Saturn V Kits?

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Green Jello

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Hey guys,

I've seen many different kits on this forum of the Saturn V. Many of them are OOP. I was wondering what is the best Saturn V kit available currently? I was hoping for something that could fly on MPR or HPR motors.

Thanks.


List of Kits I've Found So Far:
- Apogee
- Dr. Zooch
- Sirius
- Sheri's Hot Rockets
 
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The Sirius Rocketry 1/64 model is still available. It's pricey, but an awesome-looking model.


https://www.siriusrocketry.com/Saturn51.htm


Sheri's Hot Rockets 1/48 version - 7 feet plus -- is available through Red Arrow Hobbies. I think that's the largest version currently on the market. Also awesome looking.

https://www.cjsaviation.com/SATV1.html


EDIT: Whoops!! I see you beat me to it!


While Googling, I am sure you probably saw that the Estes Sat V, while OOP, is not too hard to find on eBay and other places online. The going price appears to be somewhere in the $60 range.

Many people have adapted the Estes model to MPR flying. It's a big draggy model and really none of the Estes BP motors are good to fly it (D12 doesn't have enough oomph and E12, uhmmm...)
 
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From what I understand, if you define fidelity to scale your measure of "best", then ...

1) Sirius

2) Apogee

3) Estes

Just my :2:

Greg
 
These all look like some pretty cool kits.

When I was a kid in the early 70's my grandmother bought my brother and I each a kit that I think was supposed to be a Saturn V. (Not 100% sure, but I remember thinking of it as a "moon rocket.") It really was not a very accurate scale model. It seem like it did not have any tube diameter transitions --- just a very fat tube all the way up to a molded plastic capsule nosecone with a tower and escape rocket on top of that. It seems like there were lots of stickers and stick-on wraps to complete the details. Many molded plastic parts.

This was by far the biggest model rocket I had ever seen up to that point. It flew on a cluster of 3 x 18mm engines --- the first cluster I ever saw, and my dad had to modify the launch controller to add more alligator clips. This also turned out to be one of our favorite rockets to fly due to spectacular crashes. The very first flight was flawless, with all 3 engines lighting (lots of noise and smoke), the rocket flying perfectly straight, ejection at apogee, with the rocket body and the capsule coming down on separate chutes, as designed. Perfect! I don't know if we ever saw another perfect flight after that. Typically only 2 engines would light, and the rocket would arc over and crash down range. We flew them for a long time with the escape towers removed after they had been smashed so many times. Occasionally only 1 engine would light and the rocket would corkscrew up to about 10 feet, flop over on the ground and smoke until ejection. I think one of them eventually did the flop and smoke routine and then caught fire, and the other just crashed so many times it was smashed beyond repair.

I have no idea who manufactured that model or even for certain it was a Saturn V, but I certainly enjoyed flying it as a kid!
 
If you want a MPR Saturn then Estes or Apogee.
If you want HPR then Sirius or Red Arrow/SHR.

I have a Sirius kit waiting to be built. Excellent quality. You won't be disappointed if you choose that route.

The Eates kit is a fun build (see Fred's build thread) and the price is right. I would recommend making sure you can put a 24 mm aerotech motor in it as the D12 is a scary flight.
 
These all look like some pretty cool kits.

When I was a kid in the early 70's my grandmother bought my brother and I each a kit that I think was supposed to be a Saturn V. (Not 100% sure, but I remember thinking of it as a "moon rocket.") It really was not a very accurate scale model. It seem like it did not have any tube diameter transitions --- just a very fat tube all the way up to a molded plastic capsule nosecone with a tower and escape rocket on top of that. It seems like there were lots of stickers and stick-on wraps to complete the details. Many molded plastic parts.

This was by far the biggest model rocket I had ever seen up to that point. It flew on a cluster of 3 x 18mm engines --- the first cluster I ever saw, and my dad had to modify the launch controller to add more alligator clips. This also turned out to be one of our favorite rockets to fly due to spectacular crashes. The very first flight was flawless, with all 3 engines lighting (lots of noise and smoke), the rocket flying perfectly straight, ejection at apogee, with the rocket body and the capsule coming down on separate chutes, as designed. Perfect! I don't know if we ever saw another perfect flight after that. Typically only 2 engines would light, and the rocket would arc over and crash down range. We flew them for a long time with the escape towers removed after they had been smashed so many times. Occasionally only 1 engine would light and the rocket would corkscrew up to about 10 feet, flop over on the ground and smoke until ejection. I think one of them eventually did the flop and smoke routine and then caught fire, and the other just crashed so many times it was smashed beyond repair.

I have no idea who manufactured that model or even for certain it was a Saturn V, but I certainly enjoyed flying it as a kid!


Hmmm. Doesn't sound like either the Estes or Centuri kits -- those both have multiple tube transitions that are pretty big parts of construction, I would think you would remember it. Also both were fairly accurate scale kits (the Centuri somewhat better).

They did have a molded plastic Apollo CM and escape tower, plastic wraps for the corrugation sections and they also flew on 3x 18 mm power (or interchangeably on D/E power) so OTOH I suppose it might have been one of them. In any case I would think if you had less than full ignition on the 3-motor clusters you would have had big problems.
 
I have flown my Estes Saturn V exclusively on Aerotech E15-4W motors with good results.

My flight-converted 1:96 scale papercraft Saturn Vs fly well on D12-3s with clean 3/16" rods.
 
Hey guys,

I've seen many different kits on this forum of the Saturn V. Many of them are OOP. I was wondering what is the best Saturn V kit available currently? I was hoping for something that could fly on MPR or HPR motors.

I was just thinking of posting this same question as this is one of the rockets I am looking forward to building and my research keeps coming back to the Sirius and Red Arrow/SHR kits. I am currently leaning towards the SHR SV from Red Arrow as I have conversations with Dave from Red Arrow and he seems very open to modifying the kit to your specs, which is appealing to me.

But I have to finish the 3 kits I have on the go then start the other 2, still in their box before I pick up a new kit...I know I have a problem.
 
One of the best Saturn V kits is the Peter Alway model made by BMS.

The fit and intricacies of the laser cut parts was simply amazing.

I have a very early model i bought right from Peter so if they don't make any more I'm kind of scared to open it.

It's out of production but if we nag bill at BMS he may make more.
 
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