®. I decided to tie on the Parachute one third the way down from the Nose Cone. This way the Nose Cone would have less chance of getting tangled up in the Parachute Shroud Lines.

Finishing:
After making Flame Fins on a few other Zooch kits, I have developed my own favorite color combination. All is sprayed white. Then, yellow follows on the lower half of the fin unit, blending the yellow with the white. A light mist of orange follows, lightly misting just the outside edges of the fins. I try to duplicate the flame coloring from pictures of the Shuttle launches.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I finally got around to flying The Titan IIIC at the R.O.C.K. monthly launch on April 3, 2010. There was plenty of wind and I was reluctant. I played it safe and went with a B6-4. I had no reason to be worried. Even with wind gusts, the flight was straight up.

Recovery:
Recovery was fine, no damage. I'll go with a C6-5 next time around.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
The Dr. Zooch kits are favorites of mine. Well engineered and great flyers.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5