Brief:
The Apollo moon missions were one of the greatest accomplishments in human history, and the incredible Saturn V rocket was the ultimate heavy lifter that made it all possible.

This Saturn V kit from Sirius Rocketry is a very high quality and finely detailed, 1/64 scale, high power kit that pays fine tribute to greatest rocket ever built.

I am building it to fly it hard.

Build and flight thread with lots of detail, pictures and video on The Rocketry Forum.

Construction:
The many detailed resin cast parts include the capsule, command module, engine bells, 2 sets of fins, transition, and the escape tower structure. There are also many detailed styrene wraps. The main body tube is 6" flexible phenolic, and the rest of the tubes are thick cardboard.

The kit design is optimized for detailed scale appearance and flying, specifically:

• Single split point just below top transition, from which two parachutes are deployed at apogee for separate recovery of upper and lower rocket sections.
• Internal 1/2" lug, for 4' rod.
• Built for HP flying with AT I-284 as the recommended engine using motor ejection for deployment.

The kit comes with 20 pages of detailed instructions with diagrams and every single part needed to build the complete flying rocket, except the parachutes which are an option.

I did find a couple typos in the directions: On page 8 the diagram at the bottom shows 28.86" for a line position that should read 26.86". On page 13 the third paragraph references the position of a wrap as between 9.58" and 13.8", these should read 7.84" and 12.06".

Each time I emailed David Miller at Sirius Rocketry checking on these, he responded quickly. He stated that these items are being corrected, and that he planned to post some info online as well. He also stated that the safe CG point is 27.5" or farther forward from rear end of main body tube for a stock build.

As impressive as the kit is stock, I am making some modifications:

• Clustering:

• Instead of the stock single 38mm engine tube, did a central 54mm engine mount with 4x 29mm outboards. Allowing a longer burning central motor and / or a 5 engine cluster just like the real Saturn V.
• Outboards are canted towards CG, in case of a partial ignition failure.
• Used rail buttons and added nose weight as neccessary.

• Flying this for my L2 cert (I want to make the rocket bulletproof):

• Body tubes are fiberglass wrapped. Main 6" tube has 6oz plus 1.3oz veil. Third stage 4" tube has 10oz sleeve plus veil.
• Transitions and engine bells are internally reinforced. I used a method learned on Applewhite's saucers of FG adhesive tape internally placed in layers then spread thick epoxy on it.
• Replaced fins with TTW 1/8" G10. Used multiple layers of FG to lock them into the rocket. The kit comes with an interchangeable fin system. Scale fins for display, and 25% over sized fins for flying. I started with the flying fins and extended mine 0.35" farther down so they will hit the ground before the engine bells do.
• I left out escape tower.

• Dual deployment (as most of the fields I fly in have limited landing area):

• I built in an electronics bay below the lowest transition and access it through a side door.
• Main chute ejects from below the top transition as the kit is intended to do.
• Drogue deploys from a split point created 13.8" from the bottom of the main body tube. I used a 12" phenolic coupler tube at separation point.

• Increased flight stability:

• The kit came with 8oz of clay nose weight. These modifications required more nose weight for stability. I hollowed out the command module and epoxied on the capsule. I then poured in 23oz of lead shot and epoxy.
• I will carefully check CG each time rocket is prepped for flight and add more weight as necessary. I built additional weight units to slide in when flying with heavier engine configurations.

• Upper section:

• With the parts laid out it is hard to see, but the bottom white sheet is a detailed styrene wrap.
• I epoxied lead shot in nose and glassed CRs that will attach to the recovery harness.
• Inner paper shroud formed, wrap laid out.

I put adhesive fiberglass tape inside paper shroud and built up to 3-4 layers. I learned this method doing Art Applewhite saucers, just heavier here. I then spread plenty of thick 5 minute epoxy over the tape to harden the transition. The transition was warm to the touch for 10 minutes. The transition came out rock solid, then I used epoxy to fill and attach wrap to transition. Modified assembly process resulted in the transition being slightly large for the wrap.

I fiberglassed the 4" tube with 10oz sleeve and 1oz veil. This is where chute is stored and harness will exit. FG will resist zippers and anchor shear pins.

I put three slide switch panel at the bottom of the alt door. One to power on the altimeter, one to safe ejection charges, and one for timer power for optional airstarts.

A Dremel was used to trim engine bells to fit the modified fins. Then I applied three layers of adhesive fiberglass tape, covered inside of bells with epoxy while gluing them to the rocket, and filleted inside of bells to fins and body tube. Next, I reinforced the slightly oversized G10 fins. The tail section should be very strong and stand up well to the impact of recovery. Hopefully many of them.

A lot of options were considered for converting this kit to dual deploy. I decided to go with a central plate that sits between the main chute and drogue compartments. The plate is 5.5" in diameter, 1/4" thick, and has connectors for both ejection charges. It also has attachment point for main chute. This plate is attached to a 6" to 4" centering ring, 3/8" thick with removable screws. The CR has attachment point for drogue and banana plugs for electrical hookup for airstarts. The plate will screw into CR in tube, forming both the top of the drogue compartment and the bottom of the main chute compartment. The wire feeds into the hole in the CR and sits on its own compartment. The wire is not exposed ejection charges or potential of tangling with harnesses.

For the wraps with more internal space, I filled and attached them with a mix of fast epoxy and sawdust. For the thinner wraps straight epoxy was used and a lot of it. After all the wraps were in place, there were 17 more detail pieces to go. Instructions recommended CA to bond the resin parts to the styrene wraps, so at least these went quickly. There are over 40 detail pieces total showing on the outside of this rocket as I built it.

I used a pair of #2-56 nylon screw shear pins at both separation points. Shear pins were used for the drogue too because the rocket splits so low that one rail button is below the split and one is above. I must keep this alignment in positive control. Also, it wouldn't look good if I dropped the bottom of the rocket on my foot at the RSO table.

I wired up the Perfectflite HA45 altimeter and MT3G timer which are mounted to the inside of the altimeter bay door above the 3 slide switches. Top switch turns alt on, middle switch safes ejection charges, bottom switch turns timer on. Both devices are powered by dual 9V batteries, which slide into slots in the side of the ebay and are retained there by tie wrap pressing down on foam blocks. Later, I covered back of switches with duct tape to reduce air turbulence due to openings in the switches. I made 3/16" vent hole for 50-60 cubic inch alt bay.

Finishing:
I needed to cover pin holes in FG and tiny gaps at the edge of some wraps so I tried something I had never done with a rocket but had done many times at home. I painted the exterior with white latex primer. Two coats very carefully brushed on. I then sanded all primed surfaces: tubes with 220 grit and all tubes and wraps with steel wool. Next, I blew and brushed off the light dust cover then sprayed 4-5 coats of Krylon white primer followed by 3 coats of Krylon gloss white.

I masked over the wraps, transitions, and engine bells then painted multiple black areas and one silver. It took a lot of good masking tape and many hours to complete this. I then got the decals on and did some touch ups with paintbrush and acrylic paint as well as cleaned up some edges with a black Sharpie.

I must admit, I spent some time just staring at it when done. The rocket looked great, and I estimate I spent close to 20 hours on paint and decals, and 150+ hours total. It did make me smile. Some of the final paint details and decals were not completed until after NERRF, which is why the NERRF flight pictures show some parts of the rocket all white.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight and Recovery:
First Flight, 6/20/08, NERRF: I got my L2! I did not make a final decision on the engine for the L2 cert flight until I was on the field. Js simmed to 900-1100ft and the K445 to 2800ft.

The field was big and wind was low so I went for the Cesaroni 54mm 4 grain K445. My first K and it was very sweet! The Classic propellant is regressive, giving a strong, fast push at the pad, and a 3.7 second burn. I set engine delay to 12 seconds, about 3 seconds after predicted apogee, to back up the altimeter. The cert flight was nice, clean and fast on the way up to 2692ft. Dual deployment worked well except for a brief moment when the midsection hit the main, which quickly re-inflated the chute for a soft landing. Rocket weighed 17.2 lbs ready to fly. Only wear and tear from this flight was a few slight burn marks on the main chute and one of the engine bells warped very slightly from launch blast.

Second Flight, 6/22/08, NERRF: First K cluster. I went with the same Cesaroni K445 in the center position and added 4 G64s in the outboard tubes. I used a sliver of pressed BP at the top of each of the G64s, allowing them to fire instantly using the same method that is built into the Cesaronis. I used a Rocketflite ML igniter for the center motor and MF igniters in the G64s. This worked like a charm, kicking all five engines instantly for a long hard thrust to 3,372ft from a total impulse 2095 Ns. I added a 1 lb slide in nose weight unit to balance the added weight of the 4 G64s. Rocket weighed 19.6 lbs ready to fly. You can see the wide base of flame from the canted G64s plus the longer flame tail in the center from the hard pushing K. Roughly 200 lbs total initial thrust, tapering off into a long hard pull as it soared upwards. It did make me smile.

Third flight, 7/19/08, CMASS: "Houston we have a problem." I prepped the rocket with a central J440 and 4 G64s. The Magnelite ingiters fired all five engines immediately. The four outboard G64's fired properly, however, the central J440 blew out its nozzle on the pad. The rocket flew to only 237ft due to low total impulse. I still expected the chutes to deploy but none did. To paraphase another rocketeer, who said at another time about a different rocket, "If you can't deal with that, you should have built a train set." Part of the excitement of flying rocket is never being sure what is going to happen.

So what happened? In order to try to get all 5 engines to fire very quickly, I put a piece of pressed BP at the top of each engine. Tiny slivers for the G64s and most of the core of an Estes C for the J. The Gs were happy and the J was not. The J blew its nozzle and propellant out at the pad. Then the Js case rammed its way through the 38mm to 54mm adapter and slammed into the wood plate that had the connections to the ejection charges. This severed the wires to both ejection charges resulting in an 18 lb rocket lawn darting from 237 feet, fortunately far away from any spectators. The rocket will be rebuilt from the lower transition up and fly again soon.

Flight Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary:
PROs: This kit is extraordinarily detailed and beautiful. It is also special because it is a very fine flying model of one of mankind's greatest achievements. The builder does need to be high power certified to fly it, and willing to invest time into the build. But the rewards are high.

CONs: There were a couple typos in the instructions, and some sections I had to read several times to follow. Typos were quickly clarified by emailing Sirius Rocketry. Another flier had problems with the resin fins warping due to heat. The G10 TTW fins I built are slightly less to scale but very tough.

I did not take any points off ratings because this is such a remarkable kit that I would have rated it a 6 out of 5 if that was possible. It is a hard-flying model of the very best human space exploration vehicle ever built.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5