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  #1  
Old 08-27-2008, 12:42 AM
FireballXL5 FireballXL5 is offline
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Default Saturn 1b kit by KDS?

I bought a Saturn 1b kit on eBay 8 yrs ago or more. It isn't an Estes kit, although the instructions are copies of the Estes kit. I remember that the eBay description touted the kit as a big deal because of who was offering it. The only clue I have about the seller is that the decal sheet has "KDS" and "1998" on it.
Does anyone know anything more about this kit? Is it special, or just some kind of hybrid?
Thanks for your help.
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  #2  
Old 08-27-2008, 01:39 AM
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Der Red Max Der Red Max is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FireballXL5
I bought a Saturn 1b kit on eBay 8 yrs ago or more. It isn't an Estes kit, although the instructions are copies of the Estes kit. I remember that the eBay description touted the kit as a big deal because of who was offering it. The only clue I have about the seller is that the decal sheet has "KDS" and "1998" on it.
Does anyone know anything more about this kit? Is it special, or just some kind of hybrid?
Thanks for your help.

My money is on the KosRox Saturn 1B (clone). He doesn't make any kits anymore but here is his site (last updated 12/31/03): http://www.tela.com/~dtkostron/
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  #3  
Old 08-27-2008, 07:14 AM
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Phred Phred is offline
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KDS means the decal set is Kurt Schachner's. I know he drew them, but do not know if he printed them. Sounds like Kosrox to me as well. I have two sets of Sat 1b tubes from Kosrox, and never got around to building the kit. I gguess now that SEMROC sells a complete kit, I may not ever get around to it....

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  #4  
Old 08-27-2008, 08:02 AM
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kurtschachner kurtschachner is offline
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Yes, that was a "kit" that I put together back in 1998. IIRC there were 14 of us that went in on getting sets of those tubes made because at the time none were available. The decals were drawn by me (from a scan of the originals) and were screen printed by After Hours Graphics in Ohio. They're no longer in business BTW, which is unfortunate because they did fantastic work. The capsule parts were cast by JimZ .

After I put the basic kit together, additional mission decals were made available as were the standard size tubes.
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Old 08-27-2008, 10:37 AM
Rocketcrab Rocketcrab is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FireballXL5
I bought a Saturn 1b kit on eBay 8 yrs ago or more. It isn't an Estes kit, although the instructions are copies of the Estes kit. I remember that the eBay description touted the kit as a big deal because of who was offering it. The only clue I have about the seller is that the decal sheet has "KDS" and "1998" on it.
Does anyone know anything more about this kit? Is it special, or just some kind of hybrid?
Thanks for your help.


I have built and flown the KOSROX kit, and the instructions were not copies of the Estes kit. in fact, the model was not a clone of the old Estes K-29. It was more of an up-scale of the more recent 1/100-scale Estes Saturn 1B.
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  #6  
Old 08-27-2008, 11:12 AM
FireballXL5 FireballXL5 is offline
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Kurt, Wow - thanks for the info. The Saturn 1b is such a cool rocket and has always been my favorite.
Is this the KOSROX kit everyone seems to think it is?
Also, most of the instructions included appear to me to be copies from the original Estes kit. Is that true?
Thanks again.
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  #7  
Old 08-27-2008, 12:38 PM
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kurtschachner kurtschachner is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FireballXL5
Kurt, Wow - thanks for the info. The Saturn 1b is such a cool rocket and has always been my favorite.
Is this the KOSROX kit everyone seems to think it is?
Also, most of the instructions included appear to me to be copies from the original Estes kit. Is that true?
Thanks again.


No, it isn't the Kosrox kit. The kit you have is entirely different than what Damian did for his kit (Kosrox).

What I did was to contact (IIRC) 10 people I knew from the Internet (mostly r.m.r) that were into old rockets. I asked if they would be interested in going together in getting 100 sets of then-unavailable tubes made up to clone the old Estes Saturn 1b. In the end I think we had about 14 people join the collective which was OK, since the tube manufacturer sent more than the 100 sets I paid for. I also had the decals screen printed and like I mentioned, JimZ resin cast the Apollo capsule parts. This was because BMS was not able to manufacture those balsa pieces as required. I then redrew all the original Estes patterns and rings and included a clean copy of the instruction sheets with each set.

The kits were never "for sale" as such. Each group member got 10 (or whatever it was) sets as part of their deal and what they did with them after that was up to them. I know some got sold on eBay or various other places. One of the group members went back to the tube manufacturer and had the rest of the tubes made up, and IIRC offered them for sale at a later time.

The decals were the shining star of that deal. After Hours Graphics did just a fantastic job screen printing them at a very decent price. Screen printing is the way to go for decals. Not to knock Alps printing (I have two of the printers) but you can't reproduce all colors with them and the prints are very soft and prone to scratching. Screen printed decals are far better in this respect.

See what we had to go through to clone old kits before Semroc?
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  #8  
Old 08-27-2008, 08:04 PM
Ltvscout Ltvscout is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kurtschachner
The kits were never "for sale" as such. Each group member got 10 (or whatever it was) sets as part of their deal and what they did with them after that was up to them. I know some got sold on eBay or various other places. One of the group members went back to the tube manufacturer and had the rest of the tubes made up, and IIRC offered them for sale at a later time.

I still have my 1b "kit" I got from you back in '98 soon after I joined WOOSH.
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  #9  
Old 08-27-2008, 09:28 PM
grog grog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kurtschachner

What I did was to contact (IIRC) 10 people I knew from the Internet (mostly r.m.r) that were into old rockets. I asked if they would be interested in going together in getting 100 sets of then-unavailable tubes made up to clone the old Estes Saturn 1b. In the end I think we had about 14 people join the collective which was OK, since the tube manufacturer sent more than the 100 sets I paid for. I also had the decals screen printed and like I mentioned, JimZ resin cast the Apollo capsule parts. This was because BMS was not able to manufacture those balsa pieces as required. I then redrew all the original Estes patterns and rings and included a clean copy of the instruction sheets with each set.



Kurt,

I was one of the guys that went in on the deal and had some of the tubes ordered that we divided up. I still have my tubes in the basement . Never got around to building one yet. maybe soon. (Could be a winter project for me.) And I have a Kosrox kit as well (and a Semroc kit).

Greg
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  #10  
Old 08-28-2008, 08:07 PM
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kurtschachner kurtschachner is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grog
Kurt,

I was one of the guys that went in on the deal and had some of the tubes ordered that we divided up. I still have my tubes in the basement . Never got around to building one yet. maybe soon. (Could be a winter project for me.) And I have a Kosrox kit as well (and a Semroc kit).

Greg


Hi Greg,

PM me if you get a chance.

gelder?
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