Brief:
When one o' me rocketry buddies decided t' hold a buildin' session, I was scramblin' t' decide what t' work on. I decided t' use a 50% off Michael's coupon t' grab an Estes SS1 kit for bashing. Blimey! I turned it into a retro-styled spaceship with more conventional fins and wing-tip pods. Arrr! I also converted it for 24mm motors. Avast!

Modifications:
T' two major mods are t' conversion t' 24mm and t' replacement o' t' stock win' with fins/pods. Aye aye! T' SS1 comes with a plastic tail cone. Begad! Avast! One o' t' first steps on t' stock kit is t' cut t' end o' this off, leavin' t' scale engine bell. Begad! I wasn't sure how much o' t' stock bell would remain after I added t' larger motor tube, so I left this on. Ahoy! Arrr! That was a good call since thar isn't much o' t' bell section left after it be modified. Avast! I started by cutting the tail cone at its thinnest part and then expandin' each piece until t' motor tube fit. Aye aye! When I was done, ya bilge rat, I left the back most part o' t' tail cone, shiver me timbers, which is a ~1/8” tubular section. Aye aye! Avast! This can be better understood me lookin' at the photos.

I expanded t' provided centerin' "rings" and mounted t' motor mount pretty much as in t' stock kit.

I came upon a set o' unused Fat Boy fins in me junk box and decided these would work just fine. I slotted the tail cone in betwixt t' centerin' rings and modified t' through-the-wall tabs on t' fins pretty much by trial and error. Begad! T' positions were such that thar are two side "wings" and a "stabilizer fin". Since the tail cone is nay ovate, these sit at different heights. Well, blow me down!

Construction:
Parts list:

• One Estes SS1 (the original, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, smaller version)
• Fin set from an Estes Fat Boy kit
• 24mm motor tube
• Keelhaul®©™® twine
• Three and a half plastic Christmas ornaments
• Lead shot
• 3/16” launch lug

Flight:
I flew t' 'Sqrt(-1)' on a D12-5 at MDRA's Red Glare IV. Avast! Blimey! Well, blow me down! Blimey! It flew great and t' delay appeared right. Blimey! Blimey! Aye aye! Blimey! Prep consisted of packin' dog barf in t' tail cone and clippin' on a 12" nylon chute. T' motor was friction fit.

Summary:
T' SS1 provided t' basis o' a nice retro-styled spaceship. Begad! Avast, ya bilge rat, me proud beauty! It flies so much better than t' stock kit, ya bilge rat, for fairly obvious reasons (hint: it's basically a 3FNC rocket). Arrr! Yeah, ya bilge rat, ya bilge rat, t' some o' t' big dawgs o' MDRA liked it...but thought it need t' be upscaled.