Picture courtesy of Discount Hobbies

Brief:
Tiny and awfully cute (1/396) scale Saturn V for mini-motors. Parachute recovery.

Construction:
The kit is actually fairly simple to construct despite its appearance. The kit basically consists of a short length of 24mm tube, one giant epoxy-cast nose-cone and four epoxy-cast fins-shrouds. The motor mount and the chute are standard for mini-kits -- a centered 13mm motor tube and a tiny plastic chute. The tubes and chute are basically Estes quality. No surprises there. The cone and fins are very nicely done. The cone was perfect, but a couple of fins had "dents" in 'em from bubbles forming during the casting. I didn't even bother with anything elaborate to fill the dents. A little Elmer's was fine.

The instructions are quite easy to follow, and the kit will be a snap for anyone who's built small rockets before. The only part that was a bit hairy was putting on the big roll-pattern on the main tube. Take your time with this step. I don't recall what's recommended, but I glued on the fins/shrouds with a little bit of 5-minute epoxy. I also poked some holes through the roll-decal with a pin before epoxying, so the fins weren't just attached to the decal. This seems to have done the trick, because the fins are on quite well. The only other thing I'd recommend is to bevel the shoulder of the nose cone a bit. The base of the cone is concave and has a sharp edge from the casting process, which makes it difficult to insert in the body tube. I carved away that sharp edge and sanded a bevel into the bottom of the shoulder, and it fit very nicely now. No special tools are required for this kit, although I do recommend some epoxy for the fins and for the edge of the decals, to keep 'em from wanting to peel up.

Finishing:
Finishing is quite simple. You need to paint the cone white before applying the other roll-decals, as a couple of sections of it and the escape-rocket don't have decals. You also need to paint the fins. I'd recommend a brush, because masking off the fins from the rest of the body would be a pain. Painting the fins is a bit of a pain, as they need to be black, white, and silver to match the scale paint scheme. I used a black marker and a silver paint-pen, and I got reasonably good results. Once everything's painted, go over the entire rocket with some matte-finish spray, and it'll look great.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I fully expected this rocket to fly like a pig, because the huge epoxy cone makes it so heavy for its tiny size. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it flies quite well. Another plus is that it's got so much nose-weight that you don't have to snap any extra clear plastic fins on it to keep it stable. I've flown it several times on an A3-4, and it's done quite well, popping at the top and dropping a bit too quickly for comfort on its tiny parachute. The little escape-rocket point at the top isn't as sharp as it used to be, but I build 'em to fly, not to sit on the shelf.

Recovery:
No real flight and recovery cons to speak of. It flies surprisingly well, and it always gets interest when I bring it to the pad. It's a cute little rocket. Motor selection for it is pretty limited, though. I don't think I'd fly it on anything other than an A3-4.

Flight Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary:
Pros: Goes together easily. Looks great on the shelf or the pad. Flies better than expected. Cons: Shoulder of big cone could damage tube if you don't sand on it first.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5