Here is the layout fresh from the bag. The parachute is a nice mylar, will be pretty.

On the other hand, the decals are pretty fuzzy. I'm emailing PDR asking for a better copy.

There are a LOT of parts to this one. Gonna be fun!

The fin stock is THICK. All are square, all had to be cut by hand. Laser-cut kits are spoiling me, but this was pretty straightforward. Sorry, for some reason the picture didn't focus and I didn't notice until I'd moved on with the build.

Assembled the motor mount, a standard 18mm unit. I'm thinking of setting up the rocket to take 24mm engines, too, maybe not.

Anyway, mod #1 - added a kevlar tether and cemented it firmly to this unit. Note the scrap paper...? I had to peel that off the inside edge of the centering rings to get them to go on. That was a first for me.

This won't go in until the rocket is complete.

I've attached the three balsa fins to the rear side tubes and the one fin to the forward side tubes. This was a bit of an exercise. I had to remove three fins and reattach before getting a lineup I can live with.

These tubes will serve as the mounting array for the rods that connect side pods to one another. The centering rings are attached at this point.

This was the toughest step of all. Holding each of the four rods in position while the CA glue sets. Managed to glue my fingers together 3 times. UGH.

One insert was cemented at the end of each set of side rods.

Both rear side pods were firmly attached as shown.

It took a LOT of sanding to get the rod insert assemblies to smoothly slide into the front side pods. Here's a pic of the final assembly.

If I'd followed the images as shown here, I would have assembled the unit incorrectly. Notice how the front side pods are shown with the attaching bar all the way forward? Pics 18 and 19 are wrong.





But the rocket finish pictures (22) show the attaching bar being at the REAR of the front side pods.

I'm going to send a note to Pimp Daddy Rocketry pointing out the error. Those pictures should be adjusted.

A lot more sanding and the rod assemblies finally slid smoothly into place. The rod inserts were first inserted into the rear side pods, then the forward crossbars were attached to the main BT completing the fin assembly array.

Here's a shot from the front.

Here's another shot from the rear.

STATE OF THE UNION

I was listening to the President's State of the Union address on TV. After I took this picture, I couldn't help but think: "I got your WMDs...."

Hehe.

The balsa nosecone has a small eyelet inserted in the center to attach the recovery system. Nothing is connected in these pictures, but it's ready to prime and paint. Here are a couple of shots of the rocket.

I don't do much in the way of sealing the grain in balsa, relying mainly on good priming, sanding, priming, sanding, painting.

Here's Scorpius with her first two coats of primer. Will sand and prime again.

I chose a Smoke Grey for the rocket and here is the original paint job for the body and the nose cone. It's smooth, but if I kept this color I'd have to toss the decals, which I think add a LOT to this model.

After I'd put a couple of coats on I decided to give the rocket a two-tone paint job.

Here's Scorpius with the dark smoke gray undercoat and I've masked off the areas I'm going to keep dark. I've put a weird stripe all along the underbelly of the rocket, as well as the undersides of all the fins, inside of the nacelles, too.

The Light Aircraft Grey really is the perfect color, as suggested by the instructions. The decals would've looked bad if I hadn't repainted this topcoat.





Here's the underbelly stripe.

First, PD sent me a new set of ALPS decals and they went on perfectly. This is a great looking little rocket.








For final paint detail, I coated the inside of the nacelles with Testor's Orange. Added a little on the tip of the nose as well.


Now all I need to do is decide if I want to permanently install an 18mm motor mount or leave the BT open for 24mm. What to do...?

I used more of the Testor's Orange inside the rear BT and I prepainted the visible portion of the motor mount.

Topped it all off with a couple of clear coats and inserted the included parachute. She's ready to fly.