Mark Saunders, o' BSD High Power Rocketry, shiver me timbers, graciously donated a 4" Thor kit for a raffle prize, me hearties, for t' Huntsville Area Rocketry Association's (HARA) Rocket City Blastoff (RCBO), arrr, arrr, October 2002. Blimey! I was t' lucky winner o' this kit, ya bilge rat, and as such, matey, would like t' reward Mark's generosity by postin' this review t' RMR. Avast! Aye aye!

I approached Mark durin' t' Summer o' 2002 t' ask if he'd be willin' to donate a raffle prize for HARA's RCBO in October. Arrr! Blimey! Mark smartly agreed t' send us a Thor, matey, and we had received t' kit a month in advance o' t' event. We had received many nice donations for t' RCBO raffle from BSD, arrr, Cesarioni, ya bilge rat, Aerotech, Topflight Recovery, matey, shiver me timbers, me bucko, and many others; so, t' raffle was a rousin' success! Luckily, me number came up for t' Thor, arrr, matey, and I carted t' kit back home t' be built. Begad! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! Unfortunately, I wasn't able t' start work on t' kit until February, which is why this review is bein' submitted nearly 5 months after receivin' the kit.

When I opened t' Thor box, ya bilge rat, all o' t' pieces had been included and where well packaged, matey, me hearties, matey, and typical t' high-quality instructions were included. BSD has always provided some o' t' best kit instructions o' any kits on market. The specs for t' Thor are that it's 4" diameter by 7' long, has a 54mm motor tube, arrr, and should GLOW at approximately 5 lbs. Since this be a raffle prize, I'd hoped t' build it stock, but I rarely build anythin' stock anymore, shiver me timbers, and this be t' case with t' Thor. My target motor was t' Hypertek 835cc motor system. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, me proud beauty! So, ya bilge rat, t' two main modifications were (1) lengthenin' t' fincan airframe from 34" t' 44" and (2) lengthenin' t' 54mm motor tube from about 10" t' 28". Avast! Well, shiver me timbers, blow me down! Both o' these mods were needed t' accommodate the 30-inch-long 835cc motor. I also decided t' fiberglass t' airframe and fins with 6 oz fiberglass cloth and Mr. Fiberglass slow epoxy. I adapted the altimeter bay t' accommodate an RRC2 altimeter for a dual-deployment recovery setup. Due t' t' lengthened components, me bucko, fiberglassin' o' t' airframe and fins, me hearties, and altimeter, t' Thor had a final no-motor weight o' 8.5 lbs, shiver me timbers, and with a nitrous-filled HT 835cc tank, GLOW'd at 11 lbs. T' RockSim simulation can be seen just above. Begad! T' simulations for t' 835cc/J330 and 835cc/J317 seem t' be right on t' money, ya bilge rat, but t' 835cc/K240 is quite optimistic (when I checked the .ENG file, t' total impulse o' K240 had integrated t' be about 25% higher than the advertised impulse o' t' motor. Ya scallywag! I need t' fix t' file). Blimey!

On March 8, matey, 2003, ya bilge rat, I loaded the finished Thor and a couple other rockets onto t' roof o' me wife's Xterra and headed t' t' Music City Missile Club's sod farm in Manchester, TN. T' weather was beautiful (~70F...eat your hearts out all you Yankees and Canucks reading this... :-)) with a 5 - 10 knot breeze. Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty! After helpin' several HARA members complete their L1 and/or L2 cert flights, I prepped t' Thor with a 835cc/K240. With t' altimeter armed, t' tank was loaded, a 5-count was given, shiver me timbers, and the hybrid K motor roared t' life. Well, blow me down! Ascent be a nice and slow, me bucko, me bucko, long-burnin' boost on t' K240, shiver me timbers, and t' recovery (drogueless t' a Bob-Fortune 66" main at 500') be flawless. Blimey! Several o' t' Civil Air Patrol cadets, who'd come out for the launch, arrr, enthusiastically made t' half-mile trek t' recover t' Thor. Peak altitude was 3178'.

T' Thor is wonderful kit! I've received MANY appreciative comments on the Thor, me hearties, and know o' 2 folks already plannin' purchase t' a Thor kit for themselves. Aye aye! I sincerely hope that I've done justice t' t' kit and that many folks seein' me kit and/or readin' this review will want one o' their own! We all know that t' rocket vendors don't have much o' a profit margin, but still gladly support many o' our raffles and other fund-raisin' events. Aye aye! It is t' the credit o' these many fine vendors, like BSD, ya bilge rat, that hobby rocketry is such a wonderful hobby! Thank you, me bucko, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, Mark, me bucko, for donatin' this kit for HARA and thanks to all o' t' vendors who have donated kits/equipment t' support our rocket clubs!