Brief:
The Space Ark was the spaceship that took the lucky few people to a new world in the 1951 classic movie When Worlds Collide. This perfect replica kit fits well in to your collection of "retro" kits or anti-3FNC kits. This kit flies on G and H motors and comes with a nice nylon (oversized) chute.

Construction:
This kit looks deceptively simple to build. There is one body tube, a nose cone, a tail cone, a motor mount and some fins. It does come with a nice nylon parachute and even a sample of their "Bod Wad" ejection wading.

The fins, rudder, and wings are made of nice aircraft plywood. The nose cone and tail cone are made from sturdy plastic. This kit has nice pre-shaped fin pods. (All spaceships from the 50's had the cheesy fin pods that did absolutely nothing.) Rounding out the parts list is a set of decals and a nice nylon chute.

Read this directions before you start. I know you have heard this before, but this time, do it. This does not go together like anything I have ever built and I almost got caught a couple times. When it says to put the motor mount in with the recovery strap facing up, do it. You will be sorry if you don't.

As with all Pemtech kits, the instructions are written like a great Mel Brooks movie with tons of tongue in cheek humor. That aside, they are well written and come with several pages of full color pictures.

OK, I deviated from the destructions in a few areas. It's not that I know better, it just that I like to do things different. Besides; it's my rocket and I can do what ever I want.

The kit comes with a nifty motor retainer, however, I chose not to install it. This made for an easier build and allowed for more motor options.

I also didn't use the expanding foam. Since the fins in the boat tail are epoxied directly to the motor mount, I figured that the foam will only add weight. (Besides, I didn't have any.) I used a thick epoxy containing colloidal silica for this and applied heavy fillets for good measure.

I don't like brass lugs. This kit comes with a great 1/4" x 3" long brass launch lug. I didn't use it and went with a cardboard one instead.

I'd say the most difficult part of the build was cutting the slots in the tail cone for the fins. The HDPE (plastic for you non-chemists out there) is tough to cut cleanly.

Finishing:
Finishing was not too bad. If you have ever done the heavy plastic nose cones you know what you're in for there. The body tube didn't match too well with the tail cone and nose cone so I had to use a little filler there. I didn't attempt to paint it with the chrome paint that is seen on their website. I just used Rustoleum Metallic Silver for it. It comes with some really groovy decals, but I didn't put them on until after the first flight.

Construction Rating: 4 ½ out of 5

Flight:
The first flight was on a G40-7W. I think it was slightly underpowered because it did a corkscrew kind of thing on the way up. A G80 would have been more appropriate. The delay was long but not too bad. Recovery was otherwise perfect. H242T was used for the second flight. This thing ripped off the pad with authority.

Recovery:
I didn't think I would ever see it again, but as good rockets sometimes do, it drifted back within 500' of the pad under a full chute. That was a great flight but I don't think I'll do that again.

Flight Rating: 4 ½ out of 5

Summary:
I really like this kit. Like the 3FNC I have from Pemtech, it has the retro-classic look to it and really stands out in my collection. It's tougher to build than some kits of its size, but it's well worth it.

Overall Rating: 4 ½ out of 5