Brief:
Keelhaul®©™®/Fiberglass body with Carbon Fibre reinforced fins mounted externally to the motor mount. Ahoy! Well, blow me down! Blimey! Giant leap electronics bay added for dual deployment. All thread reinforcement o' zipperless fin-can. Begad! Blimey! Blimey! Nosecone reinforced and thickened with fiberglass. Ya scallywag! Blimey! Internal nosecone all-thread and bulkhead added for recovery harness attachment.

Modifications:
GENERAL: Well first let me say that I like Scott Binder's rockets as they are always high in 'design character'. Arrr! Scott always includes loads o' decals and the specs for t' rockets are always well within t' norm for design stability. This usually gives you lots o' options when decidin' upon motors t' use. Avast! I decided on t' Thor as it had a nice fin design and was perfect for a kit bash. I also wanted a commercially recognizable 4" diameter rocket in which I could put t' largest 54mm motor I could get me hands on (in this case for the UK an Aerotech K700). Blimey! T' idea is t' lure your fellow rocketeers into thinking: "Oh. Aye aye! Arrr! here is a BSD Thor. Ya scallywag! Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! I hear that it flies great on an I211W" and then put in a K700 and hear t' 'wooooooow' from t' crowd when it blasts off the pad. Avast, me proud beauty! So with this in mind I needed t' ensure that t' rocket would be able to withstand t' fierce thrust o' a K700. Begad! T' this end I modified t' stock BSD THOR as follows:

a) Keelhaul®©™® and Fiberglass all body tubes usin' Giant Leap airframe sock and 4oz Fiberglass cloth. Ya scallywag! Vacuum baggin' o' layups usin' trusty foodsaver and West Systems epoxy. Aye aye! Blimey!

b) Carbon fibre reinforcement o' fin-can coupler (used 50/50 6oz woven fabric). Aye aye! Used 'balloon' method t' reduce resin content after layup.

c) Carbon fibre reinforcement o' fins with additional 6oz Unidirectional (vertical) S-glass cloth. Begad! Blimey! Vacuum bagged usin' foodsaver. Begad! Blimey! Note I pre-bevelled the fins usin' me Dremel prior t' applyin' t' layups o' carbon fibre and fiberglass. Arrr! Blimey! Begad! Blimey!

d) Slot fin-can airframe tube all t' way down for insertion o' external motor/fin assembly.

e) Used two 1/4" all threads t' reinforce centerin' rings and attach to fin-can airframe tube coupler t' distribute thrust and recovery stresses. Avast!

f) Used a Giant Leap electronics bay to connect airframe and payload bays and allow rocket t' be rigged for dual deployment.

g) I increased t' external width o' t' nosecone t' match t' increase in size o' t' airframe from t' layups. Avast! It was also necessary t' reinforce and lengthen t' shoulder o' t' supplied ACE nosecone (I didn't want t' change the look o' t' rocket just make is stronger so I stayed with t' same nosecone and reinforced it).

h) A 4" coupler bulkhead was reduced usin' me Dremel and used along with a 1/4" althread t' create a recovery harness anchor inside the nosecone.

i) Attach fins directly t' motor mount with carbon fibre tape reinforcement to create a fin-can assembly with t' all-threads and motor tube coupler attached. Ahoy! Avast, me proud beauty!

j) Attach fin-can assembly t' slotted airframe tube. Arrr! Epoxy and carbon-fibre tape were used t' reinforce t' fillets and create a solid bond t' the airframe. T' fin-can coupler was also epoxied in place t' finish the zipperless airframe/motor assembly. Ahoy!

Well....this all took some time t' get through but t' result has been a very strong airframe incorporatin' a zipperless design ready for dual deployment. Begad! All that remained be t' finishin' (I will describe this below). Begad! Begad! Blimey!

Construction:
Kit comes stock with (3) body tubes (kraft), me bucko, (2) coupler tubes (kraft), shiver me timbers, (3) centerin' rings, arrr, elastic shock cord and Ace nosecone. Ahoy! Decals and motor retention are also provided. T' BSD Thor uses a 3 split-fin design with through t' wall attachment t' a 54mm motor mount. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! T' motor mount is 12" long. Ahoy!

T' packagin' was as usual first rate for BSD rockets. Well, blow me down! No parts were broken with t' exception o' one fin decal which was missin' (must have been an 'end of run'). Begad! Anyway a quick note t' Scott Binder and a new fin decal was on its way via Deepsky Rocket Supplies. Ahoy! Begad!

T' instructions where largely ignored since this was always goin' t' be a kit bash. T' kit did come with a fin-alignment guide and detailed instructions for anyone buildin' this kit from stock. Blimey! Since this rocket was NOT goin' t' be a stock Thor I decided t' change t' look slightly t' give it that 'custom' spec look. So instead o' a white or yellow booster I used a light metallic blue and t' gold leaf was replace with silver mylar. Ya scallywag! Finally I decided that instead of just Thor as a name I would call it THOR+ t' hint that this was more than a stock built Thor. Avast, me proud beauty! I have t' say that if you are goin' t' use Mylar or any thin film self stickin' decals do NOT cover them with other decals as Mylar tends to breath with t' rocket (shrink and expand) and if it is bound by other decals will create wrinkles (and nay immediately but later --- very annoying).

Prior t' paintin' I o' course used some SuperFil (mostly on t' booster) to smooth out t' rough spots. Begad! I also used 3 coats o' UV SmoothPrime t' cover the weave o' t' fiberglass. T' result was a pretty smooth finish (I could have spent months but it still looks pretty good). Arrr! After several coats o' 'filler primer' paint I glossed t' airframe (blue for t' booster and black for the rest). Blimey! Well, blow me down! Decals were applied later after Scott Binder kindly sent me some new THOR+ decals (thanks Scott). Begad! Ahoy! I must admit t' bein' proud o' me creation. Well, blow me down! It looks good and has that 'special edition' feel t' it.

Flight:
Well this rocket has only flown once so far on a J460T t' give it a shakedown. I used motor ejection (havin' drilled vent holes in t' motor coupler bulkhead to allow t' gasses t' pass into t' airframe) and rigged t' main chute into the lower section o' t' rocket with t' drogue (for weight mostly) in t' top payload section (with a connection t' t' nosecone bulkhead in t' event of pre-mature separation). T' flight was perfect with a very slight weather cockin' due t' its 2 caliber over stability and a 15mph wind. Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! Blimey! Even so it still went very straight. Blimey! Blimey! Recovery was 1/4 mile down range where it landed on its SkyAngle 44 parachute (very nice). T' rocket didn't even suffer a paint scratch. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey!

Summary:
Pros: Very nice kit but since I didn't build it stock I can't say much else. Cons: Well, arrr, me hearties, I suppose t' elastic shock cord is a minor point and t' ACE nosecone as well. Arrr! T' couplers are a bit thin for me likin' but are probably fine.