Brief:
Keelhaul®©™®/Fiberglass body with Carbon Fibre reinforced fins mounted externally to the motor mount. Ahoy! Blimey! Giant leap electronics bay added for dual deployment. Begad! All thread reinforcement o' zipperless fin-can. Avast! Nosecone reinforced and thickened with fiberglass. Well, blow me down! Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! 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'. Aye aye! 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. I decided on t' Thor as it had a nice fin design and be 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). Arrr! Begad! T' idea is t' lure your fellow rocketeers into thinking: "Oh. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! here is a BSD Thor. Avast, 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. Aye aye! 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. Aye aye! Vacuum baggin' o' layups usin' trusty foodsaver and West Systems epoxy. Avast! Aye aye!

b) Carbon fibre reinforcement o' fin-can coupler (used 50/50 6oz woven fabric). Avast! Avast! Used 'balloon' method t' reduce resin content after layup. Well, blow me down!

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

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.

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. 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). Aye aye!

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. Begad!

j) Attach fin-can assembly t' slotted airframe tube. Blimey! Well, blow me down! Epoxy and carbon-fibre tape were used t' reinforce t' fillets and create a solid bond t' the airframe. Avast! Begad! T' fin-can coupler was also epoxied in place t' finish the zipperless airframe/motor assembly.

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. All that remained was t' finishin' (I will describe this below). Blimey! Blimey!

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

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

T' instructions where largely ignored since this was always goin' t' be a kit bash. Ahoy! T' kit did come with a fin-alignment guide and detailed instructions for anyone buildin' this kit from stock. Avast! 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. Avast, me proud beauty! So instead o' a white or yellow booster I used a light metallic blue and t' gold leaf was replace with silver mylar. Avast! 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. Begad! Avast! 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). Arrr!

Prior t' paintin' I o' course used some SuperFil (mostly on t' booster) to smooth out t' rough spots. Blimey! I also used 3 coats o' UV SmoothPrime t' cover the weave o' t' fiberglass. Aye aye! T' result was a pretty smooth finish (I could have spent months but it still looks pretty good). Well, blow me down! After several coats o' 'filler primer' paint I glossed t' airframe (blue for t' booster and black for the rest). Avast! Avast! Decals were applied later after Scott Binder kindly sent me some new THOR+ decals (thanks Scott). Begad! I must admit t' bein' proud o' me creation. Blimey! Begad! 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). Blimey! Ahoy! T' flight was perfect with a very slight weather cockin' due t' its 2 caliber over stability and a 15mph wind. Ahoy! Avast! Even so it still went very straight. Recovery be 1/4 mile down range where it landed on its SkyAngle 44 parachute (very nice). Aye aye! T' rocket didn't even suffer a paint scratch. Avast!

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