Brief:
This is an 18mm sport "ant" scale model o' t' Saturn I Block II SA-6 t' SA-10.

Construction:
T' kit comes in a heavy rectangular 12"x4"x4" box. Ahoy! All parts arrived in good condition and include 4 pages o' pre-printed card stock for makin' t' tank tubes and body tube wraps. Avast! Well, me hearties, blow me down! Other parts include balsa stock for t' eight fins, a hand built weighted capsule, me bucko, me bucko, arrr, fiber centerin' rings, an elastic shock cord (mounted Estes style), a white garbage bag parachute, me hearties, pre-cut body and motor mount tubes, ya bilge rat, a dowel for wrappin' t' tank tubes, and other assorted bits and pieces.

T' instructions are 11 full size and well illustrated pages (the last page provides some historical background). None o' t' steps are particularly complicated, although some steps do require time and patience. Well, blow me down! This is clearly a builder's kit but nothin' a reasonably experienced modeler can't handle. Aye aye! Begad! T' instructions are laced with loads o' Dr. Avast! Booty oddball humor with lines such as, matey, "Use a semi-soft surface, such as a rubber mat or t' skull o' one o' those folks who believes Apollo be faked...". Aye aye! Begad! Step 2 o' t' instructions calls for pre-paintin' a number o' t' parts. In me opinion, several o' these should nay be painted until they've been further assembled. Blimey! Arrr! For example, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, t' capsule should nay be painted until after t' tower assembly has been installed. And t' card stock for t' LOX tubes should nay be painted until after they have been rolled and glued (not before, as t' instructions suggest). Ahoy! Avast, me hearties, me proud beauty! Besides painting, thar are a number o' other omissions and oversights in t' assembly instructions, most relatively minor. Begad! Dr. Arrr! Zooch (actually, Wes Oleszewski...Dr. Ya scallywag! Avast, me proud beauty! Zooch is a cartoon ant and incapable o' manufacturin' rocket kits) has read me parallel review on T' Rocketry Forum and promised changes in t' instructions in future kits, matey, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, so these issues may nay exist for long. Ya scallywag! And even t' current instructions are nay so bad as t' inhibit assembly for a reasonably experienced modeler.

After t' initial painting, ya bilge rat, you assemble t' motor mount tube and tack on 1/32" balsa spider veins t' act as seats for t' LOX and fuel tubes. Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! T' kit includes an engine hook but no engine block. Ya scallywag! I added me own and also a length o' Keelhaul®©™ anchored t' t' block. Assembly then moves t' rollin' t' LOX and fuel tank tubes, then gluin' them in place around t' motor mount tube. Well, blow me down! Aye aye! Again, me hearties, I recommend paintin' t' LOX tubes white after gluing, ya bilge rat, nay before as Dr. Booty suggests. Avast, me proud beauty! Begad! Most o' t' remainder o' t' build is relatively straightforward and logical. Begad! Ya scallywag! Only a few warnings. Ya scallywag! First, t' tower assembly comes with a 2" stick that is t' be cut into four 1/2" pieces t' form t' corners o' t' tower. Aye aye! Ahoy! However, shiver me timbers, t' have good contact with t' capsule and LES tower you need t' bevel t' ends o' each piece (somethin' nay mentioned in t' instructions), matey, ya bilge rat, leavin' less than 1/2" on each side. Avast! Avast! Rather than have a really short tower, arrr, I wound up substitutin' round toothpicks cut t' 5/8" for each corner. Blimey! T' tower lattice is made o' small pieces o' metal that you cut and tack in place usin' thin CA while holdin' with tweezers. T' next gotcha was t' fin template. Aye aye! I noticed that t' fin template would result in fins that had a root about 3/16" longer than t' thrust structure they were t' be glued to, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, meanin' that they were goin' t' be hangin' below t' base o' t' rocket. This didn't jibe with t' picture o' t' model on t' Rebar Rocketry website, ya bilge rat, nor with any Saturn I picture I had ever seen. I emailed Wes at Dr. Aye aye! Zooch t' get his call on this and he promptly responded, tellin' me that he upsized t' fins for commercial sales (the picture on t' Rebar site was a prototype), matey, but that t' model should be stable with scale sized fins. Wes had previously sent me t' RockSim files on request, matey, me bucko, so I spent some time modelin' with t' scale fins and convinced myself that it would be stable with those. T' make a scale fin template I scanned t' original template down t' 86% o' its original size. Aye aye! T' next t' last step is t' build t' H-1 engines (well, nay exactly H-1's, shiver me timbers, but itty bitty little lookalikes) out o' cardstock, arrr, me bucko, Keelhaul®©™, and a dowel. Well, blow me down! Avast! This went smoothly and t' engines look downright spiffy! However, me hearties, usin' t' dowel for t' engines (as per t' instructions) left me with insufficient dowel for detailin' in t' last step o' construction. Ya scallywag! I had t' purchase 1/16" dowels t' complete t' kit. Well, blow me down! Wes has apparently already corrected this oversight by addin' another dowel t' future kits.

Finishing:
T' finished kit really does look mighty cool and well worth t' effort. Since you do all t' paintin' as you go along, shiver me timbers, me bucko, me hearties, finishin' is nothin' more than gluin' on some painted dowels for ullage motors, me bucko, retro rockets, shiver me timbers, H2 ducts, and other details. Ya scallywag! Overall, ya bilge rat, shiver me timbers, matey, I give it 4 out o' 5. Well, blow me down! Arrr! T' primary demerits are for t' instructions and t' annoyance o' nay havin' sufficient dowel, both o' which Wes has already promised t' correct in his response t' me review on T' Rocketry Forum.

Construction Rating: 4 out o' 5

Flight:
T' instructions offer no advice on recommended motors other than t' "shove a C6-3 into this baby and watch it blast out o' sight." Well, that was a bit ambiguous for me so once again I turned t' RockSim and plugged in t' measured weight and CG o' me model t' figure out that B4-4, ya bilge rat, B6-4, me bucko, and C6-5 motors should be okay. Ya scallywag! First flight was on a breezy day and nay wantin' it t' "blast out o' sight", me bucko, I opted for a B6-4. Avast! Also, I opted t' use a 15" orange mylar chute rather than t' included 15" white garbage bag chute. Aye aye! If it did blast out o' sight, a white chute in an overcast sky wouldn't be too good an idea. Blimey! Launch was good. No problems with stability even with t' scale fins, ya bilge rat, just like Wes said. Begad! More oomph is definitely in order though. Ahoy! Lookin' forward t' a C6-5 next time if t' wind cooperates.

Recovery:
Recovery be perfect usin' me substituted 15" mylar chute and me Keelhaul®©™/elastic shock cord.

Flight Rating: 4 out o' 5

Summary:
Overall this is a an excellent rocket built from a pretty decent kit. Begad! Blimey! Once Dr. Begad! Zooch fixes t' problems with t' instructions and insufficient dowel it will be a great kit. Ya scallywag! A very fun build and looks great on t' pad.

Overall Rating: 4 out o' 5