Death of an SSV Scorpion
 

I started this project several years back after winning the carcass of a Centuri SSV Scorpion in an Ebay auction. For my $20 I got what most would consider a basket case, a rocket so badly damaged that the only thing it was good for was a handful of parts. I shored it up as best I could, then gave it a final flight at a Quark launch in October, 2005. Lately it has become uncovered in my shop, and I started looking very seriously at parting it out. Well, this weekend I did it.
The idea of building another SSV Scorpion was tempting, but after looking over the plans, I think I'll pass on that for the time being. Luckily there was another Super Kit that used the same nose cone and tube connector; the UFO Invader. I spent the weekend cutting the balsa and tubes for the project, and began construction with new Semroc replacement cones. I've been taking pictures, but they're still in the camera. For now you'll have to be content with the "BEFORE" pics.

I say rebuild the SSV Scorpion, which was perhaps the best looking of all the so-called "super" kits.....I founs the only thing "super" about them was the super-huge amount of cardboard contained in them.

On the other hand, I find the UFO Invader to be the HANDS-DOWN UGLIEST of the Super Kits.

Nah, the ESS Raven and USS America were the two best looking. I thought the SSV Scorpion was the ugliest. All those "satellites" made it look like it needed a dermabrasion. The "floatation pods" on the UFO were the part I thought was the coolest. The were also what I was most concerned with screwing up when I was putting them together this weekend, but they came out looking great. :cool:

Same here. I thought the ESS Raven was hands down the best looking and I never understood the Scorpion :(

Those "fibre" fins, though :mad: I had the Raven all finished in my basement and it fell over with a few other rocktes. The fins got creased and I could never get them straight again. They also didn't respond well to temperature change. Ask me how I learned not to stand rockets too close to baseboard radiators :(

Drew

Just a little off topic.....I don't care for the fiber fins either.....I've got the Buck Rogers kits and plan on using balsa instead (using the fiber as templates) just to see how they come out. Sure, there's a little more finishing involved but I think the final product may be better. I don't know.......I guess I'll find out.

Ah yes, the famous "fibre" fins.....I say fibre PHOOEY !
Cardboard by any other "marketing gimmick" name is still JUST CARDBOARD !
That's the exact reason why I never bought any of the original kits when they were "new".
back in the day it seemed like a very high price for just a bunch of cardboard.
I did like the LOOKS of the ESS Raven almost as much as the SSV Scorpion.
I find the USS America to be almost as Gawd-Awful UGLY as the UFO Invader.

I'll take fibre over foam any day. ;)

I would take fibre over foam also any day for rocket fins....that is not saying much though.
The only thing I like foam for is the ply/balsa sheeted wing cores on my R/C "pattern" and "pylon" type airplanes !

I would actually like to see Semroc re-issue the SSV Scorpion and the ESS Raven, but ONLY if they replace the "fibre" fin components with Balsa or Basswood. I don't have a problem using "fibre" for detail pieces such as scoops, and etc, I just HATE it for fin/structural material other than for one part: THE BODY TUBE !

Man, those are hard pictures to see....

My brother had an SSV Scorpion and an ESS Raven back in the day, and to my then eight-year old eyes, they were the ultimate in cool-beyond-cool rockets. The SSV is still the first rocket that comes to my mind's eye when anyone says "Centuri".

I would love to see these re-issued, but with the aforementioned substitution of balsa-for-fibre fins.

Later,
EV

One of the guys I started flying with finished his rocketry career by treeing his ESS Raven on an ill-advised flight from his backyard in our none-too-large neighborhood. We had an all hands emergency trying to get it out of the tree before his dad came home, complete with lookouts, but we failed. He pulled into the driveway, took one look at Jeff's $9.00 investment swinging 20 feet up, and said "Jeffery Allen" in a perfectly even voice that chilled me to the bone. I knew that Jeff's rocketry days were done right there. I eventually got everything but the nose cone back, but it had withstood a few weeks of November rain by then. Not much left. Needless to say, building the Raven has always been a far off dream of mine. I've got a cone from Mike at Moldin' Oldies, and I've got all the fibre cut for fins, but I think I'll eventually go with basswood.