Brief:
A monster at nearly 3 feet tall, this is perhaps the largest commercially available shuttle kit to grace the market. Features removable clear plastic fins for flight, a fair amount of custom details, and the shuttle is even rigged for R/C glide (optional/not required).

Construction:
Once you pull the trigger on ordering this, you'll probably wait 2-4 weeks for the kit to arrive, as Sheri typically makes a number of the components per order, and there's a lot of custom work behind this kit. When the box arrives, you might be surprised how small it is, but unpacking it reveals a whole lot of stuff:

This kit included:

• 5.25x18 main body tube
• 5.25 coupler
• 2.125x21.875 SRB tubes (2)
• Plywood centering rings
• 29mm motor tube (13.25 long)
• heavy-duty nylon shock cord
• Lexan tubing and pre-cut lexan fins
• Styrene corrugation panels
• Styrene sheet, tubing, do-dads
• Resin-cast SRB nose cones (2)
• Depron (foam) pre-cut shuttle orbiter pieces
• Styrofoam booster nose cone
• Styrofoam booster tail cone
• Styrofoam shuttle trim pieces
• Assorted hardware, including R/C aileron linkages
• Waterslide decals (Tango Papa)
• Large hand-drawn blueprint

Note that the kit does not include a parachute (60" recommended) or shock cord nor the R/C servos, battery, and TX/RX gear.

Overall, I'd rate the quality of the components good/not great, and that's applying some leeway for the HPR nature of the design. Tubes have grooves, not spirals. Several of the components did not fit well/wrong size.

You will also need a number of other materials/supplies that aren't in the standard rocket builder's tool box, which will be noted in the construction summary.

Let's get this much out in front--this is a skill level 4 or 5 kit, not for the faint of heart or inexperienced modeler. I have over 400 rockets under my belt, mostly LPR, and this was much more difficult than I expected, and absolutely kicked my [fanny]. This is coming from a guy that's built several Saturns, including the Apogee V and 1b. It took much longer than I expected, and I wound up with a mediocre finish that I'm not especially proud of. If you plan on building one of these, be prepared to invest a considerable amount of time and set the expectations at a decent, not flawless finish. This is a very nice model, but not likely a museum piece without extraordinary finishing skills.

The instructions are fairly well written, though for the most part the illustrations come in the form of color photos poorly reproduced in black and white. In many cases, the photos were of little or no help, overly dark. I had requested electronic copy of the manual and/or photos, and received an MS Works format document that despite several utilities and tech support efforts I was not able to crack. There is a very nice full-scale drawing included with the kit that supplements a good deal of the construction notes.

Construction begins with the shuttle assembly, which turns out to be among the easiest aspects. The parts are mostly pre-cut Depron foam. You'll need special styrofoam glue, though, as anything else will prove too weak or eat the foam rather than bond it. I picked up a tube of whatever brand Hobby Lobby carries, and it worked quite well. It goes on like toothpaste, so a little dab will smear well, and bites in a minute or so. First bond job--the two wing halves. Next, mark off from the centerline two lines for aligning the sides. My directions had incorrect dimensions, which were not evident until I found the mating pieces would not fit. I pointed this out to Sheri, who has corrected it for future versions, but the error lead to a bit of rework on my part to remove and re-bond the side pieces.

Next up on the shuttle is the aft bulkhead and vertical stab, fairly simple bonds. Once the skeleton is in place, you cut away the elevons, assuming you're opting for the R/C approach. Here I suffered a bit being fairly inexperienced with R/C (only having built/flown the Edmonds Arcie II and a few RTF toys). You'll need to drill a small hole in the fuselage side and reinforce it with a washer. It's probably obvious to experienced R/C folks where this goes/how it works, but to a rookie it was not obvious, and the photo was poor. I figured it out after some online research. Next, attach the elevons using some fiberglass packing tape as hinges, and install the linkages (one more thing I needed help figuring out, as the photos were not sufficient).

Now comes some fun...Assuming everything has been done correctly thus far, you attach the forward bulkhead to the shuttle skeleton, then the foam nose cone/cockpit to the bulkhead. My hatch was pre-cut wrong, and needed to be replaced. The correct hatch is what tipped me off to the dimensional error on setting up the sides. Once I finally got the skeleton in decent shape, I found my foam nose was about 3/16 inch shorter than the bulkhead, requiring a bunch of filler to blend in.

The removable hatch cover of the shuttle is held in place during flight by a couple of fixed anchor pins up front, and a Velcro strip that attaches to a little shelf in back. My hatch cover is slightly narrower (1/8) than the sides, but this could be due to slightly non-plum alignment of the sides.

With the shuttle construction basically done, you can now install the gear. One problem, though--if you follow the directions, you've built a little shelf in the back to hold the hatch cover in place, which blocks most of the working area for mounting the servos and rigging the linkages. Remove, mount gear, re-bond, and I was back on track.

The shuttle includes some external trim pieces, which I struggled with, as I had no idea how to sand/shape the foam block I was given into something that resembles the photos of the real shuttle I've seen (OMS pods). It didn't help that I could not figure out from the photo illustration how to mount/trim the cardstock support panel. The white panel mounted to white foam, reproduced in an over-flashed b & w photo just didn't work for me (tip to Sheri--reshoot that one with colored cardstock for the support or Photoshop it). After manhandling a set of OMS pods, I offered to buy a replacement set, and was pleasantly surprised when free replacements arrive a couple days later.

The shuttle is attached to the booster via 4 pins, which require careful measurement and drilling into the shuttle bottom (and the reinforcing styrene strips). The print has very specific locations and dimensions for the strips and holes, though these specs contradict the photo (photo shows 2 small strips, print calls for one 5x1 strip).

The main body (booster) is fairly simple construction. You'll need to make a couple from tubing that's same stock as the body, by cutting it down and removing a small piece, then gluing the shortened tube back together. You'll then attach a plywood bulkhead disk to it, then bond the foam nose cone to the bulkhead. Once everything's cured, drill a hole and epoxy in a screw eye for shock cord attachment. This one really frustrated me, as my coupler and bulkhead disk fit fine, but my foam nose cone is about 1/8" too small OD, leaving a noticeable gap/edge at the joint.

Next up comes marking various lines on the main body tube. The instructions state that the tube is 16.75" in circumference, so 4 lines need to be spaced 4-3/16 apart. My tube is 16.875" circumference, so my lines had to be re-marked at 4-7/32 apiece. Of course, since my tube is 16.875, that could explain why my foam nose is undersized. Once the various lines are marked, it's time to attach the corrugated wraps using a brush-on cement. Since the styrene corrugations are smooth, you might want to consider spiral filling and primer/sanding of the body tube first. The cardboard tube is pretty rough, and the first coat of primer is mainly just to draw out the fuzzies. By the time I was done I had 3-4 coats of primer plus 3 finish coats, so the details were not as crisp.

The main body tube also gets drilled for mounting pins that mate to the shuttle. This is critical alignment, and strict adherence to the print is required (plus actual alignment with the completed shuttle as the epoxy sets).

Since the booster/shuttle stack is not flight-worthy on its own, the kit includes clear plastic tubing and fins (pre-cut) that can be bolted on for flight and/or display, and removed later. The fins are attached via CA, two per tube at 90-degree alignment.

The SRB's are built from 2.25" cardboard tube. They are attached to the main body via (4) 8-82 bolts, which requires drilling holes in both the SRB's and main body tube, carefully aligned, and blind nuts epoxied into the SRB's to accept the bolts. The SRB's then get a couple of plywood centering rings, which hold a 29mm tube in alignment. This 29mm tube is what the clear plastic fin tube slides into.

The attachment of the clear fins/tubes to the SRB's was a bit of a problem for me. I was supposed to cut off an unspecified portion of one side of an L bracket, then redrill a 3/16 hole in the stub, and mount this to the centering ring flush with the 29mm tube. A blind nut goes into the centering ring on the back side to align with this. In my case, I had a very sloppy fit, and the blind nut caused me to carve away a large section of the 29mm tube for clearance. When I later tried sliding the clear tube in place, I found the blind nut was catching on the clear tube, so had to grind the side down. This whole process took over an hour, and at the end I was wondering why not just use the easily pliable perforated steel strip stuff at big box stores to form a simple bracket, and set a specific location for the blind nut that doesn't sit too close to the 29mm tube.

The SRB's are finished off with a pair of styrene shrouds mounted to an aft end plywood centering ring. My centering rings were 1/8" too large, requiring sanding down for fit. My shroud patterns were also wrong, which I fortunately caught BEFORE I cut up all the styrene sheet. I wound up printing patterns out on my own, and also used cardstock rather than styrene sheet, as the styrene sheet was a bit too thick to form a nice shroud without resorting to a hefty overlap strip.

Approaching the home stretch, I finished up the guts of the main body tube by mounting a couple of plywood centering rings and the 29mm motor tube. With the motor tube in place, you then line up the foam tail cone and mark the location of the motor tube. Next, using a 38mm cardboard tube, I got to "drill" out a hole in the foam tail cone that would overlap the motor, so that the exhaust has a place to go. This didn't take that long, but was definitely a pain--tough to keep aligned, requires a strong push/twist, and tends to do a sloppy cut as it's not a sharp-edged instrument. The tail cone attaches to the aft centering ring via Velcro so that it can be removed for flight prep.

The final touches to construction are detailing out the aft end of the shuttle, which includes OMS pod extensions, and 5 more nozzles/shrouds. I again opted for cardstock rather than styrene--less weight, easier to work with, better finish.

Finishing:
OK, let me tell you the finishing of this beast was one of the most miserable rocket-building experiences of my life, but that's not necessarily a reflection of the kit, and you can avoid my pain if you're careful and/or lucky.

First of all, there is a LOT of stuff to fill and surface prep. Filling the foam is best done via light spackling compound. The instructions say NOT to fill the Depron which is already fairly smooth, but in my case the primer came through a bit rough, and a very light, mostly sanded down application of filler might not have been a bad idea.

Once the gaps are reasonably filled, it's time to prime. Priming the main body tube with something thick such as Kilz or Plasticote is a good idea, but on the foam parts the instructions say use "Testors light grey primer". Just for kicks, I tried a little Krylon primer on a test piece of foam to see how it would hold up. I'd love to show a picture of the result, but the sample piece is gone--completely disintegrated. Tip #1--don't even think about Krylon...So, with that experiment under my belt, I went to the local hobby shop in search of Testor's light grey primer. I found under Testor's Model Master brand a white primer. Fantastic, since the finished model would need to be white anyway. I then sprayed a very light coat on the shuttle, and when I checked back on it 10 minutes later, it looked like the surface of the moon. Horrible erosion. Tip #2--don't shoot ANY paint on the foam that hasn't cured out fine on a test piece first. Ask Sheri for extra/replacement foam to test paint with. OK, so I slathered on another layer of spackling, and tried another light shot of primer figuring at this point I was, literally, almost entirely spackling on the surface anyway. More erosion, but not as bad. Repeat cycle 6 more times, and I gave up, with a result that looks like someone who suffered pretty severe acne as a kid.

After several email and TRF exchanges with Sheri, what I learned is that it's not just the brand/type of primer that's critical, it's the COLOR. Testor's white will eat it, but the light grey won't, supposedly. I believe her, but since none of my LHS's carried grey, couldn't prove this out myself. I would order via the internet, but in more discussions with Sheri I learned that there are two different labels of Testors, and my LHS carries the wrong color label, so possibly the wrong type of paint.

I'm not sure where to get the correct paint, but I would suggest that you get a specific UPC code from Sheri, and don't try anything but that.

The main body tube was comparatively easier, just a plain "rust" color. Sheri suggested Krylon satin Cinnamon, which I couldn't find, but I did find a decent Testor's bottle of "rust", which I sprayed.

Once painted, it's time to break into the decals. The decals are excellent, by Tango Papa, and cover a variety of shuttle names/missions. Unfortunately, there is virtually no placement guide in the instructions, other than a passing suggestion to pick up a copy of a Squadron publication on the shuttle, plus a few dark b & w photos. I went with a combination of Peter Alway's Rockets Of The World, a number of archive photos from NASA, and the color photos posted on Sheri's site (cjsaviation.com). I had plenty of leftover decals, as I decided not to get into all the details without further research for more accurate placement.

With the decals in place, there was still a fair amount of hand painting to do. The cockpit, for instance, includes a decal that covers most of the black area, but there is a decent gap that must be brushed in by hand. Trim striping is also done by hand rather than via decal. A steady hand with a black Sharpie will go a long way towards the final appearance of this.

Construction Rating: 2 out of 5

Flight:
Having packed a 50" nylon chute and about 3 yards of 1/2" elastic shock cord, I hefted this up on the local post office scale, surprised to find I was up to 3 pounds, 9.7 ounces (with full R/C/ gear). My finished shuttle was lighter than Sheri's admittedly heavy prototype at 5.7 ounces vs. 6, but the booster and SRB's were obviously pretty hefty. I was quite concerned with the weight, as the recommended motors G77 and G80 each cap out at just over 3 pound max recommended liftoff weight, and this is a pretty draggy model.

After swapping a couple emails again with Sheri, I decided to give it a shot with one of the newly reformulated G80's. Aerotech managed to increase the total impulse on these from 120 to 137 NS, though the 4-second delay is no longer available. Their claim is that with the new version, a 7-second delay would be fine where a 4 worked previously (and certification tests show the 7 actually fires about a second early).

The motor lit right away (another nice improvement--no more Copperheads!), and I have to say as this cleared the pad and slowly increased speed, it made for a majestic liftoff. I really wish I didn't have my hands full with the R/C, as this would have been fairly easy to capture in flight and was beautiful going up.

With somewhat limited servo movement on the elevons, which are also responsible for pulling the release wire, I was a bit conservative in setting the wire, and probably gave it too much of a hair trigger. The shuttle separated just before the end of the thrust phase, popping off at only about 150 feet altitude, pointed straight up. The rest of the stack continued fine to about 300 feet, and deployed the chute just fine, though I didn't catch whether it was early or late, a bit preoccupied with my shuttle.

The shuttle quickly turned over, nose down, and started a very speedy descent. The shuttle is not exactly designed to be a high performance glider, and even with full up on the elevons I was unable to pull it out of the dive. The "boink" recovery did significant cosmetic damage, but nothing major structurally--slight crack on one side, nose a bit more blunt, radio gear broken loose from mounts.

Recovery:
While the flight itself was stunning, the glide was poopy at best, though I would hope that another couple of attempts might debug the release mechanism and allow for an actual glide.

The weight is troubling, pinning me into a very limited selection of motors, none of which are the more affordable reloads. It's got a nice, long 29mm motor tube, but the shuttle itself probably can't handle even a light H thrust.

The 50" chute did fairly well, though it landed at a nasty angle on very soggy grass and broke loose one of the clear fins. I would consider going with a larger 60" chute, though weight and limited space might be an issue.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Overall, I would have to say I am a bit disappointed in this, but that might be because I had fairly high expectations. For the money, I was benchmarking it against Apogee Saturns and Roachwerks scale kits, and compared to those it does not stack up favorably. Too many fit and dimensional issues, poor photos, and some annoying DIY details that were much more effort than they seemed to rate. Decal placement stands as one example--the Apogee includes dozens of detail images covering virtually every decal (though not much mission-specific variety)

I would imagine someone with decent R/C experience and with extensive shuttle knowledge going into this project would fare much better than I did.

Mainly, I was frustrated to wind up with so much time, money and effort tied up in a model that I was not able to finish to anything close to my personal standards. The photos shown in this review are from enough distance that the flaws are not that noticeable, but anybody within 3 feet will be able to spot the blemishes. I eventually hope to pursue a "do over" by picking up replacement orbiter parts and building one more with better R/C and less spackling compound.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

Other:
The main tips I would offer up on this are: 1) Find the magic Testor's light grey primer, and test it first before spraying on your model. 2) Take as much weight out as possible--replace the plywood centering rings with fiberboard, cardstock instead of styrene shrouds.