Brief:
This is a sport-scale version of the Apollo 5, which was used to launch a legless LEM for a test flight in January 1968. This is a single stage, parachute recovery kit. Having just built the Dr Zooch R7 Luna kit, I was still in the mood for another kit that required actual skill to put together. Having made it through this kit, I am certain that Dr Zooch fits into one of the following two categories:

1. Benevolent, smiling, messianic figure, possibly wearing either tie-dye or maybe a pristine robe while gifting us mere mortals with builder's kits for the purpose of delivering us from the insult of nearly pre-built, imported "toys". Or...
2. He's the pusher, skulking about in dingy alleyways, teasing and taunting us with his wares, knowing that once you're hooked, you will come back for more because you're a hopelessly hooked Zooch junkie.

I'm not sure which he is, but I do know I have 4 more kits waiting to be built and I know I'll be buying the ones I don't have yet...

Construction:
Contents were packed in a sturdy cardboard box, which is handy for transporting and storing the completed rocket after it's built. Contents were fine quality and included:

• BT-60 lower thrust structure tube
• BT-60 S-IVB body tube
• Balsa Apollo adapter section (with integral nose weight)
• BT-20 motor tube
• 4 Fiber centering rings
• Balsa fin stock and dowels
• Cardstock with fuel and lox tanks, engine bells, alignment guides, etc.
• Dowel for rolling fuel tanks
• Decal sheet
• 15" red plastic garbage bag chute with Kevlar® cords
• Elastic shock cord
• Illustrated, 8 page instruction sheet and a couple pages of historical info

Once again, this is another fine kit from Dr Zooch. First step I would suggest would be to slap a coat of Elmer's Fill 'n' Finish (or wood filler of choice) on the adaptor section, which besides the fins is the only thing that needs filling on this kit. While that is drying, you can move on to the other steps in your build. As long as you read and follow the instructions, there are no real problems in building this kit. Heeding my own advise after building the R7 Luna, I rolled the first stage fuel and LOX tanks and glued these with rubber cement this time. Then I made sure that the little buggers would stay rolled by wicking some thin CA into the seam. The result was a set of tubes that were slightly flexible yet very strongly adhered. Not the crispy, stiff tubes like the conical boosters on the Luna. If you have read the other reviews of the other Saturn 1 or 1B kits, the construction process is very much the same, except this one is actually easier than the kits that have escape towers as this particular round had a shroud that housed a LEM. My only problem with the kit was the thread that is used with the unique engine bell creation. This is the same Kevlar® thread that is used for the parachute shroud lines. It's great for that, but it has some sort of coating that makes it a bit springy and not want to conform to the tight winding necessary to get it to stay attached to the nozzles while the glue sets. If I wasn't so lazy, I would have gotten off my TRF reading fat butt and gotten a hold of some regular cotton thread, but I didn't. Instead I grabbed the CA, glued my fingers to the engine bells a couple or three times and made do with what came with the kit. Hey, it's a review of building of the kit. The thread came with the kit. I used it. So there. Now I feel better about being lazy (Or at least that's what I told myself.)

Finishing:
As much of the finish is built into the kit with wraps, painting is pretty much confined to the Apollo adaptor. (I recommended that you Fill 'n' Finish it at the beginning, remember?), the upper section of BT-60, and the fins. The good doctor does recommend that you paint the fins before attaching them (I also think it is a good idea) and also recommends that you trim away a sliver of the printed wrap around the lower thrust structure so the fins are attached to the tube underneath rather than the paper of the wrap. That was a good suggestion which I was, once again, too lazy to follow. That decision was made all the worse by the fact that before I attached the fins, I chose to dust the rocket and nose cone after painting and assembly with some Krylon Crystal Clear. Not a thick or even complete coat but just enough to give it a slight sheen. It was though, just enough to make the fin's bond a bit on the weak side. As long as it lands on the grass, I'm fine. (But, gosh dang it, why does it always have to land in a parking lot?) There are a few ullage motors and retro rockets cut from scrap balsa and dowel pieces, but these are so small as to not even require filling before painting. What's really nice is that this kit gives you a handsome looking rocket with just a modest amount of effort. It has not yet failed to draw comments at any launch when I whip it out.

The only decals are red "United States" decals that go on the upper stage in four places and it's pretty much done.

Construction Rating: 5 out of 5

Flight:
Dr Zooch recommends either a B6-4 or C6-3 for this beast. I chose to launch it for the first time at a HUVARS launch at Lyon Park in Michigan. The finished rocket is surprisingly light and really moved out fast on the B motor. There was a little wiggle on the boost, most probably due to some misalignment in one or more of the 8 fins. The rocket was very stable and I couldn't have been any happier with the flight. A C motor would be crazy high in a rocket this light and would have made for quite a hike to recover it. Ejection was right at apogee, and the 15 inch trash bag chute was the perfect size for this rocket. Unfortunately, it came down in the nearby parking lot and one of the fins was loosened. That was fixed for the next flight with a bit of thin CA. An outstanding flight for an outstanding kit.

Recovery:
The shock cord that was included with the kit, a 1/8 inch cord about 20 inches or so long, would probably be fine for most kits this size, however I ended up with an "Estes dent" in my nose cone after the first flight. I am guessing that two things contributed to this:

1. The very energetic ejection charge really blew the nose off with a lot of force and...
2. At the end of the elastic's stretch, the additional weight buried in the nose cone to make the rocket stable snapped it back with extraordinary force.

No big problem. A bit of epoxy putty ought to make it as good as new. I will definitely tie an additional foot or two of shock cord in there before the next flight. There is a luxurious amount of space in the body tube, compared to the R7.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
All good, no bad. I love the quality of the kits, the wit of the instructions, and the models that Dr Zooch chose to release. These are kits you build rather than rip out of the box and crap into the air.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5