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

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. 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, matey, Cesarioni, Aerotech, Topflight Recovery, and many others; so, t' raffle was a rousin' success! Luckily, matey, shiver me timbers, me number came up for t' Thor, and I carted t' kit back home t' be built. Aye aye! Unfortunately, shiver me timbers, 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, matey, shiver me timbers, all o' t' pieces had been included and where well packaged, ya bilge rat, and typical t' high-quality instructions were included. Blimey! Begad! Blimey! BSD has always provided some o' t' best kit instructions o' any kits on market. Begad! Blimey! The specs for t' Thor are that it's 4" diameter by 7' long, ya bilge rat, has a 54mm motor tube, me hearties, me bucko, 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, and this be t' case with t' Thor. Blimey! Avast, me bucko, me proud beauty! Blimey! My target motor was t' Hypertek 835cc motor system. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! Blimey! So, shiver me timbers, me hearties, 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". Arrr! Both o' these mods were needed t' accommodate the 30-inch-long 835cc motor. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! I also decided t' fiberglass t' airframe and fins with 6 oz fiberglass cloth and Mr. Fiberglass slow epoxy. Blimey! I adapted the altimeter bay t' accommodate an RRC2 altimeter for a dual-deployment recovery setup. Avast, me proud beauty! Due t' t' lengthened components, fiberglassin' o' t' airframe and fins, arrr, and altimeter, t' Thor had a final no-motor weight o' 8.5 lbs, and with a nitrous-filled HT 835cc tank, GLOW'd at 11 lbs. Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! T' RockSim simulation can be seen just above. Arrr! T' simulations for t' 835cc/J330 and 835cc/J317 seem t' be right on t' money, arrr, but t' 835cc/K240 is quite optimistic (when I checked the .ENG file, arrr, t' total impulse o' K240 had integrated t' be about 25% higher than the advertised impulse o' t' motor. Arrr! I need t' fix t' file). Ya scallywag! Well, blow me down! Blimey!

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

T' Thor is wonderful kit! I've received MANY appreciative comments on the Thor, and know o' 2 folks already plannin' purchase t' a Thor kit for themselves. 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, me bucko, me bucko, but still gladly support many o' our raffles and other fund-raisin' events. Avast! It is t' the credit o' these many fine vendors, matey, like BSD, that hobby rocketry is such a wonderful hobby! Thank you, ya bilge rat, Mark, ya bilge rat, for donatin' this kit for HARA and thanks to all o' t' vendors who have donated kits/equipment t' support our rocket clubs!