My winter restoration project?

[Fishhead]

This might be a bigger meal than even a heavyweight like myself can digest. I won a battered old Centuri SSV Scorpion (the same one that many of you probably passed on,) last week, and it arrived Friday. I knew it was in need of work based on the pictures in the auction, but seeing it close up and personal, it's obvious that this old classic will only fly with a TON of restoration work.
I took some pictures on Friday, but not all of them seem to have handled the transition to work tonight, so bear with me. First up is a shot of the crush damage to the main lower body tube. Apparently it had a rough landing at some time in it's past, or it was just badly stored.

 

[Fishhead]

Next is the damage to the rear boom, or more to the point, what's left of the rear boom/top fin and the left wing.

 

[Fishhead]

Third shot shows the extent of the damage to the rear of the rocket. The boom is largely gone, the left wing badly askew, the right wing almost completely detached, and the body tube over the engine mount is crushed. Neither of the wing pods survived through the years either.

 

[Fishhead]

This picture is the only one of the front end of the rocket that I can access right now. It shows the crushed tube area, the missing antenna and badly crushed side fins.

 

[Fishhead]

Yeah, it's a basket case, and yeah, I probably could have had a nice Semroc bird for the money, but there's something about the Super Kits that I always loved. This thing still has the original exhaust baffles, which I intend to save no matter what. I'm actually thinking about beefing it up enough to make one flight in it's current state, then tearing off what can't be fixed and replacing it with new cardstock.
One comical thing that I found inside the rocket when I opened it was a single Estes 8" parachute, which may go a long way toward explaining it's sad shape.
Yeah, it's ugly, but it's mine, and someday soon it'll fly. (All bodily extremities crossed.)

 

[hokkyokusei]

Wow, looks like it would be easier to clone a new one.
Best of luck with your restoration!

 

[Fishhead]

That will eventually happen, but something about this old bird speaks to me. "Give me one more shot."
Okay, so the rocket isn't REALLY talking to me. I've just always wanted to fly a rocket with ejection baffles. I'll fly it once and retire it, either to the scrapyard for the nose cone and transition, or to my wall of death. I've already bought the cardstock for the rebuild, but I'm having trouble envisioning it ever being sturdy enough to fly without major reinforcement.

 

[hokkyokusei]

Originally posted by Fishhead
but something about this old bird speaks to me. "Give me one more shot."

I know that feeling

 

[dtomko]

Definitely worth a last flight. What the heck; can it get much more damaged? Well . . .
You've got the cones and baffle at least, and you can measure the tubes directly. Personally, I never liked the "fibre" fins. My E.S.S. Raven got damaged just by falling over in my basement when I was a kid. Once those fins get creased, you can't really fix them. Maybe you should think about using balsa for the clone. You can disassemble the thing and trace all the fins for new patterns.
DT

 

[Habu]

There is a nice review of a clone on EMRR.

SSV Scorpion

 

[Fishhead]

Originally posted by Habu
There is a nice review of a clone on EMRR.

SSV Scorpion

Larry's reviews are great. I just wish he's post a flight update. I'd really like to see the flight pics and hear how each did.
Based on a weekend spent looking over the carcass of my SSV Scorpion, I've got a whole new respect for Larry. The SSV looks like it was a killer project out of the bag. I can't imagine trying to tackle it as a scratch build, USING CARDSTOCK! (If there was a "Tool Time Salute" smilie, there'd be a whole line of them here.)

 

[Fishhead]

This is the picture I took of the SSV Scorpion just after removing it from the box. If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you can still see the 8" chute attached. That was some good thinking!