Honoring Apollo - 1/10th Scale Saturn V Makes Successful Flight
Steve Eves, an auto body specialist in Ohio, worked about two years on his magnificent tribute to the rocket which carried men to the moon. Steve loving crafted a 1/10th scale model of mighty Saturn V rocket. The original rocket stood 363 feet tall which makes Steve's model over 36 feet in height.
Eves built the rocket starting with a skeleton of seven-ply aircraft-grade plywood. He wrapped the skeleton with nearly 300 square feet of luaun plywood held in place by 10,000 tiny nails. Then he covered the body with 45 yards of fiberglass cloth and more than 14 gallons of resin.
Eves launched the rocket on April 25, 2009, in front of about 2000 spectators at the MDRA launch site in Maryland. The large crowd caused a traffic jam which delayed the planned noon launch until about one in the afternoon.
When the countdown reached zero, the rocket's nine motors roared into life. Eight-thousand pounds of thrust propelled the 1600-pound rocket to over 4400 feet. At apogee, the rocket separated and deployed several large parachutes to allow it to drift safely to earth.
Many of the spectators took videos of the flight and several of them can be viewed below.
