Brief:
This is another fine ant-scale offering by Dr. Zooch. I believe this is the only commercially available model of the SA-5 version of the Saturn 1. It is an excellent value and a great flyer. Scale modelers will be impressed by the level of detail.

Construction:
Please see Jeff Ridder's Saturn 1 Block II (SA-6-SA-10) and my Saturn 1B review for more details on the parts list and construction notes. This review will mainly just point out the key differences between this and the regular 1B.

Instructions start off with the tip to pre-paint the upper tubes and transition, although I'd suggest painting the upper tube and nose cone all at once since the upper tube is half black and the cone is black. This takes care of just about all the painting in one shot other than the fins.

The motor tube and fuel tank assembly is the same as the other Saturn 1's. The Block II and SA-5 though, lose the S-IVB stage that is on the 1B, which means the BT-60 upper tube is replaced by a BT-55. This is a bit of a pain to mount on the top of the 20/60 centering ring on the fuel tank assembly, and if you're not careful, the shroud that trims this won't look or fit right. You might want to use a 20/55 centering ring rather than trying to mark the guidelines.

Fins are oversized in some of these kits. If yours have longer root edges than the BT-60 lower thrust tube, scale them down like Jeff did. The big ones, which I inadvertently used, look a bit ugly.

The details on this kit take a while since they are almost all cut from dowels or balsa stock and then sanded to shape/size. There are 4 retro rockets that are pre-made and don't need any additional work other than painting.

I would have preferred to see more instructions regarding the details for orientation of the wraps, color for the details, and dimensions for positioning the details.

Finishing:
Finishing is a breeze on these kits, as most of the color scheme is handled through the pre-printed wraps.

Construction Rating: 4 out of 5

Flight:
I flew this one right on the heels of my Block II and chose a C6-3. It flew at a slight angle, probably weathercocking, and had a bit of a spin. (I suspect one fin is slightly canted.) Deployment was perfectly timed.

Recovery:
The white garbage bag chute worked, however, I will be substituting a brightly colored mylar chute in the future and I believe Dr. Zooch kits are now coming with red garbage bag chutes instead.

The chute is the perfect size for this rocket, as it drifted only a hundred yards or so in 6-7 mph winds and landed softly with zero damage.

Flight Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
I can't say enough about these kits. If you have any interest at all in scale rocketry, pick one up. They're cheap ($25 retail and often found for $19.95), fly great, and have a lot of kit for the money.

The only con I have is that scale nuts will have to consult other reference materials for the details since they won't be able to sleep at night wondering whether the ullage motors are silver or white and whether or not they are positioned exactly right.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5