Brief:
1/64 scale model o' t' workhorse o' t' Soviet space program, ya bilge rat, single stage kit that can be built t' fly on either a single 24mm motor or with an additional four 18mm motors.

T' kit was offered as a limited edition run several years ago and has long since sold out, matey, although if you ask Sandman (his handle on various online forums) nicely, shiver me timbers, you might be able t' talk him into makin' another batch.

This review is based mainly on me first-place NARAM-50 scale entry, me bucko, me bucko, which was a significantly modified version of the kit, me hearties, and included a 24mm motor plus 16 Micromaxx motors in t' boosters, me bucko, fired usin' a customized spider ignition system. Begad! Blimey! I will try t' indicate customizations that are nay part o' t' kit, but t' photos might reflect me model, ya bilge rat, not necessarily what comes out o' t' box.

A photo album o' more detailed pictures, many in high resolution, matey, can be viewed online.

Note that all references t' stages in this review are t' t' actual Soyuz vehicle, nay t' model rocket kit. Blimey! The kit is strictly single stage.

Construction:
T' kit came packaged neatly in a surprisingly small box, but none o' t' fragile parts were even slightly damaged. In part, this be because they were packed usin' small pouches o' dog barf as padding. Avast! Avast! Very cool, ya bilge rat, havin' a rocket kit come with its own recovery insulation.

T' kit does nay include a parts list, but from memory and scannin' over t' model, I think t' main components included:

• Hardwood dowel tower (custom machined)
• Balsa 3rd stage upper module (custom machined)
• BT-60 upper stage body tube
• Balsa 3rd stage lower transition (custom machined) ^**
• Balsa 2nd stage nose cone/cap ^**
• BT-55 second stage main body tube
• 4 BT-60 booster body tubes (lower section)
• 4 Balsa booster nose cones
• 24mm motor mount assembly (metal hook, me bucko, rings, ya bilge rat, tc.)
• 4 18mm motor mount assemblies (no hooks)
• Basswood fin stock
• Laser-cut fiberboard details (interstage truss wrap, ya bilge rat, 3rd stage screens)
• Cardstock shrouds (2nd stage transitions, arrr, strap-on bodies, engine bells)
• Lots o' resin-cast details
• Balsa/Plastruct stock for smaller details
• Silver Monokote adhesive trim
• Waterslide decals
• Estes 18" plastic chute

^** - supplied as a single piece, matey, ya bilge rat, joined by a dowel

This is certainly nay a quick or easy build, me hearties, matey, and I would rate it every bit o' a 5 on t' 1-5 scale for difficulty. T' instructions are fairly well written and definitely from t' perspective o' an experienced modeler, but thar are several areas where you're given general guidelines or suggestions and left t' figure it out on your own. If you need help though, me hearties, Sandman is just an email away and is absolutely amazin' in his willingness t' bend over backwards t' help. Throughout me construction project, we probably swapped more than 50 notes, matey, and thar were numerous instances where he would scramble and make either a replacement or a slightly customized part for me (sometimes free, arrr, sometimes for a reasonable fee).

OK, arrr, at t' start o' construction, me hearties, arrr, you decide whether or nay t' load t' 4 strap-on boosters with functional 18mm motor tubes. If goin' for a single-motor configuration, you can skip a few construction steps but will miss out on the fun o' t' cluster. Begad! In me case, I skipped t' 18mm motor tubes in favor o' a highly customized series o' 6mm clusters, 4 per strap-on.

T' build t' lower sections o' t' strap-ons, you start with a short piece o' BT-60 tube, a pair o' centering rings, and t' optional 18mm motor mount. Well, blow me down! If usin' t' mount, ya bilge rat, matey, t' centerin' rings need t' be carefully marked with alignment ticks, shiver me timbers, as t' center hole for t' motor tube is off center quite a bit, and it's important t' try t' angle these through t' rocket's CG in case you don't light them all (avoids asymmetrical thrust). There's a sliver o' a tube coupler for t' top edge, t' which t' shroud (body) eventually is mounted. Blimey! There's also a very nicely rendered cardstock cover disk for t' aft end that depicts t' locations o' various engine bells and details later in the process. Begad! If usin' t' 18mm cluster option, though, me bucko, this has t' be converted t' a removable assembly as it would cover up t' BT-20 tube.

T' strap-on bodies are formed mostly by cardstock shrouds, which are a lot o' fun t' make. Begad! These are not standard/straight shrouds, me hearties, instead taperin' t' mount t' t' main body tube at an angle. Ya scallywag! Begad! Compoundin' this challenge is the fact that t' nose cones have t' slip tightly into t' open top (from inside/below), me bucko, and are in turn mounted at an opposin' angle t' mate up against a sloped transition section o' t' main body. Yikes! For sport flying, a few gaps here and thar are probably nay a big deal, arrr, but for NARAM scale this be extremely challenging, especially since I chose t' paint these separately before mounting, and therefore could nay really get a good fit check until very late in the process. My fin spans were off as much as 15mm, so I wound up havin' t' make some funky little clamps t' gradually pull t' strap-ons back into position and hold them overnight while I used some thin epoxy t' keep them in place.

Fins, by t' way, are very tiny and cut by hand from basswood per a cardstock pattern. Ahoy! I went a little above and beyond, makin' t' fin mountin' platform from balsa--the fins were detachable on t' real thing, arrr, and nay mounted until the vehicle was at t' pad.

For some additional fun, thar's one other scale-like step you could choose t' take. Ya scallywag! T' aft end o' each strap-on body is nay actually round. Ahoy! This is because thar are fairings that mount t' t' second stage that would butt up against t' strap-on bodies. Aye aye! There's actually a small "step" cut across t' inside edge o' t' BT-60 body tube t' flatten it, which I then sealed off with a piece o' cardstock and a little wedge o' balsa (see photos). Aye aye! Avast! Without doin' that, matey, t' strap-ons will really be stickin' out too far at t' aft end and t' gaps would be pretty glaring, plus I'd imagine that would throw t' thrust angles off a bit o' any motors in t' strap-ons...

T' second stage (main body) is probably t' easiest portion o' t' assembly. Ahoy! T' aft end gets a standard BT-50 motor tube/centerin' rings/metal hook motor assembly. Begad! T' forward end has two opposin' transitions made from paper shrouds, ya bilge rat, me bucko, shiver me timbers, supported by a couple fiberboard centerin' rings. Avast! As mentioned earlier, thar are some resin-cast details for the aft end as well--4 fairings and 4 auxiliary motors.

At this point, you could glue t' strap-ons t' t' second stage, but, as I indicated, me hearties, paintin' could be an issue. Ahoy! T' bottom section o' t' strap-ons is painted orange, t' upper section gray (not white or olive green, a common mistake--see finishin' details), and thar's a silver Monokote wrap that accents them as well. Begad! Maskin' for this, plus tryin' t' apply t' Monokote after they're mounted strikes me as insanely difficult, me bucko, matey, me bucko, especially since t' second stage is all gray (no orange). Ahoy! Ya scallywag! Wait until after everythin' is painted t' assemble t' strap-ons and second stage.

Mountin' o' t' launch lug is one o' those vague parts I had warned about--the instructions simply say to mount a pair o' lugs after t' assembly, but offer no suggestions for where. Aye aye! Aye aye! On somethin' with this many diameters and such complex geometry, arrr, that's nay exactly an easy decision. In me case, I had planned on usin' a fly-away pop lug, so all I needed t' do was drill a couple small holes for a couple pins from me pop lug plate.

Movin' on t' t' interstage truss and upper stage, I started t' really deviate from t' standard kit even more. T' interstage truss is a grid pattern laser-cut from cardboard. Arrr! As such, shiver me timbers, it would nay provide much strength holding the two sections together durin' thrust with only 12 small connection points. Aye aye! Arrr! [Note: All t' early versions o' t' kit, includin' mine, shiver me timbers, had a truss that incorrectly only included 10 sections, matey, nay 12.] T' way Sandman got around this be to leave t' dowel used t' turn t' balsa pieces on t' lathe in them so thar's a strong ¼" round dowel holdin' t' 2nd stage nose cone t' t' 3rd stage. Begad! This also does a great job o' keepin' t' two sections vertically aligned. Aye aye! Unfortunately, thar was no big honkin' pipe connectin' t' stages on t' real vehicle, so I had t' come up with somethin' different. I decided t' cut out t' dowel (leavin' a fair amount o' filling/finishin' work t' hide the results), ditch t' cardboard truss, and make me own from music wire. Ahoy! I used 0.050" wire originally (shown in the detail photos), but found despite me efforts t' bend them as close t' spec as possible, they did nay line up perfectly with t' carefully drilled mountin' holes I had drilled, ya bilge rat, matey, and attemptin' t' bend them after I'd mounted them in one half tended t' break away at t' balsa instead. Ahoy! As a result, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, I scrapped t' music wire and went with 0.050" brass rod instead--same scale accuracy, arrr, shiver me timbers, but much easier t' work with. Well, blow me down! T' finished model photos feature t' brass truss, but I was too behind schedule while buildin' it t' have caught decent shots durin' t' construction.

There's also a pretty cool embossed wrap t' go around t' second stage just below t' interstage truss. Unfortunately for me, ya bilge rat, that wrap had flattened out almost completely after t' years o' storage, and Sandman's tool had pretty much worn down over t' years, arrr, arrr, me hearties, so t' replacements he tried t' make for me were no better.

T' third stage construction, me bucko, aside from t' details, matey, is pretty quick and easy as well. It consists o' a lower section o' balsa (very nicely turned), matey, a short section o' BT-60 (in me case thar was a significant gaffe in the length, which has since corrected on his other kits), me bucko, shiver me timbers, and a balsa nose section that is a work o' art in terms of quality o' t' machining. Ahoy! Blimey! A hardwood dowel tower goes into t' end o' t' nose cone t' complete t' major structure. Before sealin' everythin' up though, you'll want t' add some nose weight t' brin' t' CG into an acceptable position. I dry-fit t' major components together, loaded up motors, and found that t' get a stable CG I needed t' add a couple ounces o' epoxy and lead sinkers, fillin' almost half o' t' body tube cavity.

T' rest o' t' construction is focused on t' ton o' details, most o' which are provided, shiver me timbers, though some are left to t' modeler t' make by hand. Blimey! Begad! If you refer t' Peter Alway's Rockets O' T' World drawing, you'll find most of the details included on his drawin' are reflected in this kit but nay quite all. Ya scallywag! If you have t' more detailed Minakov drawings (available from NARTS in t' Russian Scale Data Pack), shiver me timbers, you'll find that while this kit is dimensionally based upon those drawings, arrr, however, me bucko, t' level o' detail doesn't get down t' those prints. Ya scallywag! That's nay a knock on t' kit but a testimony t' t' amazin' richness o' t' Minakov drawings.

Strap-on details include a couple resin vents per booster and a you-cut-it umbilical and conduit piece. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast! On the aft end, thar's some amazin' detail work involved. I had previously mentioned t' finely drawn paper disk that can be used as a locator. Begad! There's also a small "platform" pattern from paper that creates t' proper cant for the engine bells. Begad! Aye aye! T' engine bells themselves are paper shroud wraps. Avast, me proud beauty! Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! In me case, ya bilge rat, since I was goin' t' have functional motors inside each one, I painted t' inside o' each with a very thin epoxy. Well, blow me down! Arrr! As an added touch, shiver me timbers, matey, I also glued a single wrap o' Keelhaul®©™® thread around each one t' serve as a semi-scale effort t' replicate t' tubin' around them. Ahoy! Blimey! T' final detail on t' aft end be t' auxiliary motor "assembly", me hearties, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, which consists o' a cast resin base plus a pair o' resin motors. The resin parts were o' decent quality, nay t' greatest, me bucko, ya bilge rat, arrr, and do require a bit o' cleanup and void filling.

T' second stage has much less detail work--a set o' 4 cast fairings, ya bilge rat, 4 cast auxiliary motors, 4 embossed butterfly hinges where t' strap-ons are attached, a resin conduit piece, and a you-cut-it balsa conduit.

T' upper stage includes t' most detail. Avast! For starters, thar are t' 4 screens towards t' top o' t' command module. Arrr! These are made from a laser-cut cardboard panel and legs. Well, blow me down! It's solid, me bucko, nay screened, and t' screen effect is achieved by a printed paper pattern that is t' be glued on after painting. Bein' an anal-retentive scale modeler though, me bucko, I searched several stores for real screen that would be t' right size and pattern. Well, blow me down! After strikin' out, I noticed me very old screen door looked about right, however, matey, me bucko, one evenin' when t' wife be out, shiver me timbers, I sliced away a few inches that fit t' bill nicely. My poor dog be t' primary suspect in all household damage, shiver me timbers, deservedly so, arrr, but in this case he took one for his master. T' things we do for our models...

There are about a dozen little resin doodads nay worth gettin' into, ya bilge rat, as well as 4 resin escape motors that go on the tower. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Begad! Blimey! Sandman grouses in t' instructions that technically thar are also supposed t' be 4 more intermediate escape motors about 0.080" diameter plus two 6-motor clusters that are 0.050" diameter, which he was not goin' t' bother with. Begad! Blimey! I did, ya bilge rat, me bucko, ya bilge rat, makin' all out o' various pieces o' toothpicks.

Finishing:
Much like a Saturn, finishin' t' construction only offers a brief opportunity t' sit back, admire your work, and let out a big "Whew!". Begad! Blimey! T' finishin' is no picnic, matey, with a total o' seven different painted colors involved. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! For the most part, me bucko, I used Krylon primer followed by various custom-mixed Testor's enamels sprayed on with a cheapo single-action external mix Badger airbrush.

One note on t' color scheme, me hearties, which will probably look "wrong" t' most casual fans o' t' Soyuz--the most popular photographs o' t' TM series are generally either t' poorly developed shots that look like t' main body is olive green, or launch pad shots that make it look white due t' t' frost on t' fuel tanks. Aye aye! T' actual vehicle was mostly gray, shiver me timbers, supported me a number o' photos o' t' factory floor that show t' gray in good lighting.

Strap-ons were all painted gray, then masked for t' orange. Begad! Fins were painted silver and t' aft end painted stainless. T' nozzles were painted red/copper inside. Well, blow me down! Ya scallywag! After all paint had cured, I applied an adhesive chrome for the silver metallic effect.

Second stage was all gray, me bucko, shiver me timbers, with t' aft end (resin motors) painted steel.

Upper stage starts out with a white base, me bucko, then is masked t' paint t' middle section gray. Arrr! Blimey! More masking, then the lowest portion gets orange paint. Underneath, t' motors are a combination o' silver and copper. Blimey! Begad! Blimey! T' motors, shiver me timbers, by the way, are nay covered in t' standard kit--I made 2 different 4-motor sets out o' paper shrouds from scale drawings.

T' tower is all white, though thar are brown sections on t' larger escape motors, and t' smaller escape motors have red nozzles.

T' kit is designed t' match either t' TM-11 round or t' TM-12 round. Ahoy! T' TM-11 was a mission involvin' live video and a reporter for t' Tokyo Broadcastin' System. Begad! T' TM-12 mission included Britain's first citizen in space, scientist Helen Sharman. Avast! Ahoy! Each flight included t' flags o' t' respective participatin' countries, shiver me timbers, as well as corporate logos for TM-11. Ya scallywag! I decided t' model t' Tokyo Broadcastin' System TM-11 mission, ya bilge rat, and applied t' decals accordingly. T' decals for t' kit were provided by Excelsior Rocketry, which means they were excellent quality but very thin and extremely fragile. Blimey! Aye aye! You do not want t' try applyin' these without first treatin' with Microscale's decal solution, and t' decal instructions make this very clear.

In me kit, matey, matey, t' decals o' t' Sony and TBS logos turned out t' be slightly oversized--not only non-scale, ya bilge rat, arrr, but so large that they would nay fit in t' proper area o' t' rocket. Avast! I didn't discover this until t' day before turn-in for NARAM, ya bilge rat, so had t' scramble t' scan, me bucko, arrr, resize, ya bilge rat, and reprint a set on me own decal paper. Aye aye! Begad! While mine fit better, me hearties, ya bilge rat, they were not nearly as nice as Excelsior's.

Once all t' decals were set, matey, I hit everythin' with 3 coats o' Testor's flat clear dullcoat, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, which nay only helped nail t' scale-like finish, arrr, but also wound up makin' t' decals appear as though they were painted on, perfectly blendin' into t' painted background.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
Before startin' on t' flight report, I should probably include a few words about t' mechanism I used t' achieve the clustered ignition. Avast, me proud beauty! When you start stretchin' beyond 4-6 motors, clip-whips and/or spliced leads is nay a very effective ignition method, me hearties, ya bilge rat, me hearties, with t' current gettin' spread too far/too thin/too inconsistently t' reliably light them all. Begad! A more effective method that's been used, particularly in international competition, shiver me timbers, is "flash pan" ignition, arrr, where you essentially pour some black powder onto a pan, set t' rocket on top o' it, and light t' powder. While it does a good job o' lightin' t' motors, ya bilge rat, it also tends t' char t' aft end o' t' model pretty badly as well.

A few years ago, shiver me timbers, t' Meatball Rocketry team (Josh Tschirhart in particular) introduced what's referred t' as a spidered ignition system. While they didn't invent this, they published an excellent R&D report and set o' plans that made this somethin' that a modeler with average skills could pull off, me bucko, and Josh also changed t' Pyrodex, matey, a much safer and more readily available powder alternative.

A spider is basically a section o' large pipe (in me case, 4" PVC) with a small bowl sealed inside (mounted on top o' a removable centerin' rin' that bolts in). Blimey! There are a series o' small brass tubes runnin' through t' top that line up with t' nozzles o' t' rocket motor cluster. Ya scallywag! T' interior bowl is filled with Pyrodex, me bucko, and when ignited (usin' a regular Estes igniter), shiver me timbers, t' resultin' flamin' particles go shootin' up t' brass tubes (vents), eventually sneakin' up into t' nozzles o' t' black powder motors (this will not work on AP motors) t' light them.

Knowin' only a little about spiders and nay at all sure I could pull off a 17-motor cluster (Josh's spider was for an 8-motor Saturn), much less on t' small-scale MMX motors (Josh had done 18mm and 13mm motors), arrr, ya bilge rat, I turned t' a member o' our local club who had been usin' Josh's basic design for a couple years and enlisted his help. T' guru, Steve Bostwick, me hearties, proceeded t' take me motor mount layout/design and one evenin' later had a basic bench test mock-up ready t' test fire. Blimey! Blimey! We managed t' light 3 o' 4 motors on t' test, arrr, and concluded that t' 4th failed because we didn't have a standoff, me hearties, matey, which meant one motor was sittin' directly on top o' t' vent tube, sealin' it off.

Steve proceeded t' smartly knock off another full-sized version, which also included telescopin' tubin' so that I could individually adjust each tube t' seat properly at t' pad. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! Given t' time crunch I was facin' buildin' the rocket, me hearties, Steve's quick engineering/construction saved me what would have been weeks o' fiddlin' and tweaking, and he basically flattened me learnin' curve.

Fast forward t' NARAM...

For scale, t' total score is composed o' two parts--static, me hearties, which is about 3/4 o' t' total and represents how well t' model was built (finish, accuracy, etc.) and flight, which is about 1/4 o' t' score, matey, and in part based on the complexity o' t' flight (staging, matey, clustering, shiver me timbers, etc. Aye aye! get extra points). Begad! No matter how well you do in static, you can't place in t' event without a safe/stable flight.

When we reviewed t' static scores, I was tied for 4th behind some stunnin' models. Avast! However, with t' potential to max out me flight score with 17 clustered motors, arrr, I felt pretty good about me overall chances as no one else had quite as high a potential flight score. Begad! I wanted t' first "lock" in me score with a qualified single-motor flight though in case somethin' went wrong with t' cluster and t' model was too badly damaged t' fly again. Well, blow me down! As an aside, me motto for t' week, ya bilge rat, which certainly applied t' this event, arrr, was "what could possibly go wrong? [insert big grin here]".

I loaded up an Aerotech D15-4 (reload), wantin' a little more thrust spike and total impulse than t' Estes D12, but also wantin' t' make sure I got it back smartly and safely. Arrr! Avast! Liftoff be actually a bit slow, probably due t' my added nose weight, and t' rocket weathercocked a little bit but generally few fine. Ya scallywag! T' -4, shortest delay available for t' motor, me hearties, was a bit too long and it deployed just after it had turned over. Begad! I had gone with 2-piece recovery and ditched t' cheesy plastic chute for a pair o' 18" nylon chutes. Avast! Other than breakin' off one small resin detail from t' upper stage, t' rocket was unblemished.

As t' rest o' t' day played out, a few o' t' competitors who were behind me in static had passed over me by flyin' more complex flights, so I had t' go for t' cluster for me second (and last) flight. Avast, me proud beauty! Ya scallywag! I had spent t' better part o' 2 hours casually preppin' t' 16 MMX motors (and went with an E9-4 central) and loadin' up t' spider. By the time I hauled everythin' out t' t' pad, I had drawn a pretty decent crowd, shiver me timbers, no doubt in part because I had boasted that havin' nay had any mishaps so far in t' week, this would be me "Best Midwest Qualified Flight Award--Record Trial" (I'm a two-time winner, arrr, and no one has ever won 3 o' this award given every year t' t' most spectacular flight failure at NARAM). Begad! Aye aye! T' sun was bakin' down on me as I fidgeted with t' tubes, me bucko, slidin' t' rocket on, me hearties, off, matey, on again, off again, etc. workin' on t' alignment. Well, me bucko, blow me down! I had somehow managed t' misplace me needle nose pliers, matey, and rather than make another trip back t' t' car 200 yards away, arrr, I pressed on with as well as I could do usin' fingers. Avast, me proud beauty! After about 15 minutes, I was cooked and decided that with t' way t' points system worked, me bucko, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, anythin' more than 11 motors lightin' would achieve a max, matey, so I left a 4-motor cluster set with a nearly 3/8" gap, far too wide for t' spider to reach.

I stepped back, ya bilge rat, raised me paddle t' signal t' t' RSO that I was ready for launch, and said a few prayers. Begad! The countdown hit zero, t' spider lit with a hissin' sound, arrr, arrr, and t' rocket took off skyward (the launch photo credit goes to George Gassaway, me bucko, me bucko, who caught it beautifully). I got a kick out o' t' folks who were tryin' t' shoot pictures o' the cluster in flight, as me simulations show t' MMX's burn out before t' rocket clears he rod, and t' E9-4 does all the real work.

Recovery:
Flight/recovery pros: gettin' a Soyuz stable with such tiny fins is challengin' but this kit is well designed and flies very well.

Flight/recovery cons: given t' superb quality o' every other aspect o' t' kit, matey, me hearties, t' plastic chute is really shockingly bad and a bit undersized, however, certainly it's reasonable t' expect that anyone buildin' this has probably picked up a good quality spare chute or two, me hearties, me hearties, so it's nay that big a deal. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! If any corners needed t' be cut, this be t' corner I'd cut...

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
This is a terrific kit, and while I certainly went a bit over t' top for t' NARAM scale competition, it can be a perfectly fine sport model and would be a fun although somewhat challengin' build. Aye aye! Roachwerks kits are well researched, very accurate, arrr, me hearties, reliable fliers, arrr, and backed by outstandin' customer support.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5