ESTES SATURN V BUILT BY DAVE THOMSON ESTES SATURN V This was built in 1995. Hazel my wife bought it for my birthday. I had never built a detailed commertial kit before and when I opened the box it looked quite dornting with lots of pieces. I soon got into making the model but decided that the standard single D12 engine was not enough. I began to convert the model for 5 engines and also to mount the exhaust nozels rather than only for display. Care is to be taken when building a detailed kit and always read the instructions fully beforehand. Paint of the maodel was also a challenge. In the end the model looked great and initialy flew well on a single D12-3 motor. I had a few lucky escapes when once I used a D12-5 motor as this was too much of a delay. I also tried the special 5x motor modification but 5xD12 motors is WELL overpowered.The rocket seemed to almost turn indsideout during flight and twisted its way across the sky. I am going to try some 'B's' for the four outboard motors and a D12-3 for the centre one in the future. My long term ambition will be to build a 3x upscale version of this rocket in the future. Some people in the State's have already done this. Images below show the rocket during a launch at the Broken Bank site on the Wirral. This launch was only using a single D12-3. RETURN TO THE MEMBERS ROCKET PAGE RETURN TO THE MAIN HOME PAGE