Brief:
Sport scale craftsman's kit o' t' Russian R-7 booster with t' Luna payload. Requires quite a bit o' modelin' skill for a model rocket and I wouldn't recommend it for women, children, or weak persons. Avast, me proud beauty! If you're t' kind o' person who absolutely needs your balsa t' be laser cut and fallin' out o' the balsa sheets already, ya bilge rat, then move along. This kit's nay for you. If you're a man, I mean a "real man's" man, matey, ya bilge rat, me bucko, in t' Hemingway sense o' t' word, arrr, who likes t' build his rockets, please come along for t' ride... Arrr! Ya scallywag!

Construction:
Over a period o' time, I acquired all t' Dr Zooch kits from Rebar Rocketry, a highly recommended vendor, arrr, and t' most recent acquisition bein' t' R-7 Luna. Bein' a huge fan o' t' R-7 booster design, I thought it would be t' most fun to dig into first. Blimey! Blimey! Ya scallywag! Blimey! T' kit came packed in a sturdy 3.5"x3.5"x12" mailer box with all t' parts neatly packed inside. Well, blow me down! Blimey! T' parts included:

• 1 6 7/8" long BT-20 core tube
• 1 3 1/8" long BT-50 upper sustainer tube
• 2 2050 centerin' rings
• 1 Pre weighted balsa nose cone
• 1 Short balsa bulkhead
• 1 Long balsa bulkhead
• 2 Thin wooden dowels
• 2 Sheets balsa stock
• 1 Screw eye
• 1 Engine hook
• 1 Launch lug
• 1 Snap swivel
• 1 24" long 1/8" elastic Shock cord
• 1 Red trash bag parachute
• 1 Strip o' chute reinforcement dots
• 1 Bundle o' bullet proof Keelhaul®©™® (TM) shroud line material
• 1 Tank rollin' dowel
• 3 Card stock wrap sheets
• 1 Set o' instructions.[NOTE: Download t' PDF with the updated instructions for this kit before you start building. Avast! Blimey! Steps 6 and 7 have some changes made that you are made aware o' before you get there.]

All o' t' parts were accounted for. Aye aye! Blimey! Actually, thar were actually more parts than were listed in t' instructions--there were 2 thin dowels and 2 small sheets o' balsa stock rather than one o' each listed) so thar be no shortage o' pieces t' complete t' rocket. Aye aye! Begad! Blimey! Everythin' be o' good quality materials. Well, blow me down! T' nose cone was a bit "fuzzy" with a lot o' open grain. I'm sure that this was due t' t' fact that t' cone is extremely short, shiver me timbers, going from t' tip o' t' cone all t' way out t' a BT-50 diameter in 3/4"--that's an extremely blunt cone bein' cut cross grain. Blimey! Blimey! It requires a bit o' strengthening, filling, me hearties, ya bilge rat, and sandin' t' get a good finish. That's nothing however, compared t' t' amount o' work that's goin' into t' rest o' the build. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' BT-20 and BT-50 tubes are t' only "normal" part o' the build here. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, matey, me proud beauty! Blimey! Even t' BT-50 has t' be cut into 3 shorter tubes. Well, blow me down! You will need good scissors, a straight edge, me bucko, and a new X-Acto blade t' cut out t' following parts from t' cardstock sheets:

• 2050 paper adaptor
• 4 main booster strap-on bodies
• 4 strap-on nose cones
• 17 engine bells!
• 8 booster trim strips
• Various cuttin' and alignment guides
• Fin and booster base templates

Most o' these parts have t' be rolled t' form structural parts, some of which could actually benefit from a little practice if you don't do this kind of modelin' that often. Ya scallywag! T' instructions state that Dr Zooch has graciously provided extras o' t' engine bells for t' base o' t' rocket but I only counted t' required number. Begad! What would actually be beneficial is possibly one extra sheet o' t' strap-on boosters. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! There are two boosters on each sheet. Ahoy! Aye aye! You are given two o' those, so you have enough t' build four boosters, ya bilge rat, but they can be challengin' enough t' build that one extra sheet would be nice t' have just in case it takes one or two t' actually get t' hang o' gettin' these things together (like it took me). Arrr! It may well be worth scannin' t' booster sheet and printin' onto comparable cardstock in order t' cut them out and try then before committin' t' t' real thing. Avast! More on that later though.

If all you've been buildin' has been recent Estes laser cut and slotted stuff with lots o' molded parts, matey, welcome back t' model rocketry from t' Golden Age. Avast, me proud beauty! I haven't had this much fun buildin' a kit since I be in me parent's basement buildin' me original Mars Lander while listenin' t' Murray Saul play "Dynamo Hum" on WMMS when WMMS was worth listenin' to. Well, blow me down!

T' instructions are 6 sheets o' double sided typin' paper profusely illustrated with old-style Estes line drawings. Begad! If you have been keepin' up with t' reviews or are familiar with any o' t' other kits from this manufacturer, you are aware that t' instructions have a certain amount of sarcastic wit about them, me bucko, which you will either love or hate. I find it amusing. Ahoy! (Much like havin' me old buddy Nick D tellin' me how t' build a rocket from scratch.)

Beginnin' assembly is fairly straightforward, startin' with markin' the BT-20 body tube and installin' motor retention. Aye aye! This kit does have an engine hook, me hearties, but no engine block, which is common in other Dr Zooch kits as well. Begad! It saves 20 cents or so in t' kit cost, arrr, and is easily remedied with a razor saw and an expended engine casing. Begad! Next, me hearties, a "tube cuttin' guide" is cut from t' cardstock and wrapped around t' BT-50. T' builder can even cut two pieces off t' BT-50. Ahoy! This is where t' updated instructions come in. Arrr! The pieces should be 3/8" and 1" long, me bucko, me hearties, as opposed t' t' 3/8" and 3/4" with t' included instructions. Ahoy! Then, me bucko, t' longest piece o' BT-50 is attached t' t' forward end o' t' BT-20 tube with t' 2050 centerin' rings and a paper transition that is also cut from t' cardstock. T' next step is the addition o' balsa "spider beams" made from small balsa strips used to align t' strap-on boosters. Aye aye! T' instructions describe them as bein' "no more than 1/8 inch wide and 3 1/4 inches long" and fittin' betwixt the base o' t' transition and t' top o' a reinforcement band that goes under the motor retainer clip. Arrr! Begad! Oddly enough, I only had 2 3/4 inch length betwixt these two points. Begad! Bein' reasonably sure I followed t' instructions fairly exactly and worried that a blunder on me part would screw up me build down t' line, I fired off an email t' Dr Zooch (which was quite promptly answered I might add) and found that t' spider beam length was irrelevant and only for alignment purposes. Avast, me proud beauty! Ahoy! I think that Dr Zooch built his and wrote t' instructions afterwards, matey, relyin' on a "best guess" estimate for t' size o' this particular aspect o' t' kit. Arrr! Aye aye! I based this on t' fact that for all the templates and alignment guides included on t' cardstock, shiver me timbers, thar was no pattern for t' spider beams themselves. Blimey! That question bein' answered, I continued with my build.

Then comes t' cuttin' and rollin' o' strap-on parts. This is where it gets a little tougher if you haven't done this much before. Arrr! I found some good tips on paper modelin' on T' Rocketry Forum about gettin' t' parts pre-curled, most notably usin' t' tank rollin' dowel like a rollin' pin, with t' part to be curled on a pliable yet moderately firm surface like a neoprene mouse pad. It takes quite a bit o' pressure but t' prepared parts will have enough curl in them t' make this part o' t' job easier--at least for t' open ended cone that be t' main body o' t' strap-on. Ya scallywag! I used me regular Elmers's wood glue on the glue tab, which is quite large and dries quite hard. Aye aye! Begad! If t' paper hasn't been pre-curled quite enough t' hold it's shape, ya bilge rat, arrr, you will end up with a less than circular cross section through t' booster. Begad! Well, blow me down! If I were t' do it again, I would probably cut t' glue tabs off completely and glue them on t' back of the cones usin' rubber cement as described in t' instructions for t' Apogee Saturn V kit and detailed in the Apogee "Peak o' Flight" newsletter in t' article about makin' your own paper transitions. Aye aye! Begad! T' rubber cement stays flexible and allows for a smooth, pliable curve through t' glued area. Begad! T' smaller, fully closed cones at the forward end o' t' boosters come t' a sharp point and are a true pain in the neck t' roll and glue smoothly. Arrr! Blimey! Rubber cement would help here, me bucko, as well as a few extras o' these parts t' allow for t' foul ups that will likely occur, especially since I have fingers t' size o' Twinkies. Balsa disks that are cut from t' balsa stock are glued into t' base o' t' cones after assembly for both strength and roundness. Avast, me proud beauty! T' circle template seemed t' be a little on the large side, so they needed t' be sanded down a little t' fit. A good pointer here would be t' sand a bevel onto t' edge o' t' disk (instead o' straight sides) since you're goin' t' be insertin' it into a cone rather than something with parallel sides like a body tube. Ya scallywag! It will seat better and give less o' a gap t' fill around t' edges o' t' disk.

Next is attachin' t' strap-ons t' t' main body and t' slightly oversized fins t' t' strap-ons. This is easy enough with t' included templates and the spider beams are a great help in keepin' t' boosters aligned and free from rollin' out o' position. Ya scallywag! Once those are dried, cut out and roll t' 16 engine bells then glue them t' t' bottom o' t' strap-ons. Begad! Seein' as t' engine bells may be t' first thin' t' hit t' ground, I wicked in some thin CA for strength after attachin' them. Avast, me proud beauty! Wes also suggests t' same for t' fins.

T' interstage/nosecone section is next. Begad! A thin dowel is cut into 1/2 inch pieces with an angle sanded into t' end then glued into 5 "V" shapes. Blimey! These are then glued onto a tube/bulkhead part usin' a clever alignment sleeve, which has been cut and rolled from one o' the cardstock sheets. Begad! T' result is fine for a fun-scale rocket (and this kit is far from true scale), shiver me timbers, but if I were t' do it again, I would probably get or make thinner dowels and do t' math t' come up with t' proper number of trusses. Avast! T' same alignment guide is used t' glue t' second stage section on which pretty much completes t' construction o' t' rocket, save for the addition o' t' recovery system. Dr Zooch details usin' one o' t' Estes-style three fold shock cord mounts, arrr, gluin' it "to t' inner wall o' t' main body tube about one inch down." I strongly advise against this as the BT-50 tube at t' forward end is only 1" long, and 7/8" o' this is used by t' shoulder o' t' nose assembly. Ahoy! Ya scallywag! I opted t' make an approximation of the old MPC style punched cardstock mount, me bucko, with t' shock cord laced through this, me hearties, and mounted it down into t' T-20 tube as far as me pinky finger could reach. Blimey! It may have been smarter t' do a Keelhaul®©™® anchor t' a thrust ring, shiver me timbers, but I be too lazy t' get off me butt and go find one. I hope I don't regret that decision. Aye aye! T' 15" trash bag chute is then assembled and construction is complete. Begad! Aye aye! I sat back, me hearties, shiver me timbers, looked at t' rocket, and decided t' add a few details t' make it look cooler. Avast! As me kit came with an extra dowel, shiver me timbers, I used it, some scrap balsa, some pieces o' coffee stir stick, and leftover cardstock t' make some raised panels, retro rockets, ya bilge rat, and equipment tunnels t' dress me model up a bit.

Finishing:
There isn't much balsa t' fill, just t' 4 small fins and t' nose cone. I covered t' circles at t' base o' t' booster cones with wood glue when I glued on t' engine bells, me bucko, so those didn't require any filling. Aye aye! Aye aye! Dr Zooch provides you with two different paint schemes, matey, t' "perceived" color scheme (from incorrectly color balanced cold-war era photographs) and the "actual" color scheme. I chose t' incorrect color scheme, matey, sort of. I based t' entire thin' out with gray primer, arrr, masked off t' small section that was t' remain gray, arrr, matey, then hit it with olive drab. Blimey! Arrr! T' finished paint job looked a little dull, so I dusted it just slightly with a bit o' Krylon Crystal Clear just t' kick a few highlights, and was pretty satisfied with t' results. Aye aye! There were no decals included with t' kit.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
Dr Zooch, without gettin' too specific, shiver me timbers, only recommends B and C motors. Arrr! Blimey! As I didn't have access t' a regular club launch field and had t' settle for a local city park surrounded by trees and a public pool, I settled for a B6-4, which I figured would be a good flight. Ahoy! Blimey! Model was prepped usin' dog barf for wadding. Packin' t' chute was a bit on t' tight side as you really need t' get it through t' BT-50 upper tube and into t' BT-20 lower body tube in order t' get the nose cone on. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! On a B6-4, shiver me timbers, t' flight was pleasantly peppy, me hearties, ya bilge rat, as t' model builds fairly light. Since I be pretty close and me deadlights aren't calibrated that well, ya bilge rat, I'd say it hit betwixt 200-300 feet conservatively speaking. Blimey! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! It really ought t' rip on a C engine. Flight was very straight and t' 15 inch chute brought it back fairly close t' t' pad. It does descend fairly quickly but since it landed on grass, shiver me timbers, thar was no damage. Blimey! Blimey! A couple o' folks who watched me flight commented on t' unique appearance o' t' rocket as all they were familiar with be t' "Questes" tube and fins type rockets. Overall it be a very good flight and I will be lookin' forward t' launching again in t' future. Begad! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey!

Recovery:
PROs: Nice straight flight. Arrr! Good flyer.

CONs: Chute could be a little larger, if thar was enough room t' pack it in there.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
PROs: This is a builder's kit. Begad! It brings back t' fun you had when you were a kid and actually had t' build a rocket, ya bilge rat, rather than toss a tube o' glue into t' box, shake it a couple o' times, ya bilge rat, and pour out a completed rocket. It doesn't look like every other rocket on t' pad. Begad! It was a fun build and I look forward t' gettin' another and possibly bashin' it into a Vostok.

CONs: Could use an extra sheet or two o' t' cardstock parts as they can be a bear t' roll into shape without screwin' up a part or two and they can't be that expensive t' include. Begad! Blimey! Blimey! Maybe a sheet o' hints on cardstock model building or at least a web link t' a card model builder's hints and tips page might be in order. Aye aye! They also may want t' rethink t' shock cord attachment instructions.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5