I’ve made the first sets of cuts on the Saturn V.  The rough cut to remove the forward, damaged portion of the S-II is done, the body tube for that has been separated from the S-II tunnel cover, and the forward motor mount centering ring, with its gussets, is removed. I’m documenting the work in a photo album.

I’ve been considering rebuilding the rocket in a way that a mild H motor (H97J, H128W, maybe even H180W). If I do this, I don’t want to add much weight: finesse, rather than brute force, will be the goal. While walking the dog last night, a way to increase strength of the forward MMT CR joint (to the main tube, the 144 mm body tube) hit me, so I spent about 20 minutes writing down my thoughts and creating revision 4 of the repair plans. (What’s wrong with this picture? The repair’s barely begun, and the repair plans are already on R4! Maybe nothing’s wrong with this picture, though, and reflects careful thinking. I hope so!)

The reloads that appear potentially viable:

It won’t take much to handle the H97J or the H128W: maximum thrust on the first is less that that of the G64W, that of the second is only (only?) 40% more. Going to the H180W, though, is probably not advisable if I still want to fly on the G motors.