Brief:
The Saturn 1 Block II is another one of the fine ant-scale offerings in the Dr. Zooch Saturn line. This is I believe, the only commercially available kit of the Block II version.

Construction:
Please refer to my previous Saturn 1B review for parts list and main construction notes. Construction starts just like the 1B, pre-painting a few components then marking the motor tube and rolling/bonding the fuel tanks. Unlike the 1B though, this one does not have a BT-60 S-IVB stage. Instead it uses a BT-55 mounted on top of the 20/60 centering ring on top of the fuel tanks. This is somewhat difficult to do since the tube must be perfectly centered. The kit includes a template for marking lines on the centering ring, but I would very much have preferred to see a 20/55 centering ring or two used to mount the upper tube.

The upper tube is trimmed with a paper shroud then partially covered with a pre-printed cardstock wrap. I had a little trouble with the size and trim of the shroud, especially at the end when mounting all the little details.

The tower assembly is the same as the 1B, with the option of a 4-sided paper tower lookalike or a very detailed build-it-yourself version. I opted for the detailed version as I have tweezers and my eyes aren't completely shot yet.

Jeff's review notes a potential problem with fin sizes, which I didn't catch until after I'd built mine and noticed how clumsy the big fins looked. Pay careful attention to the fin pattern supplied in your kit if you build one of these. If the root edge is longer than the BT-60 lower thrust tube, scale it down as Jeff did. It will look a lot better and still fly fine.

On the nozzle building I'm not sure if it's unique to this kit or just a temporary switch, but my kit used a funky green Kevlar® that had a waxy coating. I found this much more difficult to work with than the normal yellow braided (and uncoated) Kevlar® in other Dr. Zooch kits. If your kit comes with green Kevlar®, consider switching to yellow or just substituting carpet thread for the nozzles. It will bond much more easily.

Finishing:
While I love the details in Dr. Zooch kits and can't say enough good things about them, the one beef I have with the instructions is the lack of guide for orientation of wraps and positioning or color of details. You'll want to consult a source such as Rockets of the World for better guidance on orienting the wraps and the finishing details.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
First flight was in 6-8 mph winds and I went straight to the C6-3 for "out of sight" flights. It weathercocked a bit from my big clunky fins at work but flew fairly well to around 350-400 feet. Ejection was just about right.

Recovery:
The garbage bag chute didn't unfurl, probably due to my packing. It was pretty cold and I suspect the Kevlar® was wrapped a bit too tightly around it and it "froze" inside the rocket. With the chute acting as a feeble streamer, it came down pretty hard and broke off the tower assembly. It was a very minor repair and an otherwise fine flight.

Since I have dozens of mylar chutes in my range box, I'll be upgrading this one to a nice 18" mylar for future flights.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
It is an excellent all around value and a good combination of detail and affordability.

PROs: bang for the buck, amazingly detailed.

CONs: fin pattern was too big (probably just an issue in the early versions of the kit), needs more information on colors and placement of details and wrap orientation.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5